Filmmaker Vasan Bala's "Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota" is an ingenious amalgamation of martial arts and a man who does not feel pain, origins of which, the director says, lie in his curiosity to know more.
The film chronicles the story of a young man born without pain receptors who longs to defeat 100 opponents in a kumite tournament.
The action-comedy recently bagged People's Choice Award in the Midnight Madness section at Toronto International Film Festival.
"I've always wanted to make a martial arts film. As a genre, India has never made it as such even though we have made unofficial remakes of these films, we have kind of never used martial arts properly," Vasan told PTI.
What started as an ode to martial arts, soon became a humane story chronicled with quirk when Vasan heard a true story.
"A friend of mine told me about this kid who comes to a dentist and doesn't ask for anesthesia. I got intrigued and then the whole process to know what his condition was started.
"Somehow while writing, this condition came in and it all merged with my martial arts love. This happened in 2015."
"I would always go to scene one and start rewriting all over again. I must've rewritten it at least 10-15 times. I don't know why, but I think it's an obsession, when you think you've finished it, you go back and almost rewrite it again."
Asked if all the rewrites got to his nerves, Vasan said, "It's frustrating when you're putting in so much hardwork and you don't know if the film is going to be made at all. If the films going to get made and you're rewriting, you're still at peace."
"For Radhika, I didn't see any audition. There was an introduction of hers which I had seen and it was just very instinctive. Abhimanyu went through quite a lengthy process of auditioning for one and a half months."
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