Director Prasath Ramar says forthcoming Tamil psychological thriller "Enakkul Oruvan" will be a milestone in the career of actor Siddharth, who has moved away from the image audiences have had about him through this project.
"Enakkul Oruvan" is the remake of Kannada hit "Lucia".
"Siddharth is a fabulous actor. When he came on board, he knew exactly what was required for the character from him. It's going to be a milestone in his career and audiences are going to remember the film for a long time," Ramar told IANS.
"Contrary to the image of Satish Ninasam of the original, Siddharth has a bigger image. We wanted to break that image and we succeeded, going by the response to the trailer. Everybody in the film plays dual roles, so all had work really hard," he said.
Siddharth will be seen in two contrasting roles of an usher in a theatre and a successful actor.
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Prasath says Siddharth chose to be part of this project.
"After he saw 'Lucia', he wanted to buy its remake rights. By then, producer C.V. Kumar had already bought the film. He got in touch with Kumar and expressed his interest to be part of the film," he added.
"We couldn't have asked for a better actor", said Prasath.
"He voluntarily came into the project as he wanted to be part of it. We as a team were happy to have him because we know his calibre. He's done some exceptionally good work across languages. We were eager to work with him and though he could bring different dimension to the film with his performance," he added.
"Enakkul Oruvan" releases in cinemas on Friday. Prasath is a tad nervous.
"When we were shooting, Siddharth's last two critically-acclaimed films - Jigarthanda and Kaaviya Thalaivan had not released. Now that these films have come out and have done well, I should admit I'm nervous about aEnakkul Oruvan'," he said.
He is also nervous because this happens to be his directorial debut.
"It's an important film for everybody involved, including Siddharth, who is playing contrast roles," said Prasath.
It was through composer Santosh Narayanan, Prasath and producer Kumar came to know about aLucia'.
"This project came to our attention when Santosh Narayanan did some part of the background score for aLucia', and it got us wondering. Since Santosh vouched for the project, we were confident and eventually decided to remake it," he said.
"Santosh gave us the kind of music he had envisioned for the film. It has come out very well," he said.
Prasath clarifies "Enakkul Oruvan" is "not a frame-to-frame remake" of "Lucia".
"When I decided to remake the film, I realised I won't be changing much of the scenes but as a director I'd present it differently to suit Tamil sensibilities. It was challenging but I asked how I would present the same story if I were to remake the film," he said.
According to the director, they've remade the script of "Lucia", but not the film on the whole.
While "Lucia" made it to several film festivals, Prasath says audience's reaction in cinemas matters the most to him for "Enakkul Oruvan", which also features Deepa Sannidhi and Srushti Dange in important roles.
