|
 Tamil superstar Vikram who makes his debut in Hindi with Mani
Ratnam’s Raavan is a traumatized man. While in the Hindi version of Raavan he plays Aishwarya Rai’s
cop-husband Dev in the Tamil version he plays the brutal outlaw
Veera and that too with both the versions being shot simultaneously.
Vikram was constantly running in and out of the two completely different
characters makeup and languages, sometimes within half an hour.
Says a source, “It got really taxing for him. While Aishwarya Rai
Bachchan played the same character in two languages Vikram had to go
from Raavan in Telugu to Rama in Hindi after every shot. At one point
he almost lost the plot.”
One day the film’s dress designer Sabyasachi Chakrabarty had
dropped in on location to discuss Vikram’s look and clothes.Vikram was
informed by Mani Ratnam’s assistant that he needed to sit with
Sabyasachi to discuss his look with him for the film.
When the two of them met both began to give their viewpoints to each
other about how the character played by Vikram would dress up in the
film.
Says Vikram, “Within half an hour discussing the character’s look and
we both realised that something was terribly wrong. I wanted my
looks to be simple and minimalist so that I didn’t have to change much
from the way I am.I suggested to Sabyasachi to keep my skin- tone
black. On the other hand Sabyasachi was keen on a suave and clean look.
And was very was confused as to why was I was giving such a strange
brief .”
Sabysachi felt Vikram’s look couldnt be dark, and told Vikram that
if he was so keen on a dark look then maybe he could try and do
something dark but formal .
Laughs Vikram. “I suggested a dhoti. Sabyasachi got really worked
up and told me it was no longer funny and asked me him if I was
really sure about my character Dev dressing like a rugged rustic
character. That’s when both of us realised the confusion. I was
talking about the looks of Veera(the outlaw character) my character
in the Tamil version and Sabyasachi was talking about Dev(the cop) the
character I’m playing in the Hindi version .”
Explains Vikram, “ In the Hindi version its Abhishek Bachchan who is
the outlaw character. And the fact that I’m playing two opposite
characters in the two versions had caused the confusion.”
Though exhausted by the effort Vikram thoroughly enjoyed the
unprecedented challenge of playing two characters at the same time in
two languages.
Vikram one of the foremost Tamil actors, will dub his own lines
for the Hindi version of Raavan.
Subhash K Jha/ Sampurn Wire
|
