Do you know who's the antagonist for hero SJ Suryah in the film Monster? "It is a rat which apparently has equal importance in the film and is the rival to Suryah", says director Nelson Vengadesan of Oru Naal Koothu fame. Based on the real life incidents with rats, Nelson has made Monster.
"When Nelson met me first, he said the one line of the script 'Neengalum Oru Eliyum' (You and a rat), I was literally taken back. I was wondering, having worked as an antagonist to many Pulis (as in Spyder with Mahesh Babu), how would it be if it were a rat as my opponent,” quipped SJ Suryah.
“When I heard the full script, it was amazingly interesting, he says. “I enjoyed every bit of shooting. In fact, I was so engrossed with it that sometimes we went three call-sheet working hours without a break. I loved Nelson’s approach.”
Suryah revealed that the director was very particular that we use a real rat instead of graphics. “Besides with me, they shot with the rat alone for about 20 days. It was a really an inexplicable task and editing those portions to suit the situation was all the more challenging. There’s not even a single shot of graphically made rat in Monster.”
Suryah openly admitted that this is the first time that his film got a clean ‘U’ certificate with Censor Board. He has also rendered a song in Justin Prabhakaran’s composition.
Priya Bhavani Shankar on her part said with a pun, “I have grown watching Suryah sir’s films. I was quite doubtful whether I would be appropriate for the role. Initially, I was even afraid of SJ Suryah sir as I have heard that he is a tense person. But he was super cool on the sets and it was a fun filled experience working in the film.” Monster bankrolled by Potential Studios is to hit the screens on May 17.
