An Exclusive Interview With Dhanush
He became an overnight star after the grand success of Kolaveri Di and with his debut movie Raanjhnaa, he marked his entry into the Bollywood also. The National Award winning actor again proved his worth in his second movie Shamitabh opposite Amitabh Bachchan. He gets candid about his personal and professional life.
You tend to experiment more in Bollywood. Is that true; does it give you more scope?
Down South, I have a certain kind of image but not every film that I do is different. Suddenly I’ll do a complete masala film, then I’ll do an offbeat film and then I’ll do some experimental roles. But here I don’t have any image; I only did two films. I don’t expect to see me in any specific way which gives me a lot of liberty to play around with the characters that I do and to experiment with my roles that I play. So that’s a great liberty an actor can wish for and right now I’m really enjoying this.
How has Bollywood been to you?
It has been phenomenally nice. I really didn’t expect this kind of warm reception from Bollywood, the audience and the critics. When Raanjhnaa came, I was really overwhelmed by the response. The people accepted the film and I presume that they accepted me as well. So I have my gratitude, I’m really thankful to god and Anand L. Rai for giving me such a fantastic film and role to play. And I thank the audience, press, critics and the media; everybody for being nice to me and for welcoming me in such a beautiful way.
You’ve been an actor, producer, lyricist and a playback singer also – which one did you enjoy the most?
Acting
So this is the place where you’ll like to venture…?
Well direction is my passion, but that’s the toughest job. So I need to learn more, I need to be patient and whenever I think the time is right, it might be 2 or 3 years or maybe next week; I don’t know. Acting is the easiest out of all the things that you mentioned. So right now I’m enjoying it.
Down South you’ve been tremendously brilliant. Do you think Kolaveri Di was like a breakthrough to get into Bollywood?
No, I can understand why one would think like that, but that’s not how it happened. Actually Anand L. Rai had Raanjhnaa in his hand. And he didn’t know what to do with it. These were his words. Then apparently the National Award result came out that year and he was wondering who won the national award this year and they played my clip from that film on YouTube. Then he was like “I want something like this boy.” And then he was auditioning a lot of people and was trying for several months to cast somebody like me but it just didn’t work for him. So Anand L. Rai didn’t know where to go with his film. And then Kolaveri Di came – it just made it easier for him to reach me. But what gave me Raanjhnaa was my Tamil film Aadukalam.
What was your reaction when you were offered the film?
I thought that he is a madman. Like why is this guy so keen on casting me in his film? You’re saying some impossible numbers as a budget and with a newcomer how will you pull off this budget? He said, “That’s my problem don’t worry about it. Will you do this film?” I was like okay. You’ve given me a great script, you’ve given me a great character to play and readily I will play this part. But how will you manage? He said, “No I’ll take care of that, just do this film.” I said okay, I’ll do your film. After that I thought this man’s not going to call me back; he’s going to go back and people are going to just put sense into his head. Three months past and there was nothing from him. Three months later he called me and said, “Next week we need you for a photo-shoot.” Then I was like “Okay, this man is actually serious” and I agreed to go. Then I went and I really didn’t think this would happen. But that man’s conviction and belief in a script, in his character and in me was unbelievable. And I’m very glad; as an actor I was really overwhelmed to think that one man from a different industry would keep so much faith in me and would want me to perform that particular character was really overwhelming. I’m always thankful to AnandRai for giving me Raanjhnaa; it’s done wonders for me.
Bollywood movies need a lot of promotions in comparison to regional cinema. Do they irritate you at times?
It is not irritating. You see it’s not like its irritating or I’m getting tired. I’m just getting used to it because this is new to me.
But why do you think Bollywood needs such extensive promotions?
Well there’s a larger area to reach right? To reach out to those many numbers of people, you need this kind of promotion which I completely understand – also television is there. There are some million films, million daily soaps and million reality shows in a day to watch and for the audience to step out and pay money and then watch your film, you have to really go out there and tell them about your film.
You’ve come from an industry which is known for being disciplined.
I’m really surprised when people ask me this question because I’ve done two films and I’ve not found any difference at all.
People say that when actors from the Hindi film Industry go and work in South, “they’re so disciplined”. Do you feel the same?
I’ve worked both there and here. I probably got the best of the units. But I have not found any differences between both the industries.
What would be your preference – Bollywood or South films?
See for me, it’s the script. I take a script and I read it. I don’t see which language it is in. I see how the script is. If it’s really compelling then I will do it. If it’s in Tamil, in Telugu, in Hindi, in Malayalam anything, but if it’s a great script, I want to be a part of it.
One thing that you love about Bollywood that you don’t get in regional cinema?
Cinema is cinema. It’s all the same.
But the industry difference…
Well then I think I am yet to see more of the Bollywood industry to comment on that. I’ve seen very little.
You worked with Sonam in your first film and in Shamitabh you’ve shared screen space with Akshara. How was it working with a newcomer and that too somebody from South?
I never found her as a newcomer. She was very comfortable from Day 1 – she was very confident. And of course having a guide like R. Balki worked a lot in her favour and she’s done a very convincing job in the film. I wish her all the very best for the future. This film demanded a different kind of chemistry, very subtle, very little and yet very expressive. So whatever the script demanded we have tried to give it…I don’t know. If it’s really good it goes to Balki. If it’s not good it goes to Balki.
Who are the other actresses you want to work with?
I’m really willing to work with anybody who will suit the script; it’s all about who will suit the script.
How challenging was it to act without speaking in Shamitabh?
It was very very challenging. I might take a lot of time to say a line, but he would have dubbed it really short. And then I might say something really quick and he may have dubbed it really long because the acting method was completely different. But then it was a new challenge. I really thought about it. I really sat and more than doing any physical homework, I had to think a lot. Think like how I can use it to my advantage. So then I realised that there’s this chance for me to find a new dimension in my acting. So generally it would have took me a lot of time to say a line. I mean of course carrying Amitjis voice on screen is not easy; such a majestic voice and such a well-known voice. I mean even when you’re sleeping – just a ‘hi’ from him and you’ll get to know it’s his voice. So it was really challenging, but we managed to finish it. But Amitji was generous enough to read out portions to suit my facial expressions, which was really generous and kind of him to do so. I’m really thankful for his cooperation for being patient and making me comfortable walking onto the sets without carrying the aura of a legend.
So the language problem was also an issue?
No, see Raanjhnaa was there. But by the time I finished Raanjhnaa especially by the time I finished dubbing for Raanjhnaa, words were no longer alien to me. I found out how to use ‘h’ alphabet in the language because in Tamil, there’s no ‘h’. So I’m used to speaking a language where there’s no ‘h’ at all. Here on the other hand, there is a lot of ‘h’. Bhabhi, khaana, you know? It was difficult and I was shocked throughout the dubbing. Himanshu who was the writer for the film sat with me for the dubbing and was very patient with me. We took about 8-9 days to dub the film. But I’m really glad that I successfully dubbed for the film.
Are you taking any diction classes?
No, I don’t think there is anything like practice that can help you to learn something well. So I just have to do more films.
Did you talk fluently in Hindi now?
No, see more than knowing the words I lack the confidence to speak. I feel I might say something wrong. Something abusive or something dirty without my knowledge. Especially in press conferences, you don’t want to be there.
With a star like Amitabh and a director like R. Balki, do you think expectations automatically go up high?
My responsibility was to live up to Balki sir’s expectations out of me and to play the character that was given to me. All the other responsibilities I’ll happily leave to Balki and just enjoy. (laughs)
Are you too shy, talkative or a very outgoing person?
I am a little shy yes. It takes a time to go and say hi or probably I might not say; I’ll leave from there. I take my time. But if I get comfortable I can get quite talkative.
Apart from acting what are your interests?
I love reading books, watching movies and playing with my kids.
Any of the books you’d like to make a film on?
I would love to make TheTalisman and Child 44. I would have loved to have made Hannibal: The Rising.
When do we get to hear another single from you?
No, I can’t follow it up. It just happened. I had nothing to do with what happened with Kolaveri Di. It just happened.
But you love singing?
I am open to singing if a music director is willing to take the risk.
Photography :
Sunny Mathews for Effective Communication
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