It was also a whodunit but this time came with an added revenge layer. The author's inspiration came via a ruffian who would not be afraid of anything but his village deity Karuppu. We were interested in another book of Indra Soundar Rajan's, Vittu Vidu Karuppa!, which when we started working on it became Vidathu Karuppu. The rural parts - the temple and navapashana lingam - were written by Indra Soundar Rajan while we wrote the urban part that follows it - the lorry that kills people.Īt the end of that series, we thought of coming up with another because we had that slot in TV. So we developed 26 more episodes and that became Marmadesam, a title suggested by KB sir himself. But it did not have enough content for more than 26 episodes and we couldn't have broken even with it. He had just then written a series called Ragasiyamai Oru Ragasiyam in Ananda Vikatan. I gave myself a couple of days before agreeing to do it.

But they actually wanted me to direct too. I accepted immediately because I thought I was being hired as a cinematographer. One day in 1996, the series' producers - Kailasam (K Balachander's son) and Chandrasekhar of Min Bimbangal - met me on the sets of one of these serials. They had already zeroed in on a story from Indra Soundar Rajan's books and wanted me to make a series out of it. 'I was basically a cinematographer who worked with Balachander sir in his teleserials. But a lot of people are talking about it and to see a new wave of millennials' responses to the show is interesting,' says Naga. 'It was already uploaded on YouTube long back by someone else.

He smiles at the compliment but as we talk about his special series getting a re-release on YouTube, his response is surprising, to say the least. Here is the man whose brainchild, Marmadesam, was the staple diet of many-a-90s kid. Wedged between the bustling streets of T Nagar, director Naga's silent and serene office is a portal to another dimension - in this case, the 90s.

Edhuvum nadakkum marma desam