Five releases in 10 years is not much to boast of. But it was during that decade that Prithvi Rajan, son of actor Pandiarajan, learnt what cinema was.
This was just after he’d got an easy entry into tinseltown. “I used to see how cinema was a dream for so many people. People struggled to get opportunities to meet filmmakers. I didn’t do anything to enter films—it happened purely because of my dad,” admits Prithvi candidly.
But the advantage ends there. “Being the son of a celebrity, entry into filmdom is easy. But after that initial advantage, it is left to us to sustain that.”
The last 10 years — when he did a few films — was a learning curve. “I learnt what not to learn. I understood people. I observed and ensured I didn’t repeat my mistakes,” he recalls nostalgically.
2018 will perhaps be his biggest year. For the first time, he has four films — all ready for release. “It is exciting,” he says, “Once the ongoing strike gets over, I’ll have better clarity on the actual release dates.” But everything’s ready (“post production is also complete”) and that pleases him no end.
The first among them to hit screens is likely to be Thodraa, a love story with a lot of action sequences. Directed by Madhu Raj, who earlier worked with Bhagyaraj, Prithvi is looking forward to it. “It’s come out well. It’s based on a true incident that happened in Dharmapuri. The director narrated the storyline to Bhagyaraj sir first, who then referred my name for the lead role. One song in the film is very special, since it was sung by Simbu,” says Prithvi about the film that might be a summer release.
Then there’s Sagaa , directed by Murugesh, in which he plays the villain. “When the director came to narrate the script to me, I knew he had someone in mind for the lead role. So I was puzzled about the point of the narration. Once he completed, he said that he wanted to cast me for the villain’s role. It was a different outing for me,” says Prithvi.
Prithvi’s other release will be Street Lights , a Tamil-Malayalam bilingual produced by Mammootty. “There are three different storylines in the film,” reveals Prithvi, who also has a rom-com titled Kadhal Munnetra Kazhagam and a Madurai-based film lined up in the near future.
“I’m happy that there’s a lot of variety in my upcoming line-up of films. I’d like to be known as a good actor rather than a hero, and doing films in this variety of genres, I hope, will help me reach that goal.”
