The young team of Kaithi reportedly worked only at night in extreme temperatures and ended up losing a few pounds. The crew of the Karthi starrer was all praise for director Lokesh Kanagaraj‘s working style and clarity in the staging of scenes at a recent interaction.
The director apparently called up music director Sam CS recently to compose for a short film he had in mind. “We respect the art and stay true to our profession,” said Sam CS and added, “Kaithi may not be in the regular template that a film is obligated to follow, but it has an emotional backing. Karthi sir has added value to my music with his commendable performance throughout the film. Editor Philomin Raj was more of an AD than an editor in the film. He tortured me more than the director did, with his endless calls,” he quipped lightheartedly.
The one-night story, which seems to be a favourite of the director’s (Maanagaram too was set in one night), had cinematographer Sathyan Sooryan employing only one headlight from the lorry used in the film, in some of the scenes. “When the script was narrated to me, I realised I would be shouldering a huge responsibility which only increased after Karthi sir was roped into the film {initially to be headlined by someone else}.”
Vijay TV fame Dheena and Mariam George will be seen essaying serious roles in the film. Dheena stated that he always turned out to be the victim of the actors Karthi and Narain’s jokes on set. “In the film, I would be dictating the two of them, but once the camera stops rolling, I got caught between the two. In one moment I’m the ‘hero’ and the very next, I’m a politician in their eyes,” laughed Dheena.
Actor Ramana said that he witnessed another dimension of the film during its dubbing. “There’s a three-minute tight close-up shot of Karthi anna performing in the film. I had goosebumps when I witnessed it,” said the actor.
Actor Narain who has been out of action for a while in the Tamil industry makes a comeback with Kaithi. The actor, who was reportedly roped in by Karthi, has good screentime in the film. The actor thanked the team for launching the trailer on his birthday. “This is my second innings. I thank my best friend, Karthi (anna or thambi? he pondered) for giving me this opportunity.”
Lokesh Kanagaraj said that he had no idea about who would play the lead, and the film happened only because producer SR Prabhu suggested that actor Karthi essay the role. “People have always told me that it’s hard to break the stereotypical pattern of filmmaking and I wanted to give it a try. Fortunately, Karthi sir agreed to the film despite the lack of commercial aspects. I’m pretty sure all directors want to make films like this but haven’t stumbled upon the chances to,” said the director.
Producer SR Prabhu said that Lokesh is one director who strives to make a complete film. The two-and-a-half-hour action-filled movie reportedly had a less-than fifty pages script book. “Lokesh is one director with whom we can blindly go ahead on hearing just the one-line. I was impressed with how the small idea was shaping up and decided to rope in Karthi sir to essay the lead. The movie was shot in lesser number of days when compared to Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru but contains more action than it contained,” said Prabhu.
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Actor Karthi reportedly loves to learn of the background of a story and the graph of a character before he takes up a script. He found a lot of scope for performance and was ready to take on the challenges in this script. Lokesh and Karthi together curated the personality of the lead role and wanted to take the harder path to enhance the script. “Lokesh can only be found talking about cinema. I don’t know how his wife puts up with him,” joked Karthi who added, “The film is a wonderful platform for all the technicians and actors. It is a multi-hero film where every character possesses a different shade. This is the most disciplined set I’ve ever seen. The entire team respected the actors performing and I couldn’t help but reiterate the fact to Lokesh.”
Kaithi is set to hit the screens tomorrow (25 October 2019).
Watch the trailer here: