In no hurry, absolutely
MALATHI RANGARAJAN
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'Naan Avan Illai' is a hit, ‘Machchakkaaran’ is in the offing and Jeevan’s steps continue to be cautious and unhurried.
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Making the right choices: Jeevan
Surely and steadily, Jeevan has been climbing up the winning ladder, and with his latest ‘Naan Avan Illai’ he has notched up a hit again. “But my feet are firmly on the ground. The euphoria and the offers that are coming my way aren
’t for me. They are for the victory of ‘Naan Avan Illai.’ Those who’ve always been with me and will continue to be on my side are my childhood friends,” is Jeevan’s matter-of-fact stand. Recently Jeevan created a ripple with the accident he met on the sets of his present project, ‘Machchakkaaran.’ “I’m better. It was stunt sequence and I had a bad fall,” he says.
‘University,’ his debut, hardly created a flutter. But it was the tousle-haired look he sported in the film that won him the part of Pandya, the cantankerous villain of ‘Kaaka Kaaka.’ “No more villain roles. I’ve cut my hair short and I’m willing to wait,” he had told you then.
And wait he did, till ‘Thiruttu Payalae’ happened. “I told you, didn’t I? Even if it’s anti, my role is the pivot,” he said cheerfully. Now with ‘Naan Avan Illai’ he seems to have revived interest in the anti hero genre. Jeevan has done just four films in about as many years and seems to be in no hurry at all.
Did he watch the ‘Naan …’ original before the shoot? “No. Only afterwards. It’s incredible that K. Balachander could have conceived such a different kind of story more than 30 years ago! Gemini Ganesh’s ‘Naan …’ was definitely much ahead of its times!” says Jeevan, with awe.
Having a bevy of beauties, especially Sneha, around for ‘Naan Avan Illai’ must have been an unforgettable experience. He laughs and adds: “Though Sneha is an experienced actor, there was no ego at all. And I kind of managed the jigs with Namitha for the duet, shot on the sands in Dubai, don’t you think?”
Dance is one area Jeevan is diffident about. “No. Whether I know or not, I’m never diffident about anything. It’s just that I’m not comfortable. Shaking a leg at discos is easy. But film dance is a different ball game. Stunts and emotions are any day easier,” he avers. Probably it’s a mental block. “Yeah! May be,” he agrees.
The first 10 days of ‘Naan …’ had Jeevan doing a lot of theatre hopping. “Even after the first show I knew that the audience liked the film. ‘Naan Avan Illai’ they kept saying as they came out. The line seems to have caught on,” he laughs.
Charting his course
You remember that in ‘Kaaka Kaaka’ his voice was dubbed. “Yeah! They felt a more baritone voice was required. But in my other films, including ‘Naan …’ my voice has worked, I feel,” he says. He was a soft, pining, taciturn hero in ‘University.’ Will he play a hopeless romantic again? “Come on! I don’t think people will accept me going around with a rose and a forlorn look,” smiles Jeevan.
For a novice who has none to advise him in the line, Jeevan chooses films very sensibly. “I firmly believe God is guiding me. It’s just the gut feeling I get when I listen to a story that makes me accept a project,” he says. Neither his parents nor his bro and sis are film buffs. Cinema is still a stranger in the Jeevan household.
With his career graph moving upward, his lifestyle too ought to have seen changes. “No way! Everything’s the same. I’ve been in the same apartment since my ‘University’ days. And I still drive around in my old Esteem,” he smiles.
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