Mark Antony required massive R&D, says director Adhik

CHENNAI: We walk into the sets of Adhik Ravichandran’s Mark Antony and it is buzzing. Inside of what is a recreational club from the Madras of the 60s, we see actors Vishal and SJ Suryah rehearsing the scene while Adhik is coordinating with stunt choreographer Dinesh Subbarayan on what is their next plan of action. Adhik has a couple of minutes to spare, and he says, “It has been a lot of work to pull this off. Mark Antony is not only the biggest film of my career but also it required a lot of research.”

He points to Vishal’s kurta and lungi and SJ Suryah’s pointed collar shirt and pockets in his trousers and explains, “Look at what they are wearing. These aren’t costumes you could get in a mall. Every thing is customised and needs to be stitched all over when something goes wrong in between the shoot. The sets, the makeovers are all from the 60s that required a lot of R&D. We did that before we started off with each schedule,” he tells us.

Adhik opens up that Mark Antony was supposed to be the second film of his career. “After Trisha Illana Nayanthara I wanted to do Mark Antony. Destiny had it that another movie ended up being my second film and I don’t want to elaborate further on that. There is a reason why this film is happening now and I can say that it is only for the better,” he concludes. Producer Vinod of Mini Studio enters the sets to ask the team about the plan for the next day. The camera rolls as Vishal and SJ Suryah enter a different zone altogether.