No one could play this character better than Akshay: A.R. Murugadoss
Mumbai: After the super success of Ghajini, director A.R. Murugadoss is ready with his latest offering, the Akshay Kumar starrer Holiday.
“Bollywood producers are great to work with; they are open to a more budget. Also, Hindi films have a wider reach than South films. If given a chance here I will surely make more films.”
On working with Aamir Khan and Akshay, he said, “Both actors are very sincere, hard working and full of energy. It was indeed my pleasure to work with both the icons of Bollywood. While making Ghajini with Aamir I did not have to put in much effort to convince him since it was a remake. Akshay wanted to make Holiday in Hindi with me. But I requested him to allow me to make the Tamil version before making the Hindi one. Therefore I made Thuppaki in Tamil but, Holiday cannot be called the remake of Thuppaki.”
Akki was always the first choice
“As the character was most suitable for Akki I wanted him to be the hero. No one could play this character better than Akki.”
“Holiday is a different kind of terrorist film. It is about a ‘sleeper cell’. Being a common man the ‘sleeper’ knows everything about the place where the terrorists plan to attack. After the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, this story suits Mumbai the most. The intriguing tale has been conceptualised a bit from newspaper cuttings too. I had been reading books pertaining to sleeper cells.”
On Jai Ho being a flop
“I feel Jai Ho, which was a remake from Tamil, flopped because of the repetitions. Everything was very much the same. No one would like to watch the same film frame to frame. Music, dialogues etc. need to be fresh in every film. However, I do not like to watch my own remakes.”
“I always try to translate the content of a film correctly if making in Hindi.
“Language is no barrier for me. However, the script needs to have the Bollywood flavour if we are serving it for the Hindi and worldwide audiences.
“I do not go for word by word translation of dialogues in Hindi as such. Yes, there will be certain dialogues that need to be exactly like the Tamil version so that the content does not change; I take care that it is done in the same manner. I am comfortable directing in Hindi as well. And yes, I am here to stay.”
