Karthi is sporting the khaki and reprises a real life policeman in Theeran Adhigaram Ondru, which is based on a sensational murder mystery that created a buzz few years back. A deep research into the topic revealed some startling facts and Vinoth decided to tweak the story a bit to make it commercial. In an interview with DC, Vinoth talks about Theeran… Karthi’s focus, Rakul’s rural belle role and many more.
“I read a news report on a violent crime case, which gave me jitters. I was wondering how could such things happen! I wrote an action thriller story based on my research. To add authenticity to the script, I met a top-rung police officer introduced by my friend Saravanan. He gave me information about several police cases and after that, I met nearly hundred IPS officers, who handled similar cases. From my research, I could see how duty-conscious they are and how they disassociate themselves from their personal ego. This totally changed my vision, which made me alter my script and tone it down,” Vinoth begins the conversation.
Talking about Karthi’s character of Theeran Thirumaran, he says, “He is not a loud cop, but an upright police official, who goes about his work in a tactful manner. How he finally brings the culprits to books forms the story.”
The director was all smiles when we asked about Karthi. “My comfort level with Karthi was very high. Yet another advantage working with him was, he was a master when it came to horse riding, knife fight, etc. He is one person who will never say ‘no’ to anything I ask for. We shot in extreme hot weather in places like Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Buch, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi (as the story travels to those places). We were stuck in windstorms and there was mud and dust all over our body. Many fell sick due to dehydration and few technicians fainted on the sets. We could not have a vanity van for the stars, as they get so hot. But, Karthi stayed focussed and used to stand near the monitor prepping for his next scene. I was in awe of his commitment. He is a complete actor.”
Rakul Preet will be seen as a village belle in the flick. “She plays an important role sans glamour. She is a thorough professional and despite not knowing the language, she gets her lines and expression perfectly,” he adds.
The movie has artistes handpicked by Vinoth from various industries like Abhimanyu Singh from Hindi, Kishore Kadam from Marathi, Rohit Patak from Bhojpuri, Narra Srinivas from T’town who essay cops. Ghibran has scored the music. “I am confident that this film would change peoples wrong perception about police officials,” Vinoth signs off.
