Surya Interview

Surya is one of the few Tamil actors who won the hearts of Telugus. After Rajnikant, Kamal Haasan and Vikram, he is the only Tamil star who has huge fan base in Andhra Pradesh. After the success of Ghajini and Surya S/O Krishnan, he is back with another film -Veedokkade, dubbed version of his huge Tamil hit, Ayan. He talks about the film, which is releasing on May 1st in this exclusive chitchat. He spoke to Telugucinema.com at Elle Suits Hotel in Hyderabad. Here are the excerpts from the interview..

Lets begin with Veedokkade. How important this film is to you?

Ayan, the Tamil film version of Veedokkade, is biggest hit in my career so far. This is masala entertainer with realistic touch. It is a movie with intelligent screenplay and the protagonist involves mostly in mind-game. There is magic in the movie that makes the audiences glued to the screen till the last scene. Although it is mass entertainer, we never did go overboard - always grounded with logical scenes.

Tell us about your character.

Veedokkade is based on the real life events - culled from various stories appeared in the magazines and newspapers. I played a Con man.

Is there any inspiration for the character?

I don’t know how K V Anand created the character but I took the inspiration from Catch Me If You Can. While I was doing it, I kept De Caprio’s role in my mind. Also Amitabh Bachchan’s films were another inspiration. Even though Amitabh sir played roles that are completely commercial, he brought something realistic approach to them and some dignity to it. I tried to put that in this film. Even some lab technicians commented similarly. They might have seen hundreds of films in their life time, their appreciation made me really feel good that I brought naturalness to the role.

What are other Unique points of the movie..

We shot the movie mostly in forign locations like in Namibia, Africa and Malaysia and introduced Yamakashi style of fights. A foreign stunts choreographer did the fights and they have come out so well. And there are two high points in the movie, both happen without my character’s involvement.

Heard that you wanted to do the other character in the film?

Yes. In fact, I loved the role of a character called Jagan and expressed my willingness to that role. A comedian has done it now.

You keep changing your looks and style in every film.

I have been ardent fan of Kamal Haasan sir. I like the way he transforms to each role he does in every film. Even if his film fails, he doesn’t hesitate to come up with another novel look or unique character. He inspired me to do work hard and do something different.

How did you achieve the look of a teenager in Surya S/O Krishnan?

Usually Critics make me achieve that kind of hard work but this time my costume designer’s comments made me to work hard to really look like a teenager. The designer teased me that we actors just wear short dresses to look like a teenager without changing our look of physique. So I took it as a challenge and lost 10 Kgs in 22 Days. That did the trick.

How did you lose 10 Kgs in 22 Days? Can you share that secret with us..

I followed General Motors Diet Plan. But I changed it to suit to my body requirements by adding some chicken intake and some carbs. I had burnt 1000 Calories daily. Should do workouts, should take more water and also should have rest with sleep of 6 -7 hours. I used to have 75 Kgs then, and come to 64 Kgs. I am maintaining that same physique now.

Tell us about the six-pack abs..

It is Aamir sir (Aamir Khan) who helped me in achieving that. He gave his trainer. With inputs from Aamir, I did achieve it. He was undergoing for eight-pack abs for Hindi version of Ghajini. So he helped me out.

Which Ghajini did you like - the Hindi version or Tamil version?

Hindi film. Because the Hindi version has lot more new things, and the budget is huge. I liked the changes that are done in Hindi. I believe Aamir Khan pulled it off single handedly. His dedication to a film is amazing. I know how hard it is to achieve such 8-pack physique especially at the age of 40+. He is amazing guy.

Can you pick up the top 5 films in your career..

1. Nanda
2. Kakkha..Kakhaa (later remade in Telugu as Gharshana)
3) Pitamagan (Shiva Putrudu)
4. Ghajini
5. Surya S/O Krishnan.

How romantic you are in real life?

I am very boring person in real life, not romantic.

Then how did you woo Jothika.

Opposites attract. Probably she liked me I was shy and reserved person in real life.

You did multi-starrer movies earlier but now you are too big star. Will you do such movies now?

Sure. I do films to please my audiences. I will see that every movie that I do should entertain my audiences and live up to expectations they put on me. If it is going to be entertainer and my role is good, I won’t mind doing two hero roles.

Who do you rate the best heroine among your co-stars?

I like everyone but Asin is really good person. It is tough to achieve what she did so far. I genuinely feel she has guts to dream big and she deserves all the success. Trisha is a good actress, she has proven it with time and again and won lots of awards in Telugu and Tamil. Tamannah is just 18 but she has got sincerity that I believe will her take to heights.

Are you net Savvy?

Recently that I am glued into webworld. I have my own Orcut community. I regularly surf the web and connect with that community and also check new movies details on IMDB. And also check my mails. Occasionally I do read film related websites in Tamil and Telugu. Then I have lots of Camermen friends who give me links with their videos on You Tube.

What do you think the reason for Surya S/O Krishnan not doing well?

Lot of factors work for a hit movie. How you market a film, the story, the packaging all matters. I know it didn’t do well in AP but I am really happy with the film. I got lots of female fans after this movie who are related with my character. Girls and boys who have lost their fathers spoke with me. Also it was Gautam Menon’s tribute to his father. I loved the dual roles. In Tamil, we made profits. It collected more than Rs 25 Crores.

When are you going to do straight Telugu film..

I can’t tell the exact time but will definitely do very soon. In the past, I had discussions with couple of directors. Hope something materializes that would be a very special film. But I can promise that I would try to dub for films from next movie. I am now learning the language.

What are your next films..

I am doing my next with K.S.Ravi Kumar sir in which I am playing a role that has gray shades. And there is a film with director Hari in which I play a cop.