The power of manifestation isn’t what you’d expect to come across in an interview featuring Karthik Subbaraj, one of Tamil cinema’s most prolific voices in the gangster genre. His tenth film, Dorothy, now on Netflix, takes a brutal view of patriarchy and follows two male best friends as they grow up, drift apart, and find home on a road trip.
It’s also Karthik’s first collaboration with Ilaiyaraaja, whose music has been everywhere in his films. The first thing that comes to mind is the drinking scene in Iraivi (2016), where Arul (SJ Suryah) takes his first shot of vodka to “Thendral Vanthu” from Avatharam (1995). Or how Karthik saved “Raman Aanadalum” from Mullum Malarum (1978), unleashing it for the biggest Rajinikanth moment in Petta (2019). Then there’s Assault Sethu in Jigarthanda (2014) who must listen to “Kaathalin Deepam Ondru” to express real emotion as he trains to become an actor.
The references keep going, “Poongaatru” plays over a scene in Pizza (2012), we hear “Maraththa Vechchavan” in Mahaan (2022) and “Senorita” in Retro (2025), friends dance to a Raaja song in Mercury (2018), and two people bond over another in Jagame Thandhiram (2021). Of the nine films which released before Dorothy, eight feature Ilaiyaraaja tracks. The one film that missed out was Jigarthanda DoubleX (2023) simply because it’s set in 1975; Ilaiyaraaja debuted in 1976 with Annakkili. Given this lifelong obsession, how else to name this collaboration but manifestation. In this interview, Billboard India analyses the genesis of this obsession. Edited excerpts:
Your love for Ilaiyaraaja’s music has always been obvious. But “Assault Sethu” in Jigarthanda, one of the most loved Karthik Subbaraj characters, says that he’s a bigger fan of Shankar Ganesh. Why, though?
When a great Illaiyaraaja song cannot get him to emote, this is just Assault Sethu’s way of deflecting attention away, so people don’t notice how bad an actor he is. He’s in denial. (Laughs)
Which is the one Raaja song you’ve heard thousands of times?
“Raaman Aandalum” is one. The melodies in Johny too. Even “Maraththa Vechchavan”.
You grew up a fan of Raaja’s back in Madurai, that too in the eighties. What do you recall of how his songs first reached you? Was it on radio?
Cassette players were everywhere and so were cassette shops. These shops would record specific playlists onto cassettes and my father had many of those, first of MS Viswanathan songs and then of Ilaiyaraaja. From what my parents have told me, I was especially attached to “Unnai Thaney Thanjam” from Nallavanukku Nallavan (1984). This was even before I knew who Ilaiyaraaja really was. The phase that followed is when I believed every song was invariably composed by Raaja sir.
Later when Rahman entered with Roja, were you in the Illaiyaraaja camp?
In my school, the fan fights were mostly between Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan fans. I was obviously team Thalaivar. But if the fights were between Raaja and Rahman, it would have been team Raaja for me.
Let’s talk about Dorothy. I read that you waited until the film was shot to take the full film to Raaja sir. Was this because you were nervous?
It was always a dream to work with him, but I was never confident enough to go to him with a film of mine. But with Dorothy, even the pitch documents from three years ago had Raaja sir’s name on it, even before I had asked him. The shoot began very quickly and the plan was to give Cannes [film festival] a shot, so I just went with the flow. It’s after the edit that I got the courage to go to Raaja sir. I felt I’d made the film I set out to make in the best manner I could.
You say courage, but what were these worries?
Someone told me Raaja sir won’t watch my film because I’d used reference tracks to finish the edit. But I showed him the movie with all the reference tracks. That was how I’d edited Dorothy and I wanted to present that version to him. If he’d not agreed to watch that, I could always edit another version for him. When he watched it, he said he liked how I’d placed music in the film and my general taste. Later, when he started working on Dorothy, he changed those tracks but I could see how the new tracks were adding a new dimension to those scenes. The nervousness lasted just one day because you can see how much fun he’s having as he’s working.
Did you speak to other filmmakers before the big meeting?
That’s been ongoing. Whenever I meet certain directors, the talk is often about their work with Raaja sir. With Mani (Ratnam) sir, I’ve asked about specific situations and songs from Mouna Ragam, how they created “Chinnathai Aval” (Thalapathi), or the themes in Nayakan. After Modern Love, I’d spoken to Thiagarajan Kumararaja and Vetrimaaran after Viduthalai. Of course I’ve been speaking to Venkat Prabhu. I’ve even been hounding VP sir to get me a meeting with Raaja sir, purely as a fanboy. One day, actor Vaibhav called Yuvan Shankar Raja at 2 AM and passed the phone to me. Yuvan sir said he would surely make that meeting happen. It has.
Did the politics or themes of the film worry you about showing him the film?
No, not at all. He is way more progressive than we think and he understands more than we do. You can see it in the way he’s added emotions to certain scenes. Some call the film bold, but I see it as my most emotional, realistic film.
Of the reference tracks in the first edit, were there many Ilaiyaraaja songs?
Many. In some cases during shoot, we played his songs out aloud in speakers for the crew and cast to capture the essence of what we were trying. It was like his music was spiritually with us, even before he signed on.
This is lovely because there are wide shots in the film featuring wall paintings and graffiti of Raaja.
Because it’s set in the 80’s, it was common for walls to be painted with Ilaiyaraaja’s images; films were marketed with his face alone. When the art director recreated that period, it was obvious to have walls painted with Raaja, so I told Tirru sir to take wide shots of the boys running as they cross these walls. This was way before we knew Raaja sir would even do the film. We later put his title over this shot.
The way you’ve used “How Else To Name It” was haunting. It was a track that was used in Balu Mahendra’s Veedu, but you’ve generally referred to the track as “Do Anything” from Raaja sir’s album How To Name It?
He released that album 40 years ago with just these special scores. I’ve listened to this album for a very long time, perhaps even before I first watched Veedu. I have an uncle who is a major Raaja fan and it was he who suggested that I listen to How To Name It? and Nothing But Wind. I remember listening to these obsessively around the time when MP3 players became common, in the early 2000s. Personally, it was the time when I’d shifted away from home for the first time for work. I was being exposed to new emotions and new people, when everything was changing around me. These albums were my go-to then.
Fascinatingly, you’ve also used the Star Wars theme in Dorothy.
To be honest, I’ve not seen any of those Star Wars films. I’ve never really been into those spectacle, VFX-heavy films and I’d never gotten around to watching Star Wars. It was my editor who’d decided to use the Star Wars theme for that scene. We’d used match cuts in that scene and he felt the theme would work. During an earlier screening in Mumbai, everyone who watched the film kept coming to me saying, “that Star Wars scene is too good” and I wondered what they were talking of. But the actual version we’d used in Dorothy was Yuvan’s [Shankar Raja] remix of it from Super Deluxe. When Raaja sir saw it, he thought it was a small portion that fit. Later, we got Yuvan’s permission to use his version in the film.
What was more special, watching Raaja sir come up with new tunes or to see him re-recording for your film, adding his interpretations to your scenes?
Both were surreal. I’d heard people talk of how he composes several songs on the same day, but seeing it happen before you was special. He composed “Muthumani” on the first day, “Onna Thottu” on the second and “Kalyana Virundhu” on the third. But it was just as magical to see him re-record for each reel. He watches the reel just once and in real-time, you’re seeing how each scene transforms with emotions.
I’d also squeeze in some time to simply talk about other things. Raaja sir’s memory is incredible and he’s got this photographic way of narrating incidents, with all the details. He’ll recall the names, where it happened, why it happened… I’m talking of events that took place more than fifty years ago. I’ll never forget those 25 days.
Using a scene from Dorothy, can you explain how he transforms a moment?
For me, it’s the scene in which Subbu [Sananth] goes into that room and locks himself up. It’s like a personal transformation for the character that’s taking place. For reference, I’d used a Western operatic score from Amadeus for that scene. Raaja sir changed it to a more Carnatic score and he also used an interplay of male and female voices to underline the emotion. The scene may have had that implicit drama but I did not see that angle. Only Raaja sir was able to find that emotion in that scene.
Then there’s the fight scene before the interval block. I had used tracks just to highlight the action. But Raaja sir added an emotional melody and changed the entire perspective. When Raaja sir scores a fight scene, he’s not highlighting violence. He’s scoring for the reason why the violence is taking place.
Dorothy is now out on OTT. Is there a favourite fan theory?
I haven’t come across many yet. What’s yours?
That Dorothy (Keerthi Suresh) herself is the friend she’s referring to when she’s comforting Subbbu.
I appreciate it and that’s a wild take. But I’d written Dorothy to be an angel-like [she’s first seen in white] female figure who must enter this house filled with toxic men. I had to cut it out from the final film, but there’s even a scene in which Subbu asks Dorothy why she even agreed to marry his brother. Her reply is hopeful and she speaks of her belief that people can transform into better versions of themselves.
Finally, Dorothy is also a milestone film because it is your 10th. Not only did the fanboy in you go on to make a Rajinikanth film with Petta, now you’ve even made your film with Raaja.
I have nothing but gratitude for all of this. When it comes to cinema, I’ve never been calculative and I’ve only tried to satisfy the child in me that grew up watching Tamil mainstream films. For Dorothy, we’d first thought of a very classical edit, told in linear fashion and with minimal scores. That was the version we planned on sending to Cannes. But at some point, I felt that was more a search for validation from a certain niche, elite crowd. I’d grown up watching mainstream films and that’s what I wanted Dorothy to be. I relate most to the Tamil film audience and my films must first speak to me.
