Ball is in Trivikram's court: Suriya

Suriya, ahead of the release of ’24’, is confidence personified. Saying that the film may not be a trend-setter but a novel one at that, he talks about working with Vikram, the finesse brought to the film by different departments, dubbing in Telugu, doing a straight Telugu film, and more.  

How did this film fall in place?

I was told that Vikram Kumar wanted to do a remake of ‘Manam’ with me. I was thinking of politely declining it. However, when he met me, he went on narrating another story.  That’s ’24’. It was to be a 30-minute meeting. But he ended up narrating the exciting story for four-and-a-half hours. The way he narrates a story, he would need a large room to enact. He gave the narration without having even a glass of water!  

What is the title justification?

We have made the film on a huge budget of Rs. 75 cr. Let the audience come to the theatre to know the connection of the title to the story.

Like ‘Seventh Sense’ and ‘Brothers’, this film has an element of science. Why do you often experiment?

With due respect to others, I like to make films with novelty. Commercial films become hits, but it’s films like ‘Sagara Sangamam’, ‘Baahubali’, ‘Eega’ and ‘Manam’ that are remembered for long. I am not claiming that I am making great cinema. But I feel there should be content-driven films.  

Besides playing three roles in the movie, you have also produced it. How difficult was it?

I felt very great and proud. I have watched the footage without BGM and post AR Rahman’s BGM. Not just me, the entire unit is proud of the film.

Coming to other departments, how did everything fall in place?

’24’ is sci-fi, but the story is Indian. This is not a copy of some Hollywood movie. The make-up director has done movies like ‘Krish-3’ and ‘Bajirao Mastani’.  Jyothika’s brother who has worked with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Karan Johar and Priyadarshan, got us the best art direction and CGI teams.   

Did you always want to make the film in both Telugu and Tamil?

I wouldn’t claim that we have made a trend-setting film. All that I can say is, we have made a film belonging to a new genre. When I heard the story, the one thing on my mind was: are we saying anything new in this movie?  I didn’t think on the lines of whether Telugu or Tamil audience will like it. The audience are smarter than the filmmakers.  

Do you think of ‘Singham’ and ‘Sikandar’ as commercial movies?

I don’t think so. ‘Singham’ tells the story of a youngster who values certain cultural values, etc. He has a family. That’s why the emotions were so relatable. That’s why it was remade into Hindi. I heard that in police training camps, clippings from the film are shown to the trainees. That says it all.

When are you dubbing again for yourself in Telugu?

I have dubbed for myself in ‘Brothers’ and ‘Raktha Charitra’. But it’s not possible to dub every time.  It’s because there is back log work and such things which keep me busy.

When are you doing a straight Telugu film?

I have known Chandrasekhar Yeleti since the days of ‘Anukokunda Oka Roju’. As for a film with Trivikram Srinivas, the ball is in his court. There are some ideas which we have been discussing.