‘I craved for cream bun at midnight while shooting for Hero’

Dressed in a grey Armani shirt,Sivakarthikeyan meets us at a city café to talk about his film Hero hitting the screens in a few hours. It took some time for the actor to get in to his usual cheerful mode. We ask if it is because of the jitters ahead of Hero’s release, he says, “No. I am having a bad cold and there is a lot of dust flying around because of the set work of my next film Doctor. That’s the reason, doctor ke odambu seri illama pochu (Even the doctor is under the weather).”

The trailer of Hero went on to create a record of sorts upon its release a few days ago. The actor will be playing a superhero for the first time in his career. Tell him a superhero flick like Mugamudi wasn’t accepted by the Tamil audience, he says, “There will be some elements that is associated with Sivakarthikeyan’s previous films. However, as the story develops, it will be convincing for the audience. A superhero film is something that is not often explored in Tamil cinema. I am sure the film will not fall under the usual Sivakarthikeyan template of films. We had no qualms about the film’s acceptance.”

Talking about the “Sivakarthikeyan template” of films, in which the audience have often been critical of his performances for “imitating” Rajinikanth or Vijay, he says, “After Hero releases, there will be talks on why Sivakarthikeyan has attempted something like Christopher Nolan. According to me, every film I work on is a learning and I don’t deliberately do things like what others have done for decades. Moreover, having a template of my own is a success to me as it has only been eight years since my film debut.”

The film, which takes a dig at our education system, will have SK riding a superbike and wearing a mask, along with a harness. “Performing the role wasn’t a challenge. However, handling the superbike and wearing the mask was a little tasking. The bike was assembled for the film and doesn’t belong to any specific automobile brand. In fact, there will be a scene in the film in which you will see me assembling the bike. If you had come to the sets, you would have seen me eating a cream bun with the mask on. We were shooting during the night once when I craved for a cream bun. We asked someone from the unit to look for a shop that is open at midnight and buy one for us,” he smiles as he looks at the cupcakes being served on the next table at the cafe. “I will have one before I leave,” he says and talks about Arjun’s role in the film. “In Irumbu Thirai, Arjun sir had asked Mithran why was he cast in a negative role. In Hero, his role will be positive and I seek help from him. Apart from Arjun sir, Abhay Deol was cast because we wanted someone suave. Though there are many such characters in Tamil cinema of late, Abhay’s won’t be a run-of-the-mill role,” he clarifies.

On his upcoming films, Siva says, “I am now shooting for Doctor with Nelson. I wanted to do a film with Nelson because, he was the one who gave me my first chance in films. I was his assistant director in Vettai Mannan. I will shoot for 35 days from January for my sci-fi film with Ravikumar. Post that, I will have to allocate dates for my film with Vignesh Shivn,” he concludes.