Villian Vikram with Chit-chat

A movie icon and national award winner from South Indian cinema, Vikram couldn't have asked for more. He earns the luminous credit of enacting Ash's husband in the Hindi version of 'Raavan', besides essaying the titular role in the Tamil one, both helmed by Mani Ratnam.
His aquamarine blue shirt is in tandem with his temperament. Ultra Kool.

Vikram, a revered name in South Indian cinema aims to garner national attention with his portrayal in Mani Ratnam's Hindi flick 'Raavan', wherein he shares screen space with Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

Earlier, Vikram completed his graduation from the famed Loyola College, Chennai, following it up with an MBA degree. The scion of actor Vinod Raj, had also shared screen frames with his father in a Tamil flick.

'Sethu', reworked in Hindi as 'Tere Naam' and 'Pithamagan' for which Vikram lassoed in the national award for 'Best Actor' (2004), rank among the more notable movies in his filmography, which includes several topline performances; a repertoire which has been rewarded with a cartload of honours, including three 'Filmfare' awards, Tamil Nadu State Film awards, special jury awards and more…

Presenting, a slice of the chat with the self effacing actor…

What is 'Raavan' all about?

'Raavan' is a very beautiful film which took a lot of hard work from the whole crew, Mani Sir, Ash, Abhishek, me and everybody. It is a wonderful subject about three people and what they go through. It is about this person who kidnaps the other person's wife because of revenge. What happens later is what the story is all about. Beera's nickname is Raavan and is played by Abhishek. Beera is someone who is very restless, energetic and a larger than life character. Abhishek has played a very interesting role. Beera is someone who would be laughing one minute and be angry, the next moment. Beera loves people and is very rugged, as he is from the village. He is like a gang lord.

How would you describe your character Dev in the film?

Dev, the character I play, is a police cop. He is totally focussed and knows his job. He is also very well planned, lethal and can be cruel too to get his job done. There is Ragini who is Dev's wife who gets kidnapped. She is someone who just enjoys life who likes to play, laugh, sing and dance with little children. She is a very happy go lucky girl. Mani Sir has made a film which depicts the emotions of the three characters, Beera, Dev and Ragini , and how the equation changes between them. Once they are in the jungle, what happens to them… do they lose their identity? Does the forest distort their reality or make it more crystal clear. Who succeeds, who fails, who dies and who lives? Mani Sir has fleshed out these three characters really well.

How did you manage to land Dev's role in the Hindi version?

I am doing the role of Beera that Abhishek Bachchan did in the Tamil version. Mani Sir was on the look out for a hero to play Dev's role for the Hindi version and he asked me if I would like to do it. I told him that I was very weak in Hindi. Mani Sir told me it's very easy and even Ash (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) is doing the Tamil version. So I thought it was a good idea and I decided to do it. It was very interesting to do both the roles. It is not my debut film in Hindi as I have already done 'Aparajit' earlier. Many people have seen and appreciated my work in the film. And I'm sure that when they see Dev in 'Raavan', they will like it too. It is a very interesting role because you have Beera played by AB (Abhishek Bachchan) which is a very powerful role and to balance that you have Dev, on the other side.

Was it tough playing Dev?

Playing Dev in the Hindi version was very interesting, but also difficult as my Hindi is very weak. I was always thinking, God, how am I going to do this? Initially, I was happy as I thought someone else would be dubbing for me. But finally, Mani Sir came up to me and said that he wanted me only to dub the Hindi version too, as the Tamil and Telugu dubbing had come up very well. He told me, 'Your voice is very different and no one else's voice would suit you, so do it'. I was wondering how would I do it.

How did you manage it eventually?

I had the associate director, Karan Kashyap who helped me in this and Karan was really good. We did a lot of hard work doing this because Hindi is a very difficult language for a South Indian because we don't have a 'Kah' and 'Khh'. We just have 'Ka' and 'Ga'. Hindi is very complex for my South Indian tongue, but Karan was there… and with we worked really hard on every dialogue. And now when some people who have seen the film told me that 'Hindi bahut acchha hai', I felt very happy. It is a good feeling.

In comparison to 'Aparachit', how different was the experience of filming 'Raavan'?

'Aparachit' was a story of three different characters and it was very dramatic. I was shifting from one to another. Here you had two different roles and it was nice. Doing one Mani Ratnam film is a very big thing. I got to do two Mani Ratnam films in two different languages! Both these films have shaped up really well and now my performance should be appreciated.

'Raavan' has plenty of dare devil action. Which is the one stunt that you would cite as the most risky?

I'd say the whole movie 'Raavan' was like doing one big stunt. Everything was difficult because we were constantly wet, constantly in the Jungle, running, fighting and falling. The most difficult scene is shown in the trailer, when we fall from the bridge and there is a fight even as the bridge is breaking! That was really difficult because we really broke that bridge! There is a drop of almost 3000 feet below and we could not have a net or anything below. We just had a wire which held us and if that broke, we were dead!! That was a very difficult fight and I am not exaggerating, but before every shot, when the fight master would say 'Ready', we would pray to God and go ahead with the shot because it was so risky. And I had to do it twice!! One with AB in the Hindi version and second time in the Tamil version with Prithviraj.

You have worked in the South and now in Bollywood too. What is the big difference in working in both?

Bollywood films used to take time. But nowadays I realised that most films are being made very quickly and a lot of planning goes into it. The difference right now lies in the script writers. There are good films and there are bad films, but in Bollywood you'll are making such wonderful films. Films like 'Rang De Basanti', 'Paa' or '3 Idiots' or 'Taare Zameen Par' and we wonder why can't we make such films in the South? These are the kind of films that I would like to do. These script writers are really contributing to good cinema.

You've played the character of Beera in the Tamil version and Dev in the Hindi version. Which one was more challenging?

Dev was more challenging because of the Hindi. As an actor, I would like to get into the character and really learn the language. What was difficult in playing Dev's character was that whenever we shot Dev, we shot in one single take with a two camera setup. So the whole scene was filmed in one shot! Abhishek's character of Beera is so powerful that to keep pace with him was very demanding. Beera's character for the Tamil was also challenging, but to do Dev's character, be in the frame and create an impact was more challenging for me as an actor.

You've played Aishwarya's husband in the Hindi version, with her real life husband playing Beera. How would you describe the chemistry between Ash and you? How comfortable were you in this equation?

Abhishek, Aishwarya and I were very comfortable with each other, because Abhishek is a very good friend of mine. While I was acting as her husband, AB who is the real husband off screen was there on the sets...and it was very funny! But, after a point, you are just doing a role whether you are playing a husband, a rapist or a villain. You are just acting, so it really didn't matter. AB is too professional a person to let such matters influence him. ( IANS )