CHENNAI: Dressed in a white shirt and rimless sunglasses, Vikram Prabhu is in his element as he talks to us about his milestone film, Sirai. He plays a cop yet again after Taanakaaran, in a script that is helmed by Vetrimaaran’s erstwhile assistant Suresh Rajakumari and has a story by Taanakaaran Tamizh. “There have been a lot of police scripts after Taanakaaran. But Sirai is unique among them. When I had my own apprehensions, Suresh asked to meet me and narrated the story. The entire story had a lot of dynamics in it, and the message that they had to say. The real-life incidents are woven together really well, and I am sure that the dialogues too will be appreciated by the audience and critics," he says.
Given a choice to open up whether it is a blessing or a pressure to have his lineage in Tamil Nadu's famous Annai Illam, where his grandfather, the iconic Sivaji Ganesan and his father, the legendary Prabhu Ganesan, are forever the audience's favourites, Vikram Prabu doesn't think twice. "I would certainly call it a blessing. Granddad was a lion. So, some filmmakers could have been skeptical about approaching me. But I have worked with several new directors, and that was a lot of fun, and there were a lot of things I learnt from them. It is indeed a blessing to tell you that Sivaji Ganesan was my grandfather, and Prabhu is my dad. I should only bring about more pride to the lineage."
Coming back to Sirai, the actor says that this is the best team he has been a part of. "In terms of cast, the work that has gone to bring the team together, everything fell in place. Taanaakaaran was a commercial film, and Sirai is more commercial than the former but still conveys what it has to," he adds.
Over the last few years, Vikram Prabhu has brought about a beautiful transition with his body language in films like Taanakaaran, Ponniyin Selvan, Irugapattru, Ghaati, and now Sirai. "I am glad that you are noticing it. Of late, I have had people coming and talking to me about Taanaakaaran, couples talking about Irugapattru. Also, now there is a system to the chaos theory called cinema, with pre-production. The magic happens when actors are conscious of their script and figure out the character they would be working on and the value addition they can bring to the table for the director. I have been conscious of what I give my director. As you said, Irugapattru, he is a person who is liked by everyone. Taanaakaaran's Arivu is someone who is bound by something that weighs him down. But he is willing to get where he needs to with a sense of drive and motivation. In Sirai, my character has baggage but needs to move forward, so all these require different body languages," he shares.
Vikram Prabhu, being an avid cricket fan, was recently seen discussing the India-South Africa cricket series that ended last week while promoting his film Sirai on a sports channel. “I also did a mock IPL auction with Ashwin, where we cleared the CSK slate and bought players from scratch. However, Sachin Tendulkar will always remain my favourite,” the actor remarks.
2025 Christmas couldn’t have gotten better for the actor. “Yes, 25th film in 2025 on December 25, couldn’t have asked for more. When I was studying in the US, Christmas to me was all about coming back to Chennai and spending time with family. However, there was one Christmas when I went to New York with my friends for the ball drop at Times Square. That would remain my favourite Christmas memory.”