Right from his debut in Marina, Sivakarthikeyan has been a force to reckon with in Tamil cinema. With careful planning, his growth has been steady and has brought him several laurels. His array of films proves that he is banking on the cinema that he knows will appeal to kids and family audiences.
Ahead of the release of his biggest film thus far — Remo — Siva opens up to DC about his fairytale journey in movieland.
On choosing Remo
The content has an universal appeal which brought in legends like PC Sreeram, Resul Pookutty and make up artist Sean Foot. Of course, I was doubtful when Bakkiyaraj asked me to play a lady character.
Being a director, he could visualise the entire film — but when I tried to, I was blank after 20 minutes! That’s the reason I took nearly eight months to come on board. Right from the looks to the voice modulation, everything was trial-and-error with Remo.
On playing a nurse
Achieving the ‘young lady’ look was challenging though.. we initially tried prosthetic makeup, but I looked old!
After playing the role though, I honestly admit that women are God’s gifts. There is a scene in Remo where I am holding a new-born... and I was in tears — my mom, wife and my daughter Aaradhana flashed across my mind.
I also did regret that I hadn’t tried mimicking a lady voice during my stand-up comedy days. I could only dub a ten-minute footage every day; my voice would get strained after that. I had to lose nine kilos for the role and cut down on my favourite food, biryani! (sighs)
Expanding the market
People in Malaysia received my previous films very well, which was surprising. Our idea was to capitalise on the market expansion. I am not a star whose FDFS ticket would sell for Rs 1000, so I will have to rely on the content. With Remo, we are trying to enter into other markets. If Remo’s dubbed version works in my favour, it will help us cash in on the fame and come up with universal content. This film is a starting point to expand my market in other industries.
On choosing scripts
My films should be entertaining, commercial and should appeal to family audiences. Having grown up watching Rajinikanth’s films, I want to bring in the same kind of energy into my films. After Ethir Neechal, I followed a meticulous plan — I was firm about not signing movies back-to-back, and not to do a film just for the remuneration, etc. Maan Karate received mixed reviews, but it brought in kids. With every film, I would like to add certain attributes to my acting skills.
On the MBA connect
Having studied promotions and finance in my MBA has helped me analyse the market. I read up on all the figures of every movie that releases just to know the business.
Future plans
I will be working on Mohan Raja’s next film, a social thriller. I also want to do a full-length film that caters to kids — I am waiting for the right script. My dream role is to play a character similar to Vikram sir in Saamy.. the police officer character was close to who my dad was. (smiles poignantly)
