Vikram Prabhu feels that he couldn’t have got a better title for his thriller drama, releasing today. Neruppu Da works on many levels. “I play a firefighter. And, every element of the script — the motivation of people, the anger — is all driven by the fire within the characters,” he explains, “The fact that it is a trending word, thanks to the superhit song in Kabali , was a huge advantage.”
Vikram plays Guru in Neruppu Da , directed by Ashok Kumar, and is hoping that they have thrown light on a profession that has been rarely showcased in the movies. Kamal Haasan’s Michael Madana Kama Rajan had him as a firefighter in one of the roles, but “that was just for a few minutes”. “Here, we wanted to specifically bring out the selflessness of these characters.”
He’s referring to not just himself but his gang of friends — all hailing from a Housing Board colony — who aim to become firefighters. The core of the film, according to Vikram, is the friendship and camaraderie between these characters. “We wanted that to come out strongly,” he says.
For that, the team went out erecting elaborate sets in Kannagi Nagar on OMR, where they shot for about a month. “A few lakh people lived there and we wanted to place all these characters as one among them. We had a nice set of a clocktower put up. We wanted the audience to get an idea of where they come from and the lives they lead.”
The journey of Neruppu Da started in 2015, when he first heard the script. “I wanted to be fully in charge and didn’t want to end up blaming someone else if it didn’t work,” recalls Vikram, who has also produced the film, “The main challenge was to convert the script we believed in into the film we wanted to see on the big screen, and we’re happy with the way it has turned out.”
Up next for Vikram is a film with producer Kalaipuli Thanu. “I can’t reveal much about that at the moment,” he says guardedly, “But as an actor, it will be a huge challenge to take it up.”
