Southern Spice: ‘Kadal’, Gautham’s first love

He is an adventure junkie and has been there, done that, be it trekking, kayaking, jungle safaris and the like. But riding into the deep sea on a catamaran, with fishermen for company, wasn’t something Gautham Karthik had bargained for when he signed up Mani Ratnam’s ‘Kadal.’

Son of actor Karthik, Gautham was in his final year of college in Bangalore when his father received a call from Ratnam.

In ‘Kadal,’ Gautham plays Thomas, a fisherman.

“The story revolves around the situations Thomas is put into and what he does in these situations.”

The role called for preparations that involved learning to dance under choreographers Brinda and Jayanthi followed by training in action sequences under stunt choreographer Kanal Kannan and attending an acting workshop with Kalai Rani.

The best part though he says were the two months that he spent with fishermen in Chennai.

“On the pretext of making a documentary film, I joined the fishermen on their sea expeditions at three in the morning,” recounted Gautham breaking into a laugh.

Sailing into the deep sea on a catamaran, he learnt to balance on it, a valuable lesson that was put to use in the film for a dance number atop a catamaran.

“I learnt to understand the moods of the sea and to look out for fish, besides picking up the tricks of the trade. It was great fun,” said Gautham.

On one occasion, he even jumped into the sea to rescue a fisherman struggling amidst the waves. At the end of two months, he was left dark and tanned.

Working with celebrity trainer, Siva, he got into the physique of Thomas.

“It was the craziest gym training. Siva put me on a natural diet and exercises for two hours every day both in the morning and at night. From 96kilograms I came down to 76kilograms in a month’s time. Siva was like an older brother motivating me every day.”

Rounding up the preparations was a two weeks sailing course with Madras Yachting Club. Gautham was now ready to face the camera.

“I agreed to do Mani sir’s film but was not sure whether I could do justice to it?” confessed Gautham.

Stepping into Thomas’ shoes, Gautham went through a gamut of emotions.

“Once I started shooting, I fell in love with acting,” said the actor.

Referring to Ratnam as a genius, Gautham said, “Mani sir would give us the script and allow us to interpret it in our way. If he was satisfied with our inputs, he would not hesitate to take it. Otherwise he would give his suggestions, taking time to explain why his idea can be tried out. We were amazed at his ability to think out of the box always.”

Admiring the ace director’s high energy levels on the sets, Gautham remembered, “Mani sir is always moving around and checking every equipment. In the mornings he was up before us. We had a competition among us as to who could beat him at it, it was a vain attempt. Sir was up at three in the morning.”

“While he is totally focused during work, off the sets he is a jolly man.”

About his costars he said, “Thulasi is a sweet and friendly person who treated everyone equally.”

Actor Arjun was a great guide when it came to doing action scenes.

“He would give me tips on safety and is a perfectionist who constantly worked on his lines till he got them bang on.”

Arvind Swamy, he feels is the coolest person.

For when this newcomer found some scenes getting a bit too much, especially the emotional takes, Swamy would pull him aside and ask him to relax.

“He is a chilled-out person and a big brother to me.”