The Hindu : Front Page : Terminator as villain in Tamil

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Thursday, Nov 13, 2008
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Terminator as villain in Tamil

Prema Manmadhan

KOCHI: After crossover films, Hollywood is crossing over to India. Former Mr. Universe Roland Kickinger, who dons the role of the killing machine in Terminator Salvation - The Future Begins, is playing the villain in the Kollywood movie Peraanmai.

Atop a hill in verdant Vagamon, the crane whirls around while hero Jayam Ravi and villain Kickinger grapple with a knife. The shot is taken again and cleared. The six-pack abs is clear and the biceps cry for attention.

“Vanakkam,” says Kickinger with a guffaw as he sits down later on a bench in the lush outdoors of Vagamon, where much of the movie is being shot. Wherever you turn, there are undulating green hills.

That was just what director Jananathan told him when he offered him the role, in Los Angeles — that he would be wonderstruck by the beauty of Kerala.

“Being directly in touch with nature is great. In Hollywood, most of the filming is done in the studios, whereas this is real outdoors,” says a beaming Kickinger, who replaces Arnold Schwarzenegger in the next of the Terminator series, the fourth. He is scheduled to play the T-800 character in the next two sequels too, he said.

Unforgettable

The 20 days spent shooting for Peraanmai is unforgettable, says Kicker. The fact that there are no pucca call-sheets as they have in Hollywood surprises him. “You work very hard here. There are more obstacles to overcome. In Hollywood we look at the clock, but not here. But the passion is the same,” says the Austrian-born who was inspired to be a body-uilder after watching Conan the Barbarian.

The 6 feet-5inches man was all praise for the art director of Peraanmai, Selvakumar whose missiles “looked so real.”

Tough role

He was as tight-lipped about his role in Peraanmai as that of Terminator Salvation…, except to say that it was a tough role, shooting in forests and tough terrain.

Was he game for another Indian film? Why not, asks Kickinger, who has developed a liking for some Indian dishes, like coconut rice.

Sacrifices

But that is only when he is not shooting. Otherwise he follows a very strict diet. “Nothing is attained without sacrifice,” says the 40-year-old who gives people free advice on his website on how to stay fit. He is planning a book on fitness.

Kickinger, who was a hotel manager in Vienna, simply moved to Los Angeles and lived in his car on the beach, while he learnt English and took acting classes, earning his living by competing in bodybuilding contests.

And now, he has simply clubbed the two to come out trumps, acting and body-building.

For this kind of a torso and rippling muscles, there is a price he pays: During the entire shoot of a film, he does not eat salt at all. It is a high-protein diet.

No milk at all? “Milk is for babies,” says the killing machine whose role has clear shades of Terminator in Peraanmai.

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