Revathi, who has acted in 90 films in all the south Indian languages and also in Hindi has now, entered a new phase in her career as a director. MITR - My Friend The English, Hindi version will also be dubbed into Tamil, is her first directorial venture, which she has now completed after a 26-day stint in Los Angles. She speaks about her film:

Why did you go for an English film for your debut in direction?
Actually Priya who had told a story to Suresh (hubby) for a tele film in Tamil set him thinking. And he said that I should hear out this story for making it into a feature film. The subject looked apt for a movie for international market and hence we have Hindi- English - Tamil, a trilingual film.

Nazar Abdullah, the model of Digjam ads and Shobana from here are the lead players. I show Shobana as a girl going from here (Chidambaram) after marriage to a US based engineer. Preethi Vissa a US resident plays this couple's 17-year-old daughter. Anyway to me a feature film has no language and I believe it is how you communicate through visuals.

The film deals about the cultural differences between the Indian parents and their daughter?
No, in fact I bring out the message that it's not the cultural differences that matter but it is the relationship that matters. It's not whether your Indian culture and its values are more than anything else. It is the bond between the mother and daughter and the parents with their kids. Even a Japanese or an American culture is good. In US what happens is that the children who are born and brought up in US are Indians only at home and in front of their parents.

In the outside world and with the co students they are Americans. My film shows this and also the point that a woman who lived all her life for her daughter and her husband and knows about their dislikes and likes is dumbfounded when she is asked what she likes. Coping up with loneliness when your daughter has grown up and your dependence of her is suddenly taken off also forms the theme of the film. It's a mental conflict of a mother.

Why did you have an all woman crew for the film?
It so happened that Priya who wrote the story and screenplay with Sudha, Camera was by Fauzia and it was then we realized that we have a woman crew here. And so we went in search of Bhavatharani (Illayaraj's daughter) for music. Vasundhara sings a song while Bombay Jaisree sings the title song. Lyrics are by Thamarai and editing by Bina Paul.

What are your experiences in US?
We shot in Freemont near Los Angeles. Our camera lens worth Rs 40 lakhs was stolen from the hotel room and it is recorded in the video cameras. The thief has not been caught but anyway its insured. We shot for 26 days and without using live sound dubbing. The dubbing will be done in US.

Who is your guru in direction?
I would not say Guru because I learnt from seeing many films. Bharathiraja sir is the one who answered my questions and secondly P C Sriram and Madhu Ambat, Kannan sir (Bharathiraja's regular cinematographer) who all explained to me as to why I should give a left look and not a right look into the camera. All of them were my inspiration

Did you act out the scenes for the artistes?
No I did not because I don't want them to act like me. In fact I suppressed it whenever the urge came. I consciously avoided it.

When are you releasing?
When like every film I get a distributor.

Are you not campaigning for BJP these elections?
(Smiles) I am like an ordinary voter, very confused. (Shakes her head) No, I don't think so I will campaign. In the last elections, I campaigned for NDA because I did not want Sonia to come.