Andrew Louis remembers watching Tamil film ‘Gentleman’ many times as a teenager but the Arjun fan, even in his wildest dreams, didn’t think that he would be directing him years later.
Louis, who debuted in 2012 with romantic comedy ‘Leelai’, returns with his sophomore film ‘Kolaigaran’, a police investigative story.
While Arjun plays a police officer examining a murder mystery, the trailer hints at Antony being the ‘kolaigaran’ — the killer — in this story.
Recalling his meeting with Arjun to narrate the story, Louis calls it “a surreal moment”.
‘Kolaigaran’ involves a cat and mouse game played by the two main characters — Karthikeyan and Prabhakaran,” said Louis who has followed a non-linear screenplay for the story.
Arjun plays the police officer and composer-turned-actor Vijay Antony is the suspect Prabhakaran.
“Prabhakaran is an ambiguous character, one shrouded in mystery,” added Louis, who considered his college mate Antony for the role during the scripting stage.
“Antony has been surprising me with every film. Right from his college days, his evolution from sound designer to music composer and then actor has been remarkable,” he added.
Talking about Arjun, Louis compares him to the likes of Robert De Niro, calling him an extraordinary performer whose talent has not been well exploited by directors.
“Arjun sir completely dug into the role and his subtle reactions left me in awe.”
Writing this crime thriller was a different ball game after ‘Leelai.’ “Initially you control the story, but after a while the characters trajectory makes you travel with them.”
With guidance from his former neighbour, Rajarajan, a police officer, Louis understood the technicalities of writing a crime story.
Ashima Narwal makes her Tamil cinema debut opposite Vijay Antony. She plays Dharini, around whom the story is pivoted.
Narwal, winner of ‘Ms India — Australia’ and ‘Ms India — Global’ earlier worked in the health sector in Australia before entering Telugu cinema with ‘Natakam’ and ‘Jessie.’.
Dharini is a middle class young woman who takes on the family responsibility after her father’s demise.
“There is a mystery around her,” said Ashima who went through a workshop for the role.
The supporting cast includes Nasser, Sita and Bagavati Perumal.
Simon K King is the music composer. Mukesh has handled the camera.
‘Kolaigaran’, produced by Diya Movies, releases in the UAE on June 5.
