The South super star, known for his solicitous performances in films like Rang de Basanti, Guru, Yuva (Tamil version), R. Madhavan is all set to try his hands on a bilingual supernatural thriller; BIG Pictures upcoming film “Yaavarum Nalam”, releasing on March 6^th, 2009.

Q1.  It’s been seen that you carefully select your films when it comes to the Hindi film Industry. So, after films like Rang de basanti & Mumbai Meri Jaan, why did you choose to do a super natural thriller like 13b?

You are very right about the first part; I am very selective about the stories I do in Hindi movies. This story Vikram, the director brought to me almost three and a half years ago as a shell. We’ve worked on it form there into what it is today. Vikram and I wanted to make a film for almost 7 years ago but, we never hit upon the right subject. I always believed he was an intelligent director and I didn’t want him to become a run of the mill one. Making a film that ran more on my ability to do histrionics than his ability to direct.

 

So, when three and a half years ago he came to me with this script, I realized that this is the film that I was salivating to do and we developed it over a period of time. That’s how I selected 13B which was initially only meant to be done in Tamil but when we went to Manmohan Shetty who was just foraying into Tamil film production, he said that the film had to made both in Hindi and Tamil because it’s almost international in nature.

Q2. You’ve played so many roles and come so far in your career .Why did it take so long to do a thriller (supernatural thriller)?

Whatever character that I have played before are very special and I don’t think they’ve been formulated after some one in terms of story or the characterization. So I was waiting for a similar window in a thriller as well.

 

I was also tired of the supernatural thrillers that relied more on the sound effects rather than the actual content to frighten the audience. These films that create visuals, sounds and ghosts that would make you jump out of your seat but not really frighten you to the core where you can feel fear. I didn’t want to do that, it’s very easy to wear some fangs and have some blood drip out of my mouth and make it all happen.

 

I wanted to do a film that chills you to the spine; sort of like ‘Sixth Sense’ but this is slightly better because this one does not have any visual ghosts or gore but still frightens you.

Q3. How did you meet Vikram and how was it working with him?

Vikram was one of the few directors from the Tamil industry who spoke the same language that I did. Coming from a fairly educated background, he has assisted Priyadarshan and he is also a National gold medal winner for his documentary ‘The Silent Scream’. I had a lot of faith in him from the time we met in Chennai during a shoot and he was in a tearing hurry to start a film but I didn’t want him to start right away. I wanted him to know the ropes of it all. He was a little distraught then as both of us being so close as friends could not pull of a film together. So I told him a good film can not be made so easily and now he understands. Now we have a film that is being made in two languages and he is the only director that has shot two languages simultaneously. And also he got a straight yes from everyone (producers) involved the first time they heard the script. It’s very difficult to get that for a new comer.

Q4. Have you done a bi-lingual film before? What’s the experience like doing the same shot in two languages? That too back to back?

This is the first bilingual that I have shoot back to back. And it’s horrifying because I am very particular about the fact that my Hindi should not have a hint of Tamil and my Tamil should not have a hint of Hindi. And nobody can do this because that’s a tough call, even if now I have to blow my own trumpet, I can say I can actually do that.

 

The only other guy who can do that I would say is Siddharth, apart from that others you can make out that they are not Hindi speaking actors. So that was the paranoia I carried through out the film. Thus I made sure there was an entire different cast for both languages as much as possible. Normal scenes were ok to do; we would do Tamil first so that the others could understand and replicate the same in Hindi.

 

But then there were scenes which only involved me like the climax, where I am just ranting and raving like a mad man and it all has to make sense because it’s not easy to switch between two languages. So my biggest victory was to pull that of as cleanly as possible. 

Q5. Vikram tells us that the main protagonist of this film is the television set. Your comments?

That’s absolutely true because that’s what we wanted to project. If there is a hero in the film that’s the TV and the heroin would be me as that’s the way the story goes. That’s how we positioned it, so it was never meant to be the hero comes out victorious in the end kind of film. It was meant to frighten you, it was meant to intrigue you and meant to make you think twice and that’s what it does so if I have to be the heroin in the film so be it.

Q6. Tell us about your role in 13b.

I can tell you how the story came about and goes with the synopsis of the film.

 

‘In today’s world of unrelenting pressures of challenged survivals and super fast lifestyles, one of the main sources of relief, information and entertainment is the TV. So much so that it has moved up from its modest position as just another appliance in everybody’s household, into one that determines the power equation in a family. In fact it’s easy to identify the hierarchy of a family depending on who controls the remote control.

So what happens if suddenly the TV realizes its power and decides to exercise control? What happens if instead of showing you the facts it shows you what it wants you to see? What happens when Manohar, the hero of the film realizes that’s exactly whets happening to his family who just moved into their new house, 13b?

 

Now the TV has become such an omnipresent thing, more like a companion who they can’t live without. So we thought that what if the TV takes over your life and used that as the premise. Thus you can’t make out whether the TV is the hero or the villain in the movie.

Q7. What’s the chemistry with your co-star Neetu Chandra like, considering you were working with her for the first time?

 It was not the hero-heroin equation in the film so it was not about my chemistry with Neetu Chandra; it was about my chemistry with the TV. But it was fun working with her, she is very enthusiastic about the film, she did a great job in the film and so were others like Poonam delhion, Sachin Khedekar who have brought another dimension to their characters. So it worked out in a great way for us.

Q8. Do you believe that 13 is an unlucky number? If so, how intimidating it is to have the 13 factor as a central theme of your film?

I am not particularly superstitious. But I have to tell you it has been really strange. Every 13^th day of shoot there would be some disaster and we’d have to cancel the shoot. On the 13^th of every month the weather would play havoc with our shooting. There would be torrential rains or we would not be able to record. It played a huge role, things became so eerie, may be we became jumpy and started taking out meanings but it was really strange. There was no way we could shoot at 1300 hrs, because some disaster would strike. So we would start shooting at 12.55 pm and then resume at 1.55 pm.

Q9.  Any scary incidents you and the crew members had while shooting the film? 

I would rehearse with Vikram and PC before the entire unit would start coming in. By and large it used to be only three of us on that huge set. So I came in early one day because there was this one scene which was very important where I am supposed to see the TV turn on in the middle of the night. So I was rehearsing for that thinking that Vikram and PC are in the same vicinity. I didn’t know that I was the only guy. So I continued rehearsing the scene and kept asking that is the scene fine and ok and someone kept saying that it was a good or this ones better etc. And I could not see them as they were not in my eye line. So after some time when I got the scene right I walked out of the set I saw Vikram and PC coming in. I could not figure out till date who was there nodding and saying it was a great scene. And when I asked them they denied and said that don’t mess with me but then I confirmed with the production guy and he also confirmed that they had just walked in. So that was really weird.

 

Q10.  Do you believe in the supernatural phenomenon the film deals with?

I certainly believe in the theory that we have projected in the film that for a positive force to exist there has to be a negative force. So if there a god and a fairy there is an opposite negative force and if we go to a place like temple where we go to pray for a positive energy there has to be a place where it pours negative energy. So I believe that negative existence has to be there.

Q11. Have you had any personal experiences that are spooky or eerie that makes one think of the supernatural?

Yes I remember very clearly on the eve of one Christmas my wife and I were sleeping in the bed and she got up in the morning and said we’ve got to stop abusing nature those were her words. So I asked what happened and she said I had a horrible nightmare. She said that she believed that we had cut all trees and she was sitting in our house and she saw the whole sea rise up like the huge mountain and engulf the entire city she was in.

 

And she continued that she could feel the death and destruction and the  last thought was that how much we have abused nature. So I consoled her and told her that it’s called SUNAMI, as I had read about this long time ago. And the next day was charismas and I was suppose to go to the shoot and I was on way when she called me up and said its not spelled as SUNAMI it’s spelled as TSUNAMI. I said ok maybe and asked her why, what happened? And she said well it just hit Chennai. And I was supposed to shoot on the beach that day and she asked me to come back. So I believe as far as my wife is concerned that she saw something so clearly.

Q12. Do you know anyone whose birthday is on Friday the 13^th of Feb or March this year?

No but that would be eerie.

Q13. Do you know anyone who lives at a 13B?

No but I think I got to start looking out for it now.

Q14. Vikram tells us that post working on this film, the number 13B or 13 keeps finding him. He spots it randomly on a daily basis. Any such occurrences with you?

This is happening only with Vikram, I am trying to consciously avoid it. This is happening more predominantly with Vikram. And he clearly thinks that these are signs. So now that the film is releasing on the 6^th of March we are trying to avoid the 13^th  I guess?.

 

Q15. Generally a scared expression is best when you’re caught off guard.. How do you manage to get the right face even after knowing the whole story and after several takes?

 

I am not a method actor or anything; I just go by my instincts. I kind of project for example that if I am dragging an animal up on the stairs how would I react. I wouldn’t like to be too close to it and also have a strong grip on it. So I think I go instinctively on all my scenes relating to a life experience.

 

Q16. When were you exposed to stuff like ghosts or demons etc? Most kids are told ghost stories or frightened with monsters in the dark... Did you have stories like that as a child?

My parents were very particular that I would not hear these stories. Our society is such that we dwell on negative stories. That’s not very good for the kids because they do get nightmares and get scared. So I would really recommend parents not to expose their kids to fear so early in life. I was unlucky as I was made to listen to these stories by maybe maids or nannies. So I would be afraid of the dark sometimes when there is really no need to be.

Q17. Do you read thrillers (Alfred Hitchcock)? Did you read such content as a kid?

Not a fan of the reading.

Q18. What are your favorite Thrillers, any supernatural thriller that really spooks you?

Sixth sense was a brilliant film and freaked me out. Omen and Exorcist also. But I am not a big fan of The Saw and films like that which show allot of gore... that’s not my kind of entertainment.

Q19. Thrillers are generally seen as a one time watch. Do you think 13B is the same, or would it be something people can go back to over and over again?

It’s like sixth sense. I could assure you that no one  in the theatre would have the gumption to get up and say I don’t want to see or tell me what is going to happen next. I think till interval the kind of intrigue that we end up creating is at par or better that any international film that I have seen. That’s why I would like to come back and see if that I have been lied to in the first of the film. Then you would realize that there is a connection with every scene in the second part and for academic purposes people would see that it’s finely tuned and see that all the answers are there in the first half. So, yeah you’d want to watch it again to figure it out.

 

Q20. What’s the kind of audience (age etc?) you anticipate for this film?

I don’t think there is a barricade. I think it will get the U/A certificate because of the supernatural and horror. But by and large I think anyone who is of legitimate age would enjoy the film.

Q21. Any instances with Harry (the dog), that were particularly interesting?

I love animals I always had a pet since childhood. And I am part of PETA. I get really upset if they are treated badly. As far as the dog in the film is concerned he was more of the star on the sets than I was, it was fun and he was an obedient dog and well trained too.