It hasn’t been easy for Doss Ramasamy to turn director. Doss, who assisted Sarkunam for eight years, was caught in a controversy recently when television scriptwriter Sridhar accused him of lifting the story of his debut film Dora, starring Nayanthara, from his script called Alibabavum Arputha Carum.
“Sridhar had registered his script last December; mine was done well before that. The film belongs to the fantasy crime thriller genre, which I’m a big admirer of,” says Doss. He’s relieved that the Writer’s Association absolved him of any wrongdoing.
“The committee read both our scripts and declared me innocent. Just because a car plays an important part in my film doesn’t mean that I lifted his story. Cars have played prominent parts in many films in the past, including Paati Sollai Thattadhe.”
The car in Dora is possessed. “It took me four months to complete the script. I started off wanting to make a film that would entertain the kids, but it eventually transformed into a serious film,” says Doss, who’s a big fan of Hollywood films. “I also sourced a lot of information from newspaper clippings, and my interactions with others,” he says.
Whenever he meets somebody interesting, Doss tries to place them in his narrative and see how they would react. “Building the characters of this film was quite a challenge.”
Doss realises that Nayanthara’s image has helped his film a great deal. “It was Sarkunam sir who suggested that we rope in a female protagonist. Our unanimous choice was Nayanthara, and I think she enjoys horror stories.” 
The filmmaker was quite surprised by how involved Nayanthara was. “She notices even minute changes in the dialogues. She remembers everything.
I didn’t expect that from a star like her,” he adds. The director won’t reveal the significance of the title. “It’s part of the suspense.” However, he tells us that Nayanthara plays a middle-class woman called Pavalakodi.
If Doss thought that the script issue was the worst of his troubles, he has since learned how wrong he is. Though he’s happy with how the film has shaped up, he’s perturbed that the censor board has given the film an ‘A’ certificate. “Nobody knows why. There’s hardly any bloodshed or brutality. We didn’t make this film to scare the audience.”
The director won’t be tamed though. “My next plot is also about revenge,” he smiles.
Source: The New Indian Express