'I owe one to Lokesh Kanagaraj, Sri Ganesh for what I am today'

CHENNAI: Actor Vatsan Chakravarthy has been winning laurels for his latest role of a Madurai-based gangster named Sethu in Kuruthi Aattam. However, the work he put in behind the role was immense.

From playing a coming-of-age romantic in Engeyum Eppodhum to a dreaded gangster in Kuruthi Aatam wasn’t a cakewalk for Vatsan.

“I had played the antagonist in a Telugu film titled Arjun Suvaram that had Nikhil Sidharth in lead role. For Kuruthi Aattam, director Sri Ganesh wanted an antagonist in a completely different dimension. He had met real-life gangsters in Madurai and narrated the story to me. At that time, I was in a lean muscle physique with around 75-80 kilos. He asked if I could put on 20 more kilos and yet look muscular. I sat with my trainer Antony Kumar, who is Mr India and worked on my body anatomy. Sethu is a character who drinks and smokes. So, I need to look ripped at 100 kgs and at the same time I had to ensure that my packs are not visible. I trained for 120 days to look the part,” the actor told DT Next.

On the sets, Sri Ganesh put Vatsan to test by making him frequent tea shops. “The director asked me to go to tea shops and get teas with a wink of the eye as that is what real gangsters do. They don’t really make a scene. I was in awe with Ganesh’s vision. He even showed me how to cut bodies into pieces. He is such a soft-spoken person but Ganesh is something else on the sets,” laughed Vatsan.

Vatsan is overwhelmed about how Kuruthi Aatam came across as a right break to him in a career that has spanned over a decade. “After Engeyum Eppodhum I had made a few bad decisions that took a toll on my career. I hit the gym hard and that is where I reinvented myself. I also happened to meet Lokesh Kanagaraj, who is my friend and mentor. He offered me the role in Kaithi and also had me in mind for a role in Master. It was him who offered me the role in a phase where I was struggling. I couldn’t take it up because I was focused on Kuruthi Aatam. He wanted me to play the role of an angry young man and that is the meter I took up, which has now opened avenues for me,” he remarked.