Vasan Bala’s Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota will be the first Indian film to be showcased in the prestigious Midnight Madness category of the Toronto International Film Festival.

In the film’s trailer, a bespectacled boy is walking the streets as he talks about his desire to catch every chain snatcher in his city. And even though a glass bulb shatters on his head and rivulets of blood trickle down his face, he carries on the banter, unperturbed. This is because he is a man who feels no pain. Vasan Bala’s second directorial venture, Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, not only enjoys a unique protagonist, but will shortly also enjoy a unique premier, for it is all set to be screened at the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival 2018. A first for an Indian film, the cinematic offering will share space with the works of celebrated genre film directors like Shane Black (The Predator), David Gordon Green (Halloween) and Gasper Noé (Climax).

Since the Midnight Madness section is known to screen the creme de la creme of genre films, Vasan says he is delighted at the selection. “I’m mighty excited as it’s the first Indian film to be screened in this category. It feels great to be sharing the limelight with filmmakers like Gaspar Noé and Shane Black. Films like The Raid and Ong-Bak got discovered through Midnight Madness, so it’s a really prestigious place for a genre film. Also, it’s exciting to have the Midnight Madness audience as the film’s first audience,” says the director.

The film’s title has a ring to it, and that’s because it was once a dialogue that was thrown around liberally in the late 80s and 90s, after the manliest man, Amitabh Bachchan, uttered it in the movie Mard. And Vasan, capitalizing on the pun nestled in this catchphrase, thought it would make the perfect title for his film. “It’s such an iconic dialogue, and since the protagonist actually doesn’t feel pain, it makes for a great pun,” laughs Vasan. And it is this brand of humour — the one that stemmed from pulpy, B-movie action sequences and dialogues — Vasan’s film strives to capture. “It’s an ode to the late 80s and the 90s, when a lot of these pulpy, action movies came out,” reveals the director.

Replete with over-the-top, bloody fight sequences and slow-motion shots, Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota follows a long-standing tradition of action comedy films - a genre that has been alive and kicking from the time Charlie Chaplin made an appearance on screen. Underscoring films like The Knockout, The Kid and The Circus, Vasan says, “A lot of people don’t associate Charlie Chaplin’s films with the action comedy genre, but there is a lot of action and proper stuntmen work that’s fused with comedy. So I think Charlie Chaplin was the biggest exponent of action comedy, along with Buster Keaton. Then, in the 80s and 90s, there was Jackie Chan doing the same thing. It’s been a huge filmmaking tradition right from those days of stuntmen filmmakers, who infused comedy into their stunts,” the director points out.

Enamoured by the genre, Vasan says he always wanted to make an action comedy film. “These movies have always been inspiring, and it has been a genre I’ve always wanted to explore. I also wanted to make a martial arts film. This seemed like the best way to bring all the elements together and package it in the form of an action comedy,” reveals the director.

Though the renowned film festival has recognized the film’s potential, one wonders if it will enjoy the same fate in the country, since many movies that travel the international film festival circuit often don’t see the light of day in India. But Vasan is positive about the film’s future in this context. “Midnight Madness, as a film showing section, is not very ‘art house’, but screens very accessible, genre-centric films. And every film shown at Midnight Madness has seen a theatrical release all around the world. So, the category itself demands a wider audience as the content is not esoteric at all, but pulpy and escapist,” insists the director, who hopes the Indian audience like the film as, ‘I’m primarily an Indian filmmaker. Toronto, Venice and Cannes are all opportunities for us to reach out to the world but, we live in India and we want our Indian audiences to watch our films,’ he says. While the release date of the film is not yet known, the director says that a date will be announced soon. We ask him if it will be within this year and he says, “I hope so, I hope so.”