Art directors in South Indian films overworking themselves to death?

In fact, Milan’s death shook Ajith and Magizh Thirumeni so much that they, being concerned about the health and well-being of all their cast and crew members, made immediate arrangements for an overall health checkup for them.

Similar incidents

Milan’s death is worrying as he is only one of several art directors who have fallen victim to a cardiac arrest in recent times.

In fact, at least two other art directors passed away similarly. And a fourth one is narrowly believed to have escaped death because of timely medical intervention.

Earlier this year, popular art director Sunil Babu, known for having done some brilliant work in exceptional Malayalam films like Bangalore Days (2014), passed away due to a cardiac arrest. He was just 50 years old.

Before that, well-known art director T Santhanam, best known for his magnificent work in the cult classic Aayirathil Oruvan (2010), died of a heart attack. Santhanam, too, was in his early 50s.

‘Work pressure is immense’

Art director SS Moorthy, who is busy with several films, admits that work pressure is immense. “It is true. Art directors have immense pressure on them to deliver, and that is only increasing.”

The art direction department, which often has to deliver exceptional work for a film to succeed, seldom comes under the limelight.

Says Moorthy, “We have to deliver sets that are to the satisfaction of both director and cinematographers — that too within the specified time. Also, we should keep an eye on the budget and deliver the best sets in the most economical manner possible.”

‘Gave his life to the project’

While working on Tik Tik Tik (2018), which incidentally happens to be Asia’s first space film, Moorthy was eager to prove his director Shakthi Soundar Rajan and the film’s hero Jayam Ravi’s faith in him right.

The young art director made such a phenomenal effort that he had to undergo surgery soon after it ended.

Both Shakthi Soundar Rajan and Jayam Ravi acknowledged the outstanding effort put in by Moorthy and his team at the audio launch event of Tik Tik Tik.

Jayam Ravi said, “We jokingly say ‘Uyira kuduthu vela senchirukirar‘ (he has given his life to complete this project), but in reality, that was exactly how Moorthy worked on this project.”

Built four major sets for Tik Tik Tik

It was a fantastic effort. For over 14 months, Moorthy led his team —comprising 60 welders, 120 carpenters, 12 painters and 30 art direction assistants — day in and day out on building four major sets and several minor ones for Tik Tik Tik.

He built two Indian satellites, one Chinese space station, and one ground control room — without any reference material because no other Indian film had been made in space before.

Every day, Moorthy would be on the sets at 6 in the morning and slog it out until midnight. He would then return home and watch YouTube videos on space to understand what materials he could use in the next day’s work.

Often, he would fall asleep out of exhaustion, and his wife would wake him up early so he could be on the sets at 6 am the next day.

Just when they were on the verge of completing the last set — the Chinese set and the entire project — the art direction team had a sigh of relief.

In an interview, the art director recalled that the whole team burst out laughing and that he, too, laughed for the first time in 14 months.

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Underwent surgery

It was then that Moorthy realised that his heart was pounding. As the pounding did not stop, his brother took him to a hospital for a checkup.

In Moorthy’s words, “The hospital staff were stunned. They took several ECGs to ensure the equipment was working fine. That is because a normal person’s heart beats at 70 to 120 beats per minute. I was told my heart was beating at 320 beats per minute.”

He adds, “The doctors told me to get admitted immediately and asked my brother to get in touch with all those close as they thought that I might not make it. The entire crew, including the director, visited me at the hospital. I believe instructions were issued to the unit members to say that work wasn’t going on as I would be unnecessarily worried and strain myself to get back to the sets.”

Art directors and art direction units play a significant part in the making of every film. However, the pressure that they take upon themselves to deliver sets is just mind-boggling on the one hand and immensely concerning on the other.

It is high time that some mechanism is put in place to ensure that art directors and art direction teams don’t overwork themselves in their pursuit of excellence and perfection.