Director Balaji Tharaneetharan on Vijay Sethupathi’s ‘Baththa’ and recreating '80s North Madras

“A filmmaker who gave a debut film like Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom should have ideally done many films and be in a different league now.” This comment was posted under a promo for writer-director Balaji Tharaneetharan ’s upcoming film, Baththa , starring Vijay Sethupathi , and the sentiment is not hard to understand. Balaji has had an interesting career trajectory; after delivering a blockbuster debut with NKPK in 2012, he began working on his second film, Seethakaathi , but paused the project temporarily and started Oru Pakka Kathai in 2014. But as fate would have it, Seethakaathi was released in 2018; subsequently, Oru Pakka Kathai was released directly on streaming in 2020, after lying in the cans for over four years due to financial issues .