Director-producer Lingusamy, who bankrolled Kamal Haasan-starrer ‘Uttama Villain’, said that the film dragged him into financial trouble. Explaining the reason behind the failure, Lingusamy revealed that Kamal Haasan kept changing the script every week. In a statement, he also rubbished the rumours about ‘Uttama Villain’ being a profitable venture for his banner, Thirrupathi Brothers.
Lingusamy, in a conversation with Chithra Lakshmanan for the YouTube channel Touring Talkies, explained the reason behind the failure of ‘Uttama Villain’. He said that Kamal Haasan was an exceptional artist.
In the video, he said that ‘Uttama Villain’ incurred huge losses for him. He explained, “To compensate, Kamal Haasan promised that he would do a film on a budget of Rs 30 crore. It was a written agreement. I was completely involved in ‘Uttama Villain’ and backed it. We wanted a film like ‘Devar Magan’ and ‘Apoorva Sagodharargal’. Kamal sir narrated a story about a man rescuing his brother, which was to be played by Siddharth.”
“But, the problem with him is that he kept changing the script every week. He had done that several times before, and it worked for him. Since I am the producer, it was difficult for me. As an artist, he is exceptional,” he continued.
Here’s the trailer of ‘Uttama Villain’:
Lingusamy also revealed that he and co-producer Subhas Chandra Bose had plans to remake ‘Drishyam’ under their banner, Thirrupathi Brothers. “Bose was ready to purchase the remake rights. We showed the film to Kamal Haasan, but he did not want to do it. He then went to do the film for another company.”
The ‘Sandakozhi’ director revealed that he wouldn’t interfere in the making of ‘Uttama Villain’, but would suggest corrections after watching it. “He agreed and we listed out the changes. But, none of them were incorporated and he asked me to release it,” he said.
On April 17, Thirrupathi Brothers on their X (formerly Twitter) page, put out a statement rubbishing the claim of a YouTube channel, Valaipechu’. The statement read, “A false claim about Lingusamy saying Uttama Villain was a profitable film was made on YouTube channel, Valaipechu. This is highly condemnable. We request everyone not to spread false information on the internet.
‘Uttama Villain’ is a comedy drama written by Kamal Haasan and directed by Ramesh Aravind. It is about an actor, who is counting his last days due to his brain tumour diagnosis. He then reaches out to his mentor to direct his last film and solves his personal problems.
The 2015 film features Kamal Haasan, K Viswanath, K Balachander, Jayaram, Andrea Jeremiah, Pooja Kumar, Nassar, Parvathy Thiruvothu and Urvashi, among others in pivotal roles.