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Chitchat with Vikram
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National award winning actor and Tamil superstar Vikram is in Hyderabad on 18th of June, a day after his latest film Aparichitudu released. Producers of Aparichitudu arranged a press meet on this occasion to celebrate success. Vikram met the press and small chitchat about Aparichitudu and his future films. Here are the excerpts -

18th June 2005

How do you feel about the hit talk Aparichitudu generated on the day one?
I am feeling very glad that Aparichitudu got positive talk in all 4 states (AP, Tamilnadu, Karnataka & Kerala) it is released. This film is released with 425 prints all over the world. It took one and half year to make Aparichitudu.

Compared to your earlier films, this film has the biggest social message. How do you feel about being a major part of it?
Though I have done many films, all the films talk about the problems faced by protagonist at personal level. Only Dhool (Sreeram in Telugu) had a little bit of social orientation. But Aparichitudu is a full-scale film with social message. While most of the social films talk about various social irresponsibility of police, government, politician etc, this film talks about social responsibilities common citizen tend to ignore. It is like questioning ourselves about how true are we to our society.

My 11 year old daughter felt that she should be more responsible and understand the civic responsibilities better after watching this film. I think, this film would leave a major impression on kids about how good they need to behave in the society.

Don't you think taking up a film based on 'Multiple Personality Disorder' concept is risky in Indian context?
Yes. It is a pretty complex issue for making the masses understand it. But director Shankar's enormous experience came in handy. I would not have accepted this subject if somebody other than Shankar were directing. Shankar explained the concept of MPD in simple way by comparing it to how a drunkard behaves when he is on.

Don't you think first half of the film is bit boring?
We need to watch the film as complete product. We cannot cut it into segments. The entire 1st half talks more about Ramu. There is no heroism in Ramu as he is very timid guy. First half of the film has to be dealt in that way in order for the second half and climax to get the share of excitement it deserves. Shankar could have inserted a bit of heroism in Ramu character. But, then it would be the injustice to the script. It was a deliberate attempt on the part of director to make that 1st half that way.

There seems to be lots of variations in body shape and body language for the 3 characters - Ramu, Remo and Aparichitudu. How did manage it?
We shot the Ramu part of the film first. Ramu has a bit of lose body with a tiny pouch. Then we shot Remo character. Remo character is a flamboyant guy with lot of westernization. Then we shot the episodes involving Aparichitudu. That way I could do the complete contrast between body shapes between the 3 characters I donned.

What about the interrogation scene in which you transforms effortlessly from Ramu character to Aparichitudu? It involves showing you with bare chest!
It took seven days to do it. I did the parts of Ramu first with loose body and then exercised excessively for 3 days to obtain muscles for Aparichitudu character. My co-star Prakash Raj was amazed at the way my body altered in a span of 3 days.

What about the climax shot? Did Aparichitudu disappear or not?
The climax shot of this film leaves something for imagination. In one version, you can assume that Aparichitudu still exists and he changed his modus-operandi so that police would not arrest him. The second version is that there is another personality Ramu has assumed to eradicate the socially irresponsible people.

Which character is your favorite among the characters of Ramu, Remo and Aparichitudu?
I really loved the flamboyant character of Remo. I even had some domestic problems back home due to that character (giggles)!

What are those domestic problems?
My daughter got jealous as my hair is lengthier than her. The hair bands got mixed up with that of my wife and daughter. I am sitting on hairstyling for more time than the ladies in my home. It took me at least 2 hour to style my hair for Remo character.

There are complaints about the songs of the film that they are not as good as the songs of Shankar's earlier films?
If you look at the songs, you find the first song to be dull and the last to be extraordinary. The reason is that it is a deliberate ploy. The song picturization blended with the theme of the film. 1st song is about a shy guy called Ramu who wants to express his love to a girl. If you observe it closely, I appeared uncomfortable even to look straight into camera as that character needs to be extremely shy about love. If you look at the last song, Ramu sheds shyness and he is happy. That's why Randaka song was such a hit.

Are you the first choice for this film?
For this story, I was the first choice. But Shankar has approached Rajnikant with altered storyline before fixing on me. That film is about an honest cop who loathes the social evils and civic irresponsibility. He could not do anything because they are limitations of law about what a cop can do. Suddenly there comes a murderer who starts killing all those bad guys the cop hates. In the interval, hero comes to know that the murderer is none but the split personality of the cop. Somehow, that film was not materialized with Rajnikanth.

Tell us about your latest film Mazaa?
This film is a remake of Malayalam film played by Mammootty. This film is an out and out entertainer with village backdrop. It is about a father and his two sons. The profession of this family is robbing. The story of the film is about what happens if one of the guys wants to leave that profession and become a good citizen. This film is a comedy entertainer.

Why did you choose such a regular commercial film after serious social film like Aparichitudu?
I want to balance the things. I don't want to be typecast. Senior heroes like Kamal Hassan and Rajnikant took the route of different cinema and art films. Heroes like Rajnikant and MGR followed the route of masses and did big commercial mass films. I want to do the both follow my own route of all round cinema. That is the reason why I deliberately chosen to do Mazaa after Aparichitudu.

What about your direct Telugu film?
I am going to do a direct Telugu with one of the top 3 Telugu film directors very soon. This film would be launched in March 2006 and would be released on 15th August 2006. This film would also be dubbed in Tamil by shooting comedy scenes separately by Tamil comedians. This film is going to be mass, action and commercial entertainer in a way Telugu audience want it to be.

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