Arun Vaidyanathan interview: “Nibunan has a universal theme which can be set anywhere”
Arun Vaidyanathan of ‘Achchamundu Achchamundu’ is back with Nibunan, starring Arjun, Prasanna, Vaibhav and Varu Sarathkumar in the lead roles. The film is a Tamil – Kannada bilingual, titled Vismaya in the latter. It is an action oriented crime thriller and is produced by Passion Film Factory. In a recent chat with Kaushik LM for Only Kollywood, Arun opened up in detail about the film,
“Nibunan is a new-age film and has a universal theme which can be set anywhere. Ranjith Kalidas was the initially planned title, among a lot of other options. Everyone liked the title Nibunan (meaning expert) and we locked it. Madhan Karky, in fact, wanted the title if we didn’t take it up. Arjun sir plays a calm and composed DSP in the criminal investigation branch and he is someone who solves cases in a very intelligent way. I am a big fan of David Fincher and this is a completely original work. Anand Raghav has co-written the screenplay with me, and writers always bring a different perspective to the table.
Arjun sir’s part has scope for action too, in addition to all the spotlight on his acting talent. Then, I always have something for Prasanna while writing and he will take care of the humor part. Prasanna lost 8 kilos for the film and became really fitness conscious as he was particular about looking good while sharing the screen space with Arjun sir. The talkative part goes to Varu as I was really impressed with what she did in Podaa Podi. Vaibhav has done his role, purely for friendship’s sake. Sruthi Hariharan is Arjun sir’s pair and she represents the family angle. We also have Suman, Suhasini, Uma Riaz Khan and Chetan. It is indeed an ensemble cast and all the roles in the film will have a purpose and will stay in memory. In addition to all this, there is a surprise element too. We are very excited about the film.”
Working with a seasoned star like Arjun …
“Arjun sir didn’t interfere at all and he just let me do my job. He is a sweet gentleman and went the extra mile to satisfy me with his takes. He didn’t mind going for more takes and was very sportive. He has enacted the role in the way I envisioned and at the same time has also brought in his wealth of experience. We took enormous care for the two versions as Arjun sir is very strong in Kannada. He was much impressed with the Kannada dialogues.
The action in the film will be close to reality. Arjun sir has such rapport with stuntmen and connects with them instantly due to his extensive experience and caliber in stunts.”
“He has always stood for stunt men and protected their rights“, added the film’s producer Umesh, who also talked in detail about the smooth production process of the film,
“We have almost completed both the versions with just 39 days of shoot. 4 days of patch work is left. This is remarkable for a bilingual with a good scale and set-up. With precise planning, we pulled this off. It has been shot properly as a bilingual, thanks to excellent co-operation from the full team. All were in perfect alignment and we had extensive pre-production, preparation and script reading sessions with the entire cast and crew. Dialogues were given to the actors in advance and Prasanna pulled off his Kannada lines with ease, in a single take. Everyone in the unit knew what shots would be taken the next day. We had that many discussions. With almost 95% accuracy, we executed what was there in the drawing board.”
Arun continues, about his talented technical crew …
“Arvind Krishna is the cameraman and he has always been a very good friend and a passionate movie buff. Navin has scored the music and he will get his due after this film, as I believe he has all the potential. Aarusamy has done the art direction and he is someone who can gel with both the producer and the director. Sathish Suriya of ‘Irudhi Suttru’ has done the edits while the popular Anbariv duo have done the stunts.”
“The audiences are always intelligent and nowadays their attention span is very less. We don’t want to alienate ourselves and make it too complicated for them. We wanted to make sure that they get it. This film would satisfy the creator within and the audience too, importantly.”, concluded Arun on a confident note. Nibunan and Vismaya will release simultaneously, soon.
Interviewed by Kaushik LM