IN THE LIMELIGHT
In Kadaisi Vivasayi, octogenarian Maayandi (played by the late Nallandi) is the last active farmer in a small village near Usilampatti, Madurai, where he is caught between modernity and tradition. In the film’s closing portion, he folds the veshti and joins a group of villagers to revive the damaged crops on his land. Watch Maayandi closely and you will notice how stark the difference is in the way he folds the veshti and gets on to work and the way stars do this in films with a rural backdrop.
For one, this authenticity can be attributed to the fact that Maayandi was essayed by a real farmer Nallandi, who, unfortunately, passed away before the film’s release. Filmmaker M. Manikandan says the decision to cast Nallandi instead of a professional actor was a practical one. “Of course, our first choice was to go for actors. But for this film, I needed someone who also knew farming because I wanted to show the different processes involved in farming and the intervals in between. Let’s say a harvest takes six months to yield. I wanted someone to travel with the film during its course. Since we couldn’t find anyone, the second-best option was to cast a non-actor, who is a real farmer, given the budget and subject material,” says Manikandan.
