Actor Jiiva is happy that his comedy caper Kalakalappu 2 with Sundar C, which hit the screens on Friday, has garnered good reviews. The actor, who did a series of experimental and offbeat themes even at the beginning of his career as in Raam, Ee, Kattradhu Tamizh and Ko, has resolved henceforth to alternate between entertaining movies and serious films.
In a DC exclusive, Jiiva talks about how he went into depression when a film like Kattradhu Tamizh which he did when he was hardly 22 and for which he had to toil hard didn’t do well at box office. However, experience has taught him now to take failure and success in his own stride. He sounds content with K’town although he has offers from Hind. He also talks about making a film in his illustrious dad RB Choudhary’s banner SuperGood Films and on others like Raju Murugan’s Gypsy.
“It was totally a new experience working with Sundar C sir. I have never done this kind of shoot in my career,” is how Jiiva starts off the conversation. Elaborating, he said, “For three months, it was back to back shoots and it was really hectic. Sundar sir won’t waste even 10 minutes of free time as he would rather utilise it to shoot a small portion of another scene with the available actors. In a way it was good and his meticulous planning was amazing. All the same, I had no tension and was having fun with a host of artistes on the sets.”
The actor is eagerly awaiting his cybercrime thriller Kee with Kaalis. “It is an interesting film which has shaped up well. They say ‘all good things often also have a bad side to them. That’s the crux of the film. It has Nikki Galrani and Amaica Soti in the lead.”
Talking about his action adventure Gorilla, he quips, “Don’t imagine that a gorilla is acting in the movie. Chimpanzees, though belonging to the same family of gorillas, are less fierce. And the one acting in Gorilla is a trained one from Samut Training Station in Thailand. A major chunk of the film is shot in Thailand. Looking forward to it.”
Apparently, Gypsy with national award winner Raju Murugan, known for his sensitive portrayals, has a strong content. Jiiva reveals, “It’s a love story and I travel throughout India for the movie. It has a socially relevant theme and questions everyone in the society. I am back to serious flicks after a gap and I sport a new look for the film.”
The Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thora actor feels that the reviews and negative feeds on films on social media do not really influence the box-office success of a movie. “I have come to a stage where I see that I don’t get affected with the caustic remarks made on social media if my films fail. I am an actor and not a filmmaker. I just do the work assigned to me. You count on that and not attacking personally.”
He says he is happy with Tamil cinema. “I am comfortable working in a language known to me. Though, I do get offers from Telugu and Bollywood, I am not keen to accept them.”
He feels there’s no transparency in the Tamil industry. “Many producers are unaware of umpteen revenue making platforms. People come with lot of money to produce a film without any knowledge of the trade and lose heavily in the process. There should be workshops conducted for producers.”
Denying rumours of SuperGood Films making their 100th prestigious project with Vijay, he said jokingly, “Even I heard! Does Vijay sir know about it? (laughs).” He adds, “What my dad and I feel is more than looking into the theatre collection, being in the limelight and chasing big stars for dates, we want to live peacefully without debts.”
The actor who has completed one and a half decades in Tamil cinema says, “I don’t know anything about politics. Any actor can come to politics and comment about the government. One should also think about what happens if politicians start launching films for their offspring? All said and done, I am enjoying myself and want to be in this space in the tinsel town.”
