Vijay Kumar (Tamil filmmaker)

2009–2013: Career beginnings

Working as a Software Engineer in Chennai, Vijay Kumar found himself spending all his spare time watching and analyzing movies. Filmmaking piqued his interest and he decided to try his hand at it. He made a short film and applied to the Nalaya Iyakunar show in 2009, when it was in its first season.^[10][8] He was selected and subsequently screened two short films on the show. Unfortunately, he had to leave it due to personal reasons.^[8] Vijay was a Project Lead in Infosys when he quit his job to pursue his passion in filmmaking.^[10] He was intent on making a socially responsible film that did not lack in entertainment.

He moved to the United States in 2010 and began writing the script for Uriyadi in early 2011. It was initially titled Vidiyum Varai VinmeengalaaVom (V4). He spent well over a year on the script, sketching more than 2500 shots for its storyboard.^[11] As a debutante, he wanted to ensure that everything goes per plan once the film goes on floors and hence created storyboards to make production easier. Once the script was ready, and he felt he had a firm grip on it, he moved back to India in 2013.

2013–present

Back in India, Vijay Kumar started his production house Souvenir Productions in April 2013.^[12] He conducted a three-month acting workshop for the actors as almost all of them were debutants.^[11][12] Once the pre-production was over, the film went on floors in July 2013 and the shooting was completed in October 2013.^[12] The post production was done by August 2014, and the film was sent for Censor screening. After making the suggested cuts, the film was certified 'A'. Vijay then started approaching distributors to release the movie.^[10] In 2015, director Nalan Kumarasamy came in as a co-producer to release the movie since he had an idea of launching his own production house.^[13][10]

Uriyadi was released in theaters on 27 May 2016.^[14] Upon its release, The Hindu had a chat with Vijay and cited that Uriyadi is "A throwback to the 90s".^[15] Subsequently, he shared his experience of working with the Uriyadi team with Ananda Vikatan magazine.^[16] and also with Manam magazine on why he chose caste politics subject for his first film.^[17]

In an exclusive interview with Behindwoods, Vijay mentioned how he learnt how NOT to make a film through the two short films that he made.^[18] In another exclusive interview with Indiaglitz, he revealed that the entire footage of Uriyadi was lost during the super storm that flooded his first floor office in Jafferkhanpet on 1 December 2015.^[19] G. Dhananjayan of BOFTA arranged for an interaction session between Vijay and the Direction students of the institute, where the former shared his experience in making an independent film and achieving his goal.^[20]

Critical response of Uriyadi

Vijay Kumar's Uriyadi turned out to be one of the most celebrated films of recent years, who had made heads turn by giving a raw and realistic film about caste politics and random violence which happen all around us in everyday life.^[21] Several film critics and magazines gave positive reviews on Uriyadi and appreciated Vijay to a great extent. The Hindu mentioned that Vijay is a solid filmmaker and that Uriyadi is "a gritty little film by a solid filmmaker".^[22] The Times of India lauded that Uriyadi stakes its claim in the list of the best films of the year and gave 4 stars for the movie^[23] Fully Filmy mentioned that Uriyadi is "an unmissable masterpiece that deserves our support".^[3]

Ananda Vikatan reviewed Uriyadi, calling it a trendsetter for the current film industry and saying it is executed in a very appreciable way.^[24] In another review of theirs, a reviewer wrote that Uriyadi is handled very different from other caste based movies and the climax is unique and interesting. Vijay was appreciated for handling direction, production, acting and background score all by himself and executing them neatly.^[25] Indiaglitz appreciated Vijay citing that "Youngster Vijay Kumar deserves kudos for delivering a film with random violence as its theme without compromises, that hits you hard on your face".^[26] Smile Settai gave a standing ovation after reviewing Uriyadi.^[27]

Talking about the movie after its screening at BOFTA, Director Cheran said he looks at Uriyadi as the contribution of Tamil cinema toward positive societal change and lauded Vijay for taking up such a powerful issue in his debut venture.^[28] Director Ram noted that Uriyadi is an original film, and appreciated the courage of the director for treating a sensitive issue as the core content of the movie.^[29] Also several other directors appreciated Uriyadi and Vijay during the meeting.^[30]

Uriyadi completed 35 days in theatre when many other small budget movies find it difficult to hold on to screens for more than a week or two though they have good content.^[31]

Uriyadi was screened at the Institute of Politics of the University of Wrocław in Poland and created an awareness about the Indian caste system among its students.^[32][33] Official representatives of the university issued a statement saying it educated their students on Indian caste system and its political consequences and that it enabled them to observe various ways of creating political influence. They also commended Vijay Kumar for handling a difficult subject in the movie, its realism and unique way of narration.^[34][35]

Uriyadi was one of the four films chosen to be awarded by the TNMEKS, out of 191 Tamil films that released in 2016.^[36] TNMEKS, a progressive literary organization, noted that young director Vijay Kumar had a deep understanding of the intricate details of the caste system and that Uriyadi unmasked its cruel nature and shed light on the way caste outfits plot extensively to transform themselves into political parties.^[37]