His current project pipeline runs quite long. The last time I called him, G.V. Prakash Kumar was shooting somewhere on location at Chennai’s East Coast Road for 4G , a fantasy film about magic and love. It sounds like a complete deviation of script, given that he’s been bracketed into the full-blown comedy genre of late ( Trisha Illana Nayanthara , Kadavul Irukaan Kumaru and the on-hold Bruce Lee ). Last year, he had three releases; for 2017, his target is hovering at a minimum of five.
On the sidetrack, music compositions are business as usual. He hasn’t burnt out, he assures me, but is worried that he’s tanned more. It has been more than two years since Prakash decided to take up acting following director A.R. Murugadoss’ advice. “I was not sure initially. I was asking him how it could be possible.” He started by taking a crash course in acting under his coach, Naren, for one month. “He constantly pushed me. Mind, body and dialogue delivery. He taught me eleven ways of walking.”
His last release, Kadavul Irukaan Kumaru (KIK) received quite a bit of flak — some said the humour was in bad taste, and others, borderline offensive. But he doesn’t seem to be thinking about that too much. “The film’s collection is all that matters (for me). My job is to pull the audience into the theatre. For a film to have done good business, it needs to gross Rs 10 crore or more.” And KIK managed to do that.
There’s a bigger plan behind these choices though. “To gather an audience, you have to earn their trust first. That’s why I did the comedy films. Comedy — as a performer, you have to overdo it, with slapstick.” But he’s sure he will not get stereotyped into this template. “That’s why I’m doing Adangathey . Did you see the teaser?” he asks.
It’s a genre-shift, all right. There’s an opening shot of a ghat in Varanasi; there’s Prakash dressed in a sadhu’s saffron get-up; and Mandira Bedi as a tough cop. Sarath Kumar and Surabhi are also part of the cast. “It’s one interesting film to watch out for,” he says.
The serious tone we see in Adangathey ’s teaser is what some audiences typically associate Prakash’s projects with, such as Mayakkam Enna , Aadukalam or Gangs of Wasseypur (this was all music, but). “I can always give a Gangs of Wasseypur score if I want. The script has to come to me. I am happy doing what I am doing. I don’t like to do the same thing again and again. I get claustrophobic if I do. It’s not about building four walls and staying within.”
There’s also a rural family drama — produced by national award-winning director Pandiraj — slotted into his schedule later. The challenging bit for him is getting the rural slang right.
Prakash, on the subject of variations, recounts his success rate with first-time directors. “Whichever newcomer I’ve worked with, they’ve had a good run, be it A.L. Vijay ( Kireedam ), M. Manikandan ( Kaaka Muttai ), Atlee ( Raja Rani ) or even Adhik Ravichandran ( Trisha Illana Nayanthara ). I have a feeling when I work with freshers, there’s a lot of magic that happens.”
But then, he did say last year that his actor’s profile is going to get a boost under two ‘big’ directors. It was earlier revealed that one of them was Rajiv Menon. The subject of the film? “A musical. Something like La La Land. Rajiv sir called me one day and narrated one line about a musician playing the lead. The character is a percussionist with a local flavour (he plays the mridangam).” The film is titled Sarvam Thaala Mayam . And A.R. Rahman has already composed nine songs for it, along with the background score.
“I’m happy that he came forward to do the film,” says Prakash. Menon and Rahman will be reuniting for a project after nearly 17 years. For Prakash and Rahman, it would be 22! In the 90s, he was the kid who crooned for his uncle’s albums, starting with Gentleman and ending with Indira .
“Well, I did work as his assistant for three years and then branched out, even though he was more of a guru for me. We have a nice bonding. And I’m one of his fans.”
In the acting arena, Prakash, as many others do, looks up first to Kamal Haasan. “The two best actors in India after him are Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Fahadh Faasil.”
I almost forget to ask who the other ‘biggie’ directing him is. “Vetrimaaran. All I can say for now is that the film will have a lot of nostalgia.”
