Vetri Maaran – “Once a chain smoker, now a keto person”

“Vaaranam Ayiram was released, watched the night show and came out to smoke a cigarrete. I told myself that it would be my last cigarette and have never smoked since Nov 14,2008”, says Vetri Maaran.

As we all know Vetri Maaran, an Indian film director, screenwriter, film producer and the one who has won five National Film Awards, the Amnesty International Italia Award from 72nd Venice Film Festival etc. Also, he was accepted as one of the lead assistants of the Legendary dir. Balu Mahendra. But here, we aren’t going to talk about his works or contribution to the cinema. Recently, he shared his personal food diet with Mr. Baradwaj Rangan and also some of his habits that he had to quit very earlier and I’m here to share my view on it. First of all, before watching BR’s interview with Vetrimaaran, I seen that duration is about 47 minutes and also having other works to do like, starting a website and to post my first blog on it. But, after watching the ten minutes of the interview, I got my content. The discussion was really an eye-opening one for me and really amazed at how a person could immediately quit a regular habit that he used to and also the way he says that he tries to experiment more on his body. In some interviews, he said that during “Polladhavan” movie shooting days, he used to smoke ten to fifteen packets of cigarettes a day. And that too, since the age of thirteen. Two years back, from Vada Chennai shooting times, he was strictly following the Ketogenic diet(where energy is consumed only from body fat instead of carbs). After that, he felt that his stomach got relieved and appreciated him to continue that. In my viewpoint, his movies are like timelines for turning points in his life.

• Polladhavan(2007) - Chain smoker

• Vada Chennai(2018) - Keto diet

• Asuran(2019) - Keto diet + Permaculture

In fact, he’s obsessed with permaculture and also shared his experience of suffering from acidity, extreme levels of acid reflux which forced him to move on curd rice and Baradwaj Rangan was asking whether it’s with organic rice? He replied, ”Organic rice with farm-raised cow and curd from that milk”. And again, BR asked where he got it. Then Vetri humorously replied that their cow is a Kangayam cow and so, she doesn’t allow them to take any milk, It’s all for her son and not for anyone else (LOL). From this interview, I found some similarities between Vetri Maaran and me, when he says that in his old days, he used to empty 2kgs of rasagullas one night, while watching two to three movies continuously. Finally, I’m satisfied that I’m also possessing the same multi-tasking ability to finish movies as well as the bonbons in my home. As I said, this interview was an enlightening one and I learned many things from that like the keto process, stevia, insulin spike and also some controversial facts. He bolds the point that even the poisoned banana is better than the toast (poisoned in a sense, ‘preserved’) and white sugar should be considered as dangerous as banned drugs like cocaine, it’s a substance that we are abusing. The most important part I liked in this interview was his hangover incident, where he started drinking at the age of thirteen and quit at sixteen because of that incident, it’s a ridiculous one. One day, he had to cross a small sewer with his cycle. Because of a bit drunk at that time, he couldn’t. His friend helped him to cross the sewer, and then he decided to stop because it fends off him from being independent.

Not only me, for everyone dir.Vetri Maaran is a big hope and aspiration, where he reminds us that there’s no perpetual craving in this mankind and his commitment towards his diet and nourishment is ineffable. Like BR asked,”Neenga idhapathi oru padam panlaame?” Even I’m too anticipated for substance abuse or dipsomaniac plot-related picture from Vetri Maaran.

Yours,

Sanjith