Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Entertainment | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Man of many roles

Vikram on himself, movies and social responsibility

Photo: K. Ananthan

A CONTENT MAN Vikram

Vikram is on a well-deserved break after Majaa and seems to be enjoying it. He has used the time well, trying out the stress-busting abilities of Ayurveda, catching up with his fans and promoting social causes.

There is still time to go before he starts shooting for Lingusamy's Bheema, produced by A. M. Ratnam. "An interesting movie ... I am enjoying getting into the role right now," he says.

Majaa has been a mixed bag for him. While some of his fans loved it, others felt he should have hogged all the screen space himself. "But I saw it as a film, not just my movie."

Clean film

For long, he had been wanting to do a clean film that families could watch "without flinching", and this movie gave him that chance. "The bonhomie shared during shooting still exists. We enjoyed the filming and have been meeting even after the movie."

Of late, rumours have been doing the rounds of his doing a Telugu film — his dubbed films command a huge market in Andhra. "I will be doing a Telugu film, but not immediately. All my films are anyway dubbed there. Maybe, I will do a Telugu film and dub it in Tamil," says the actor who was in the city to take part in an event organised by the Chiyaan Vikram Fan's Welfare Association.

After years of struggle, Vikram has tasted success and he is a happy man today. "I am content with what I have. Post Sethu, I get bound scripts and have the luxury of saying `yes' only when I am satisfied with it."

With the National award in hand and the super-duper success of Anniyan, how comfortable is he going to be with director Lingusamy? "I have told Lingu that he is the captain of the ship. I give him a lot of feedback and he can give me ideas. But, the final script will be something we both agree upon and which Lingusamy approves of."

There are five or six directors with whom Vikram is extremely comfortable working. "It is great working with Bala, Dharani and Balaji." As for a film with Bala, who gave him a life on screen with Sethu, "it will happen any time. The moment he has a script, we will start shooting."

The variety of roles he has essayed so far also ensures it is not difficult to shift gears from commercial to art films. "The artist in me loves Sethu and Pithamagan while the movie buff in me loves action films like Saamy and Dhool. I love watching romantic movies but won't do one myself."

Vikram has also directed movies, albeit for the small screen (Six episodes of Revathy's Chinna Chinna Aasai). Will he be doing that for the big screen? "Acting does not even take up even ten per cent of the effort that directing entails. During that shooting, I remember having breakfast at 12 and lunch in the wee hours of the morning. It is all-consuming. But, a movie is a different ball game. I am happy with the way things are rolling and can't just leave it all now."

The actor is also doing his bit for specially-abled children. He is the goodwill ambassador of Chennai-based Vidya Sudha, part of the Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, a learning centre for children with special needs.

A message

"This is my way of giving back to society. My wife is very socially conscious and she got me into this." What struck him most about the effort was the focus on preventive medicine. To spread the message, he has passed on brochures about the organisation to his fans. "I hope they pass the good word around."

SUBHA J RAO

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail