Kannan Ravi on Bang Bang: 'Like that volcano, I can erupt any time'

Kannan Ravi’s Diwali was already on the road before he reached the mic. Five containers of sweets, tea powder and clothes were heading to his village in Cuddalore district, he told the room at the Bang Bang event in Chennai on Saturday, the eve of the festival. He has been doing some version of this for 20 to 25 years: veshtis, saris and sweets at every Diwali and Pongal.

“I am not big enough to look after all of Tamil Nadu,” he said. “But my village is my responsibility. Every village has four big men. They should take care of theirs.” His rule for money is simple. A share of what you earn has to be given away by your own hand, he said, or it will find its own way out.

The rest of the story he told the way he tells it in Dubai. He lost his father at seven. The family had money and lost it, and he went abroad to earn it back. He started as an office boy on a salary of Rs 1,000, moved up to PRO, then manager, and eventually bought the company he worked for. Thirty-five years on, he runs 15 companies with no partner. “I can say that with my head held high,” he said. He could hold a passport from any country by now, he added, but he has told his children to stay Indian and stay Tamil.

He came to the film through Prabhu Deva. Director Sam Rodrigues, who had made Musashi with Prabhu Deva, had spent close to a year taking a zombie comedy around town. Cinematographer Vignesh Vasu, Sam’s childhood friend, said the idea grew out of Vadivelu’s love of zombies, and that they pitched it to 10 or 15 producers without a single yes. Prabhu Deva told them to meet Kannan Ravi. He told them to come to Dubai, heard the story, and said they would start right away. “I knew Sam was someone who could go to the next level,” Kannan said. “He may be new, but he came with a set team.”

He picked the location himself, an Indonesian island he thought was right for zombies. The luck, he said, was all his: a volcano that had not erupted in 20 years went off while the crew was there, and he told them not to miss it. “I am like that volcano too. I can erupt any time,” he said. “I am an ordinary man. Anger, love, affection, everything.”

The film has four heroines, which he counted as an achievement. “Even one heroine can bring problems,” he said. “These four fought only in the film, never on the set.” Prabhu Deva and Vadivelu, he added, had given him no trouble at all, despite plenty of industry talk about both, and had done everything asked of them, promotions included. Vadivelu had one condition: Kannan had to ask him himself. Neither star made it to the event; Sam said a last-minute change of plans kept them away.

He says he watches every film as a man who has paid Rs 50 for a ticket. He hears every story his banner makes, in Dubai, himself, and on Bang Bang he suggested changes and asked for more comedy. “People call films joint productions. This one really is,” he said. The team had aimed for Diwali, but Sam asked for more time and another five days of shooting, and Kannan agreed.

Two of the film’s actresses spoke. Jain called it surreal to act alongside Prabhu Deva and Vadivelu, and Anu Keerthi, in her second Tamil film, said few actors get the chance to shoot abroad, and she got it here.

What comes next, he said, will be the biggest milestone of his life: films with three senior stars of Tamil cinema, each in a separate film, to be announced soon. Everything on his slate so far is with new directors. “Nobody takes risks like I do,” he said. He started small on purpose. “Nobody starts at 100 and comes down. You climb step by step, and I will take my place in Tamil Nadu.”

Asked why his son and co-producer Deepak Ravi was not a hero yet, he said he would never push him. If Deepak wanted to act, Kannan would announce 25 films the same day, all with new directors.

A long question-and-answer session followed, much of it about his son’s wedding last week and the chatter about his money. He took all of it, and asked for more. “Ask as many as you like. I am in full form,” he said. His money was earned in Dubai and brought in openly, with taxes paid, he said, and he has never needed to fear a question. “Kannan Ravi is used to giving, not taking.” On the dancing at the wedding, he was blunter: if a father cannot dance happily at his son’s wedding, where else should he dance? The steps were his own, he said, with no training, Bhagyaraj style, because his son asked.

When a journalist said he had not received a wedding invitation, Kannan apologised, took down his name, and promised to find him personally for his daughter’s wedding next year. Then he went further. Everyone who missed out would get a reception in Dubai. “Come by ship, come by flight. I will book the tickets.”

He did not rule out politics or acting. He would contest from his own constituency, he said, with whichever party would do the most for his people, and he wants to start on the roads now rather than wait for an election. A party of his own is out: he is not of the age for it, and cannot leave his business. Acting is in, on one condition. “Give me the worst villain role in the world,” he said. “If I play a hero at 58, I am cheating you.” Whatever he does, he wants to be in the top five at it. “Even if I were a thief, my name should be in the top five.”

The people around him spoke about him too. Director Sam Rodrigues called him the talk of the town and compared him to Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu, an expatriate who never stopped thinking about the place he came from. “Whenever you talk to him, it is always ‘our Tamil cinema, our Tamil cinema’,” Sam said, adding that Kannan has quietly helped many of the industry’s associations. Editor Antony recalled finishing the cut and inviting Kannan to watch it in Chennai. Kannan told him to come to Dubai instead, then told him to rest for two weeks before screening it. Kannan watched it only on the last day, Antony said, and was delighted with it. Actor Peter thanked him for the role and noted the film brings Prabhu Deva and Vadivelu together after a long gap.

Bang Bang is a zombie action thriller with Prabhu Deva and Vadivelu leading, and Bablu Prithviraj, Anu Keerthi, Jain, Yavee and Peter in the cast. Yuvan Shankar Raja scores it. H.C. Venu and Vignesh Vasu shot it, Antony edited it, and Don Bala handled the art direction. Swaroopa, who designed the costumes, said it was her first film, and that every look came from the director’s own ideas.

He closed his speech on his son’s wedding, and on money. Earning is not the big thing, he said; the man who gets to enjoy what he earned is the lucky one. “Rs 1,000 crore of property will not talk,” he said. “This will.”

Bang Bang is complete and coming to cinemas soon. Kannan Ravi’s son Deepak Ravi married K. Senthamarai on November 1, and the banner’s next films include Texla and Oru Kaidhiyin Diary.