Kannathil Muthamitaal was more difficult than all the period films I have done so far.

"There was a scene in which two boats full of people were tied together. They were coming from Sri Lanka to India. And, on the way, a huge storm gathers over the boats.

"Believe me, it was shot entirely inside a studio floor in Chennai. We had a tank about five feet high and the storm sequence was created inside it. I don't know why no one talked about it! Nobody knows the effort I put in; perhaps they thought it was shot in the middle of the sea.

"The papers raved about the ship I created on the beach for a song sequence, but there was nothing great about that."

Photograph: Stills from Kannathil Muthamitaal.