Gautham Vasudev Menon loves to play to the gallery. Not necessarily in the kind of films that he makes but the kind of quotes he belts out to the media. He has made gems like Minnale, Kaakha Kaakha and the recent Varanam Aayiram. Sridevi Sreedhar delves into the mind of a sensitive filmmaker as his romantic musical Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya gets ready for release. Excerpts from a free wheeling conversation, as he celebrates his birthday today.

Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya Trailer Simbhu Trisha Gotam – The best bloopers are here
Many Many Happy returns of the day. What’s your plan for the day?
Thanks a ton (smiles). Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya is all set for release on Friday (Feb 26) worldwide. As usual, I am facing pre-release jitters and last evening I came home after despatching the overseas prints. The first copy of the Telugu version, which is also having a simultaneous release, was given three days back to the producers. I plan to spend my birthday with my family and in the evening I am holding a special show for my close friends, cast and crew of the film. I am too tensed to have a party (smiles). And the best birthday gift that I am getting, is to hear that the film has taken an awesome opening at the advance booking counters all over Tamilnadu.

Like all your films, is Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya aimed at Multiplex A class audiences?
I have never written a film aiming at A, B or C class audiences. It is critics and trade who differentiate the audiences. I think that a man in Theni, Chennai or New York can relate to a good movie. All my films have a universal subject which will appeal to everybody.

Recently you had a tiff with Manjula the producer of the Telugu version of Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya?
Yes, she agreed to pay me my salary plus fifty percent of the profits of the film. I finished the film in 55 days but she could not sell the film and later demanded my salary back and filed a complaint against me in the producer’s council. I gave her back the 1. 6 Crores and now she is releasing the film herself. I regret doing a film with people who have no passion or knowledge of good cinema. But it was an eye-opener and will not do the film that we were supposed to do with Mahesh Babu in the lead.

How was it working with Silambarasan and Trisha?
There is a fine actor inside Simbu and he has done a brilliant job in my film. He used to get his emotions correct in a single take and his dancing is superb. Given a chance, I would love to work with him again. Trisha is a sweetheart and a wonderful actor to work with. They have done a brilliant job and the chemistry is intact. Most of the time they were natural and did not know that I was capturing them; it was like a candid camera.

But you had said that they fell in love during the making or was it a publicity stunt by the director himself?
(Laughs) I am a director, not a pimp!