Making of a Tamil Film Director, Seenu Ramaswamy on his Struggle, Journey and Persistence

Director Seenu Ramaswamy was born in Kallipatti at Madurai. His family was spiritually devoted. Seenu enjoyed his early life with his grandparents. So his grandfather usually took him to the spiritual concerts of Thirumuriya Kripanandevarial Swamigel. So he got an interest in literature. His grandmother was interested in watching in movies but his grandfather was against movies but he (Seenu) went with his grandmother as a guard for her. This made him learn and enjoy movies with his grandmother. During his college days he started to dream about cinema and finally made up his mind to be become a part of the cineworld.Director Balumahendra was a famous director who produced great movies at that time. Seenu saw his movies and wrote a letter to him saying that he wish to join him (Balumahendra) as an assistant in the cinefield but he did not receive any reply from Balumahendra sir for his letter. So he wrote a second letter to Balumahendra sir with the Xerox copy of the first letter attached. Within a weeks time Seenu got a reply from Balumahendra sir with his own comic sense “GOT YOUR ORIGINAL AND XEROX COPY OF THE LETTER, COME AND MEET ME”.

Seenu did not have a warm welcome in the cinema at his initial stages. So he did not have much wealth to survive in such a competitive world. At his bachelor life he was supported by “SEEMAN “. Seeman looked after him like a mother who provided the basic needs of a person (food and shelter). Seeman also provided books to read and also financially supported him. After a great struggling for some years he got an opportunity  to work with Seeman in his film “VEERA NADAI”. He worked as an associate director with him. Then he diverted his attention to direct some ad films which were successful and earned him a name in the industry.

Years passed without any opportunity to shine as a director. Finally he utilized an opportunity to make his directing debut in the movie “KOODAL NAGAR” which offered him a good name in the film industry and a gain of Rs 80Lakhs. In the mean time he was married to DRASHANA, a teacher. When Seenu was looking for his next movie he was morally and financially supported by his wife. Then he came up with a village story (2^nd film), which many producers were not interested on. Mr. Captain SIBU recommended him to a producer but he was also not interested in it. So Captain SIBU decided himself to produce this movie. Within 36 days, Seenu wrapped up the shooting of “THEN MERKU PARUVA KATRU (TPK)” including songs and fight sequences. When Seenu rang up to KAVI PERARASU VAIRAMUTHU to pen the songs for his film, he neglected saying “Let’s see Later “. Few days longer vairamuthu’s assistant called Seenu and said “sir wants to see your movie”. VAIRAMUTHU came and watched the movie in the studio for two and half hours without any break. After the movie was over, vairamuthu was literally in tears and told Seenu that he was so much moved by seeing this movie and also thanked him for such a class movie.

Within a weeks time he wrote the lyrics for the script. Seenu said “VAIRAMUTHU sir served me a moral support and I won’t forget him throughout my life”. Seenu’s aim is to produce low budget but good films that are of great values. Seenu who is currently working on his next script tells the young directors to believe that good films are always welcomed by the public and to create much more good films for Tamil cinema. He signs off with a smile saying “ Taking one step at a time is my policy” denoting that he would not take another film like his TPK very soon before it gets recognized by the public. Also quiz him on what advise will he give to all the youngsters Starting up and he says, “don’t shy away from hard work and be patient and persistent.”

We at YourStory wish Seenu a long and successful innings at the box office.

Samy, Chennai