Karthi, who is gearing up for his most anticipated cop film, Theeran Adhigaram Ondru, says that the movie will raise several questions about our federal system. Produced by Dream Warrior Pictures, the film, based on true-life incidents, is set to hit the marquee on November 17. “I am essaying the titular role of a cop in the capacity of a DSP and it is an action movie inspired by real-life police stories. It also talks about an officer’s personal journey, the shortcomings in the system and what our status is when we go out of Tamil Nadu — our comfort zone and how we are viewed. The interesting elements added to the script by the director, Vinoth, will definitely change the general perspective of a cop,” mentions the 40-year-old actor.
On choosing to work with Vinoth, who is just one-film-old in the showbiz, Karthi says, “When he came to me to narrate the script, he said he had written it with a lot of social responsibility. I was wondering that being an action genre, how could Vinoth have incorporated the social angle... But I realised that his screenplay had everything he had promised. Moreover, I knew about this script while I was shooting for Sirutthai. And after a few years, once again, it came to me from Vinoth and I think I was destined to do it.”
The Kaatru Veliyidai actor further stated that he was reminded of his days with Mani Ratnam during the script narration session.
Notably, Karthi’s elder brother, Suriya, had played a cop character in his Singam film series. The actor comments, “The Duraisingam (Suriya’s name in the film) character is such that he has a command over things and he can reprimand anyone he wants. I also did a similar role in Sirutthai. But Theeran... is not a loud cop, he is an upright police official, who goes about his work in a tactful manner. It is true to the original character, just a bit tweaked.” Interestingly, the actor’s mother came up with the idea of using organic cotton for the character’s uniform in the film. “My mother saw an organic cotton shop in the city and suggested that it looked really good and was also relatively cheap. We were all impressed! We also felt it looked good on us. We wanted to promote and encourage the product and just started it from our own production,” says Karthi.
Stating that Rakul Preet Singh’s character would bring in the much needed relief in the film, the actor says, “She has a nice and meaty role in it.” Karthi has also recently finished dubbing for the Telugu version of Saguni, which is called Khakee. He says, “I had a tough time while I dubbed for the Telugu version since it was a political satire. Again, Theeran Adhigaram Ondru was also very challenging when I dubbed my Telugu lines.”
When asked whether he would be taking up Manam, with three generations of the actor’s family possibly coming on screen together, Karthi says, “Manam is a fabulous movie. Though the idea of acting with dad (Sivakumar) and brother Suriya is superb, a lot of things have to fall in place and materialise.” Talking about his daughter Umayal, the actor mentions that she couldn’t stop crying while watching Thozha even though she is too small to understand films. “The only film she’s watched is Thozha. And there’s a particular scene where my mom would say velila poda (leave the house). Umayal started crying and it took a long time to console her,” he says and laughs.
