Interview with Yuvaraj Bose, the director of Irumbu Kuthirai
As Irumbu Kuthirai gears up to see the light of day this Friday, Only Kollywood interacted with director Yuvaraj Bose in a freewheeling chat where he talks about the sophisticated bikes that Atharvaa rides, the ‘Fast And Furious’ spirit of the film, how he took inspiration from a real-life incident and the team’s ordeal with visual effects.
Yuvaraj Bose says with confidence that his directorial debut “Irumbu Kuthirai”, slated to release Friday, is not just about racing. “It’s a love story at heart set against the backdrop of bike racing. The story will give us a peek into the daily lives of bikers”. Bose had initially planned to “make an out-and-out action film, but when I decided to feature bikes in the story, it automatically became the differentiating factor”. But there’s enough action too in the film, he said.
Fast and Furious connection
“The action is made from the perspective of our culture. The stunts are akin to Hollywood standards, but it is also packed with Indian emotions. It has the spirit of a ‘Fast and Furious’, but has been made in our style,” he added. “Irumbu Kuthirai” is a story about “man versus machine,” said Bose, adding that it’s inspired by real events, “In Pondicherry, local bikers lock horns with foreign bikers in open races. My story is inspired by one of those incidents”. And before I ask him, he quickly informs me, “but the story is fictional. I’ve only tried to portray the rivalry between two bike gangs”.
Being realistic and overcoming VFX hiccups
Even before they started shooting, Yuvaraj had decided that he will keep everything in his film as realistic as possible, especially the stunts involving bikes. But there was a problem. “We couldn’t find a location to shoot our chase sequences”. A wo
rried Yuvaraj informed his producers about the situation. Meanwhile, the team along with Atharvaa Murali left to Italy for a crash course in bike racing. It is there that Yuvaraj decided that he could shoot his chase scenes. “Getting bikes 
were not a hassle, but finding a location to shoot was challenging. Therefore, we decided to shoot in Italy in real locations,” he said. While the story takes place in Pondicherry, the stunt and the chase sequences have been shot in Italy.
The chase sequences must have been difficult to shoot, I asked him. They were “extremely challenging” to pull off, he said. Instead
of relying on VFX, Yuvaraj was adamant to shoot everything with a lot of supervision. “The bike stunts were not easy to execute. To ensure all stunts looked believable, we used stunt artists from Italy and shot with them. We could’ve easily done these stunts using CGI (computer generated imagery), but my producers and I were hell bent on keeping everything realistic”.
Lavish Bikes
“To shoot the b
ike sequences was also a challenge. We used multiple cameras, including helicam and body cameras to shoot some important scenes,” said Yuvaraj. He also said that the film will deliver an “adrenaline pumping experience”. Over 20 sports bikes and a few Ducati and BMW vehicles have been used in the film. While Atharvaa drives a Rs.32 lakh Ducati motorbike, Johnny Tri Nguyen, who plays the villain, drives an equally expensive BMW bike.
The film, which is produced by AGS Entertainment, features Atharvaa, Priya Anand, Raai Laxmi and Alisha Abdullah in important roles.
Hard-working Atharvaa Murali
Atharvaa returns to the silver screen after the critically acclaimed “Paradesi”. Yuvaraj assures that he has portrayed the actor in a shade he hasn’t been seen before. “If ‘Paradesi’ brought forth a side in Atharvaa we haven’t seen before, my film will bring out the b
est in him. I’ve portrayed him in a shade quite contrast to his previous roles. As an actor, he can extract different shades from a role and that’s what I like about him,” he said.
Going by the trailer, we could be certain that the filmmaker has extracted the best out of Atharvaa. Yuvaraj is also heaps praise on the young actor, who didn’t hesitate to pull off his own stunts without a body double. “Atharva worked extremely hard for his role. We could’ve used a duplicate to shoot his scenes, but it would look very obvious. Moreover, he was more interested in doing all
stunts on his own,” he said. Most of the actors, including Atharvaa, enrolled in a crash course in racing in Italy. “Atharvaa underwent an 18-day crash course in bike racing in Italy. He would spend five hours every day training with foreign stunt bikers,” said Yuvaraj.
On a concluding note, Bose said, “I enjoyed challenging myself with a difficult project as my first film. It has come out well and I hope audiences like it too”.
Catch Irumbu Kuthirai in cinemas this Friday.
