Balaji Tharaneetharan returns with 1980s North Madras drama ‘Baththa’

Director Balaji Tharaneetharan is returning to the big screen with Baththa, a Vijay Sethupathi-led drama set in North Madras during the 1980s. The film, scheduled for release on October 1, centres on a local gangster but is not intended to be a conventional gangster action story. Balaji said the drama focuses on the person behind the public image and on how another character causes audiences to see him primarily as a don.

The director said the film was influenced by people and incidents he encountered in his early years. He grew up in Triplicane until he was seven and said that neighbourhood shaped his understanding of the world. For the period setting, he wanted to portray outer areas such as Old Kaladipet rather than repeat familiar depictions of North Madras near the shore.

Balaji said recreating the 1980s was personal because he was born in that decade. He credited art director T. Muthuraj and the rest of the team with supporting the visual approach.

He also said he chose not to include popular real-life figures from the period, preferring characters based on people he had known or observed. Baththa is Balaji’s third collaboration with Vijay Sethupathi, following Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom and Seethakaathi. The director described the actor as director-friendly and said Sethupathi observes ordinary people while shaping performances for individual characters.

The filmmaker said Sethupathi understood the script’s form of heroism during readings and contributed feedback on scenes. Balaji also worked with cinematographer Selva Kumar SK after collaborating with Saraskanth TK and C. Prem Kumar on earlier films.

Music for Baththa was composed by Sai Abhyankkar. Balaji said the composer understood the required moods and had interests extending beyond his recent independent work.