Find creative solace in poetry: Lingusami

Filmmaker N. Lingusami, popular for helming Tamil films such as "Run", "Sandakozhi" and "Anjaan", says he finds solace in poetry as it helps his creative juices to flow from time to time.

"I've always treated filmmaking and writing poetry on par. At any given point of time, it's through poetry I judge my creative state of mind. I find solace in poetry, and if I can write a few lines whenever I desire, the process helps me to be creatively affluent," Lingusami told IANS.

Lingu Poems, his first book (in Tamil), which also feature illustrations by him, was released earlier this year.

His style of writing is inspired by haiku poems, a traditional, short form of Japanese poetry, which consist of a maximum of three lines.

"Fascination for haiku poems started from a very young age. My first haiku poem was written in 1991, and it was even published in a Tamil magazine. Since then, I've written about 100 poems and they've all been featured in my book," he said, adding he enjoys the process of writing poems.

"I never force myself to write. I write when I'm travelling, and sometimes even while I'm writing a script, I take a break to write a poem. I also like to read haiku poems written by others. Over the last two decades, I've come across around 1000 poems and I know each one by heart," he added.

Lingusami now plans to release his book in multiple languages.

"It has already been translated into English by two-time Sahitya Akademi award-winning writer Sirpi Balasubramaniam. We're in talks with a couple of publishing houses and we're hoping to ink a deal soon. In Telugu, I plan to approach writer-filmmaker Trivikram, and I also want to release it in Malayalam and Hindi," he said.

Currently busy with the pre-production work of his film "Sandakozhi 2", he hopes to visit the memorial of Matsuo Basho, popular Japanese poet who introduced haiku style of writing to the world.

--IANS

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