Right now, Kavin seems to be the darling of Tamil social media; anything involving him is bound to go viral. Offline too, the producer of his upcoming film Star, at the film’s press meet, calls him the “next big thing in Tamil cinema”.
Mere minutes after such high praise, I am in his hotel room watching him order vegetable rolls before we sit down to talk about his film. “What’s with the veg rolls?” I ask. “Inniku kovil ku ponen (I visited a temple earlier today),” says a smiling Kavin, visibly unperturbed by the buzz he has garnered. “My target has always been the same and it’s something Nelson (director) anna taught me; to stay happy in our day-to-day lives. Everything else is just a matter of one Friday.”
The young actor continues, “If I spend 50 days on a film, the agenda is to keep myself peaceful during its making and the attachment for it is only till I’m done with the promotions. I feel that if we get detached from a film, its success or failure will affect us minimally. Success is paramount and that’s what we work towards from day one, but the end result is not in our hands. My biggest wish right now is for Star to do better than Dada.”
Excerpts from an interview:
Is it that easy to stay grounded?
Be it the money or anything else I’m getting, they are all byproducts of the work that I’m doing. My personal life is completely different from all of this. I hang out with 10 friends with whom I play PlayStation. The idea is to stay away from phones and other gadgets. At one point of time, I wondered if I could buy a new bike and didn’t even dare to imagine getting myself a car. But when it happens today, I realise it’s because of doing something right.
We watch films from other languages and series from all over the world. But what piques our interest is the content that is new. Dada, for example, would have been an ordinary love story if we had removed the subplot involving the child.. I’m in no hurry to attempt everything, but there should be variety. The idea is to make someone who visits my filmography after a few years feel ‘indha paiyan ellame try pannirukan’ (this guy has tried it all).
Kavin in a still from ‘Star’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
When you do a film like ‘Star’ which is about a person’s life journey, there will be scenes that remind you of what you went through. Was it a nostalgic walk or did you have to relive any bad memories?
That pain really did come back; deep within, it will always be there. There’s a scene where my character goes ‘indha moonjiya neenga paapeeenga da’ (you will see this face again).Though we might not have said that to someone out loud, we definitely harbour such feelings within us. Such moments help me perform naturally while doing a similar scene.
You said you used the Hindi film ‘Sanju’ as a reference for ‘Star’, and another film that comes to mind is ‘Vaaranam Aayiram’. Both these films starred experienced actors. What made you pick ‘Star’ at such an early stage in your career?
In the beginning, that was the question and later, I realised that was also the answer; I felt that doing such a story as my fourth film adds value to my filmography. I had the confidence that I could pull it off as well.
My next film (Bloody Beggar) is with a director with whom I’ve discussed multiple stories over the years. When he earlier came to me with a different story almost a decade ago, I asked him why he narrated that to me; in fact, I told him the names of actors I thought would be a better fit. Though we trust each other, we also needed a producer to trust us with such a script.
‘Star’ seems to be an intense and emotional film that has a lot of scope to really push yourself as an actor…
Yes, it’s one of the reasons I accepted the film. I have a certain level of confidence in what I know and what I can do. But I cannot put it out there randomly; it needs the right platform. Star gave me the feeling that it was a film with which I could prove my potential.
Kavin in a still from ‘Star’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
It’s been more than a year since ‘Dada’ came out, so why the long gap?
Bloody Beggar is ready. I knew Star would take eight to nine months to be completed. It’s the story of a man’s life since childhood. I calculated it in such a way that I should do two films parallelly. My film with dance choreographer Sathish (in this directorial debut) and Anirudh sir’s music is also shaping up well. Based on this, I’ll plan my future commitments.
For someone who is just starting out, this is all new to me. I want to concentrate only on one film, and we have seen others who have collapsed by signing multiple projects simultaneously. If that’s the case with me, imagine how it is for stars who have consistently given us hits and amassed massive crowds as fans.
I worked (as an assistant director) on Beast and I saw how long this process takes. Be it Atlee sir, Nelson anna or Loki (Lokesh Kanagaraj) anna’s films, given their scale, the shooting itself is predetermined to take at least six months. I’m not sure if I can stick to the timelines I’ve set for myself but Bloody Beggar will be out this year for sure.
As an upcoming actor, what’s your take on current-day stardom?
It’s akin to the stars we see in the sky; they are there one day and disappear the next… only for them to reappear again later (smiles). It’s an unstable profession. Cinema has been there since it was invented… but not everyone who was there when it started, is still up and running today. Cinema dhaan enna kapathudhu; namma vandi ippo oduthu, petrol theerura varaikum odite irrupen (Cinema is what’s saving me now and keeping the wheels moving; I’ll keep running till the fuel runs out). That’s all I’m aiming for.
Star is slated to hit theatres on May 10
