‘Starstruck by Mani’s screenplay, portrayal of women’

The breezy romance scenes in the teaser and trailer of Kaatru Veliyidai has been the talk of the town for over two weeks now. As we sit for the interview with Karthi and Aditi Rao Hydari, the actors were seen in a cheerful mood, still discussing the scenes from the film. 

Aditi begins by saying, “We didn’t want the shoot to be wrapped up and asked Mani sir if we could shoot for another day or if there were any patchwork left to be done.” 

Karthi who seconds his co-star gets nostalgic and says, “Be it the days when I was Mani sir’s assistant or playing the lead in his movie, which I still cannot believe, it was like going back home for me. It was a feel-good factor to meet the same people in the unit again and I got to spend more time with Mani sir after 10 years, discussing about movies.” 

Be it the Vaan song or the dialogues, ask them how did they manage to create such a wonderful chemistry between them, Karthi immediately says, “That is the power of Mani sir’s superior writing and we have seen that in his films before. The strong portrayal of women in his films and how he goes about writing scenes for them brings out the best in us. It can make any actor emote.” 

Karthik also adds that the comfort level on the sets of a movie can bring the best out of an actor. “When we shot for Kaatru Veliyidai, Mani sir ensured that his artists were comfortable. He cleared the crowd in at shooting spot, made sure that people were quiet, so it gave us time to relax and deliver what he exactly wanted from you,” he said. 

Aditi says that she had to make herself mentally present on the sets for that chemistry to work out well, especially since it is a love story. 

“Despite not knowing the nuances of the language, Mani sir explained it to me in such a way that whatever little I understood, moved me. Also, Karthi and I are sensitive people who feel for the situation. We also share mutual love and respect for the work we do and our director, which eventually helped in building trust and understanding for each other. 

Even off screen, I have a huge respect for Karthi. I didn’t watch any of his films or the rushes when we were shooting for the film because I wanted to understand Karthi as the person he is in the script and not Karthi as a star. He is a down-to-earth and a humble person apart from being a rock-solid performer. He is a co-star who cares for my performance and my comfort levels on the sets. 

When you have a person like Karthi opposite you, I felt my performance also goes to another level.” she says. Karthi says, “Before we began the shoot, I had to train to play a fighter pilot, met a few of them. In this film, I wanted to come out of the image of Karthi and transform myself as the character.

Initially, I thought Mani sir would start the shoot in a lighter way by canning love sequences. It turned out to be the other way around, as we started shooting the pre-climax scene,” he laughs. 

“I felt like I was being pushed into a well and started getting nervous. However, Aditi, except for the dialogues, wasn’t nervous at all and emoted beautifully,” added the actor. 

“I went to the spot mugging up the dialogue and uttered whatever I could before Mani sir said cut,” she recalls. While both the actor’s roles were revealed at the initial stage, Aditi reveals that she wanted to be a doctor in real-life and that has come true with Kaatru Veliyidai. 

“It took such a long time for me to understand that to be a doctor, one needs patience. In the movie, my character contrasts with that of Karthi’s. It is intense just like the romance in the film,” says the actress. Karthi meanwhile says that he thoroughly enjoyed working for the film. 

“After becoming an actor, I believed in my craft as well and it was more valuable as I was able to discuss with Mani sir about a lot of things. Apart from movies, we also spoke about his shots in movies like Pagal Nilavu and Ilaiyaraja sir’s background score for Mouna Raagam,” he says. 

On a concluding note, Karthi and Aditi said that Kaatru Veliyidai, set to hit the screens on April 7, will be a romantic movie that will be remembered by the audience forever.