‘I only wanted to play thambi to Rajini, Vijay or Ajith’

October 08, 2016 04:37 pm | Updated November 01, 2016 11:41 pm IST

Sivakarthikeyan describes his ascent to superstardom using terms like ‘market expansion’, ‘brand building’ and ‘strategising’

Siva in 'Remo'

Siva in 'Remo'

“You can call me Mrs. Doubtfire,” jokes Sivakarthikeyan, when we ask if he had “doubts” about entrusting a challenging film like Remo to a first-timer (Bakkiyaraj Kannan). “When I listened to the script, I couldn’t visualise it beyond the point where my character becomes a woman. I can imagine playing a cop, but a woman? We kept trying dozens of looks to get it right and even after that, I had to dub the entire film four times, in a woman’s voice. Of course I had doubts… Remo is all trial and error.”

Not that he regrets taking all this effort. He calls the film a step towards making universal films, or as the MBA graduate in him calls it, “market expansion”. “I noticed that my films were being accepted in Malaysia, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh/Telangana. But with a film like Remo, I felt I could market it aggressively. No one spends Rs.1000 to buy a ticket for my film here and as long as that’s the case, I need to rely on markets outside if I were to try ambitious films in the future, like a superhero movie.”

Ever since he became a solo hero with Ethir Neechal , Siva has believed in planning meticulously . This “strategising” has resulted in a dream run of six consecutive hits. “I have to,” he says. “I don’t have any mentors to guide me.” When asked to elaborate, he says he’s set several rules for himself. “I will never act in more than a film at one time. I won’t accept a film just for money. I won’t smoke in a film.” He adds one more, “And I won’t show bloodshed.” The last rule, he has added after after Maan Karate , seeing how popular he is among children. “Theatre owners tell me that it’s the children who bring in their parents for my films. Not the other way round.”

These rules are important to him because he’s only interested in commercial films. “When I was a kid,” he says, “I would only consider Rajni sir’s films as films. Movies need to have that connect with you. They need to give you energy. No matter how many awards a film gets, it’s not a success unless the audience is entertained and the producer gets his money.”

And this is also why Siva displays a keen interest in the business side of films. He has his own sources who give him exact box-office figures of every Tamil film. “It’s not to compare or anything. It’s the only place where I use all the finance lessons I got during my MBA.”

Was being a hero part of his plan even during his MBA days? “When I was doing stand-up comedy, all I wanted was to be a TV anchor, because they got more screen time. Then I wanted to host a film-awards show, thinking someone would see me there and call me for a film. Even then, my dream was only to play a comedian or a younger brother to Rajini, Vijay, or Ajith. But when I approached directors, they would say wrong number and hang up.”

Despite these rejections, Siva has always believed in his chosen path. “My college friends kept warning me to not waste my life getting into TV, and insisted that I find a secure job.” What he told them was nothing less than a punch dialogue. “When you guys are selling someone else’s brands for a living, the only brand I will be selling is myself.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.