Director H Vinoth, who is making Dheeran Adhigaram Ondru with Karthi in the lead, spoke to Ananda Vikatan about the film, and described Karthi as a “complete” actor.
Dheeran Adigaram Ondru is an action film based on a tough police officer. Speaking about how it came about, Vinoth says that he had originally written a script based on a news report in 2005, but required a big budget to pull it off. Vinoth had therefore put it aside and began working on Sathuranga Vettai. Later, through director R Saravanan, he met police officers who helped give him background info on police cases, and managed to collect about 400 documents detailing police procedures. All this inspired him to turn his 2005 script into a commercial film around a DSP who travels to different parts of the country to solve the case. The DSP is Dheeran Thirumaran, and his story became Dheeran Adhigaram Ondru.
Vinoth says that the Police officers he met during research feel that Tamil cinema either mocks police officers, or treats them badly, and points to an instance where a junior officer is sitting down while questioning his senior officer. Vinoth therefore wanted to portray the body language, decorum, behaviour of the cops in his film better, and employed a retired police offer to train Karthi and the other cast members.
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Talking of his lead actor, Vinoth says he warned Karthi that the film demands shooting in the heat and dust of North India, and that it would be tiring. Karthi assured Vinoth that he was used to extreme weather – shooting for Aayirathil Oruvan and Paruthiveeran had prepared him for it. Vinoth says that over the 45 day, no-break schedule across India, even while other cast and crew were seriously affected by the heat, Karthi managed to keep his cool and was committed to the film. Vinoth says, “If one does not have the physical and mental strength, an actor cannot perform this well. Yes! Karthi is a complete actor.”
Dheeran Adhigaram Ondru features Rakul Preet Singh opposite Karthi, with music by Ghibran. Sathyan Suriyan is the cinematographer.