'My trademark moustache stays in my Hollywood debut too'

Actor Napoleon, whose films with rustic backdrops like Seevalaperi Paandi and Ettupatti Raasa enjoyed a cult status in the 90’s has forayed into Hollywood. The film will be produced by someone he calls in the due course of conversation as his ‘friend for life’, Tel Ganesan. Ganesan, who lives in Michigan connects us to Napoleon in Nashville prior to their breakfast. “It has been 10 years since I moved to the US and I am still getting used to American English. Someone asked me to clear my trashcan and I was wondering what to do. But now I am glad that things have gotten better and I have made my debut in Hollywood through my friend Tel Ganesan,” Napoleon laughs and says .

Back home, being hugely popular for his rustic looks, wasn’t it a huge leap in his career? “It definitely is, but one has to adapt to the place he lives in. I cannot expect someone to make a film with a pastoral backdrop sitting here in the US. I was told that I play a museum curator in Devil’s Night. ‘Curator na? Oh! Museum incharge ah? Apdi sollunga’ is what I had to tell them. So, my body language had to change accordingly. Be it Tamil or Hollywood films, one thing I haven’t let go is my trademark moustache,” he says with a hearty laugh. Tel Ganesan, who hails from Tiruchy says that the film is a crime thriller and will be story-driven. “The international audience wouldn’t ask for films like how we do it in Tamil cinema. There are a lot of ingredients that a Tamil movie viewer looks for. Devil’s Night isn’t a clichéd film with fights, punch dialogues and songs. Films and food in a region go hand-in-hand, I would say. In TN, you need sambar, rasam, avial, vegetables and an appalam to complete a platter. Similarly, films in the US too need a lot of elements to satiate a moviebuff’s appetite,” he tells us and Napoleon shouts ‘Bingo’.

“Exactly Tel. I was fed a burger on location every day. And the movie too is something like that. It has layers to it. I also miss my food on locations in Tamil Nadu as much as I miss our industry. I wanted to do more films but I had to shift to America due to my son’s health condition. I will be back in Tamil films soon,” adds Napoleon. The duo says that they had initially planned for a grand release in India. “We wanted to promote the film across cities but COVID had other plans. However, we have another film that will release post the end of the pandemic and that will release on a bigger scale,” they sign off by clicking a selfie and sharing it with us.