Last month, the trailer for the Vikram film Iru Mugan (Two Faced) went viral, crossing 1.3 million views. If the title had earlier stoked curiosity, the two characters Vikram plays — Akilan and Love — piqued greater interest.
Gulf News tabloid! spoke to director Anand Shankar, who made his debut with the stylish thriller, Arima Nambi.
Shankar is the grandson of National Film Award-winning playwright and dramatist, Komal Swaminathan.
An engineer by profession, Shankar always knew that his heart lay in films. After studying filmmaking at New York Film Academy, he assisted Siddharth Anand on the set of Bollywood’s Anjaana Anjaani. Moving south, he assisted director A.R. Murgadoss during the filming of 7am Arivu and Thupakki.
Iru Mugan is Shankar’s second movie, an action film that releases in UAE on September 8. Vikram will be in Dubai this weekend for the film’s premiere.
Iru Mugan, produced by Shibu Thameens, was shot in Malaysia, Kashmir and Phuket. The supporting cast includes Nasser, Thambi Ramiah, Rithvika and Karunakaran.
Iru Mugan has been dubbed into Telugu as Innokadu.
Here are excerpts from a conversation with Shankar:
Tells us about the dual roles of Vikram.
Akilan is a dashing young RAW [Research and Analysis Wing] agent who doesn’t go by the rules. To get his job done he will resort to anything, including getting violent.
Love, the antagonist, on the other hand is more cat-like. He is not the stereotypical villain. With him you don’t know what to expect. His body language, mannerisms and voice is completely different from Akilan. They are two different personalities altogether.
How did you and Vikram work on depicting Love?
I created Love right at the scripting stage. Vikram was inspired by the story and the character. He never hesitates to try something new and is ready to take the risk. We discussed the character and worked on some looks. I gave him freedom and he came up with different ideas on Love’s body language, his dressing sense and his voice. Vikram explored possibilities. There were times when he would conceal his voice and call me up in a different voice.
It was wonderful working with him. If for his earlier roles, he had worked on getting his physical looks right, in the case of Iru Mugan he worked on the mind of the character. Vikram brings a high level of excitement and is completely in the zone of his characters. Love’s make-up was done by Sean Foot, who worked in Lord of the Rings, and Sabrina, a Los Angeles-based artist.
Iru Mugan has two heroines, Nayanthara and Nithya Menon. What are their roles?
Nayanthara is paired opposite Akilan. Her screen presence and aura is amazing. A wonderful actress to work with. Once she gains confidence in the story and the team, she becomes involved in the work. Towards the end, she was another assistant director helping with the props, instead of retiring into her vanity van.
Nithya Menon plays Ayushi, a RAW agent and is pivotal to the story. I had approached other actresses but they rejected this role. Nithya found it interesting and she went deep into the character wanting to know every little details of Ayushi. She has done an amazing job.
Don’t miss it!
Iru Mugan releases in the UAE on September 8.
