Leashing the "Thiruttu Naaye" | Post 1 - Concept, Characters, Script Structure and Flow

Hello everyone. It’s been a very long time since I wrote anything on this blog. So I thought, I’ll write a series on my latest short film “Thiruttu Naaye”. This series of blog posts is targeted primarily at aspiring short filmmakers who wouldn’t have much budget and access to the best of resources but are filled with a lot of passion to make it big. Casual readers won’t have much to take from it except a load of mindless trivia behind the making of my biggest project yet. 

I was playing with the core idea of the film for quite a while during the days of last November and finally completed writing down the first draft by December. I remember narrating it to my friends during my trip to Hyderabad over the New Year eve. 

The core concept:

I wanted to make a rom-com with the clichés of an unequal relationship. Initially, I had a plan to shoot an live-action film and “cartoonize” it (Inspired from “Waking Life” by Richard Linklater). I even had a title in mind – “Kaadhalithen Kaadhali Then” (I loved, and my lover is honey… Oops! That sounds a lot sweeter in my language. Of course with the wordplay). Well, This title is inspired from a telefilm I watched during my childhood days in Doordarshan. 

I was jotting down ideas for scenes and characters of this movie regularly. One fine day, I dreamt about a heroine who goes to her hero and complains about her missing horse (in a historical setting). I somehow got a spark of a girlfriend asking for a dog as a gift on her birthday. I immediately decided on the title – “Thiruttu Naaye” (Stolen dog). Again a wordplay! It could either imply the dog or the protagonist who steals the dog. (Sshhh! Thamizh is awesome in many ways) 

Characters: 

I started sketching out the characters in the story. 

1. Main Character – who’s insanely in love(?), who’d do anything for his girlfriend, who’s not very expressive of his views with her, who’s comical and boastful of himself, Fun-loving and emotional. 

2. His Sister – No nonsense girl, Sensible and practical 

3. His friend – Dreamer, a kind of person who’d keep boosting you in to doing things. 

4. His muse – Angel next door 

5. His girlfriend – controlling, demanding, stubborn and dog loving 

Script structure: 

Once I had all the characters in mind, I started writing down the points that needed to be put out. For example, 

1. Main character’s fear for dogs. 

2. His sister is a no-nonsense girl 

3. His girlfriend is controlling 

4. Main character is boastful 

After having a few points I started mapping them to scenes I already had in mind so that they won’t take up individual scenes for establishment. So I had an introduction scene for the angel and I also wanted to show the main character’s fear for dogs. So I clubbed them into a scene where a dog runs into the main character and he’s scared. The angel comes and picks up the dog. Our hero stands speechless! 

The flow: 

Once I started writing down the script, I came across the idea of having a scene each for the main character’s interaction with all other character one by one and still maintain a flow. I also had the next scene to start with dialogues as if answering a dialogue from the previous scene. But after watching the complete film now, I don’t feel that it has come up that well! 

I used rawscripts.com to write down the script so that I can carry it with me online and continue writing wherever I go. 

Actors: 

I wanted to do the main role when I was toying with the idea of an animated short film. Once it became “Thiruttu Naaye”, I did away with the idea of playing the hero and started looking out for handsome guys who are hero material and would suit the romantic mould. I came across Rakshith in facebook and got in touch with him. He liked the script and was willing to support the production. 

I had Priyanka, Padmapriya and Ramya for the three female characters in the film. They all agreed to play the roles that I had in mind. And Ganesh Kumar, my associate in every film I make, the friend character was written with him in mind and he nailed it. 

Finally, the dog and all the production difficulties that came with it. That’s for the next post!