Archive · 6 Oct 2026
Balaji Tharaneetharan Says Tamil Cinema Needs Dedicated Writers
Balaji Tharaneetharan made a film called Baththa.
Vijay Sethupathi plays a gangster who gets stuck in a school toilet.
A young boy is frightened of him, but the two begin an unusual relationship.
The director wanted to show the gangster’s worries and fears, not make violence seem heroic.
The idea partly came from something frightening that happened to Balaji when he was a child.
He set the story in the 1980s, a time before mobile phones.
Balaji says writers need discipline and should write stories they believe in.
He also thinks Tamil cinema should make more room for writers who are not also directors.
Director Balaji Tharaneetharan says Tamil cinema needs more space for dedicated writers.
His film Baththa stars Vijay Sethupathi as a gangster trapped in a school toilet by a young boy.
Tharaneetharan says he wanted to explore the gangster’s fear, insecurity and anger without glorifying violence.
The story grew from a childhood memory in Triplicane and is set in the 1980s.
He describes writing discipline and personal conviction as a writer’s central challenges.
- Who
- Director Balaji Tharaneetharan discussed his film Baththa and writing in Tamil cinema; Vijay Sethupathi stars in the film.
- What
- Tharaneetharan explained Baththa’s story and said Tamil cinema needs space for dedicated writers.
- When
- The interview date is not stated; Baththa is set in the 1980s.
- Where
- The discussion concerns Tamil cinema; Baththa’s story takes place at a school.
- Why
- Tharaneetharan wanted to explore a gangster’s fear and inner life without glorifying violence, and argued that dedicated writers have a place in the industry.
Reasons to make room for dedicated writers
Reasons directors often write their own films
Writing roles in Tamil cinema
Reasons to make room for dedicated writers
Tharaneetharan says Tamil cinema needs space for dedicated writers and recalls that the industry had many when the studio system existed.
Reasons directors often write their own films
He says directors who write their own stories can feel more personally connected to them, which is why many choose to do so.
- Film
- Baththa
- Director
- Balaji Tharaneetharan
- Lead actor
- Vijay Sethupathi
- Story premise
- A gangster is accidentally locked in a school toilet by a young boy during summer holidays.
- Setting
- The 1980s
- Earlier film
- Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom, released in 2012
- Producer
- Atlee