Nee Thana Antha Kuyil, 1986
Director: R Selvaraj

I can never forget this film. I did it for Selvaraj. It was produced by Panchu Arunachalam, and had a rare combination of Bharatiraja doing the script for Selvaraj. Lakshmi played the lead.

It was shot in the Tharakambadi Danish fort, near Pondicherry [the fort has since been washed away by the sea]. I had done this film after Mouna Raagam, I think. I change my style in every film that I do. The look of every film matters to me.

I had to light up the fort for the film. I went out to sea to see how the fort looked from that angle. I had three lighting variations and had asked those on land to show me the variations when I was out at sea. I was supposed to tell them by switching on a torch. In those days, nobody used walkie-talkies.

Once I went into the sea, with the cameras, the waves starting rising higher and higher. By the time I fixed the camera, we were almost drowned. But we got stunning visuals.