Director
Mani
Nagaraj
says
composer-actor
GV
Prakash
Kumar
didn't
struggle
as
an
actor
in
the
forthcoming
Tamil
campus
thriller
Pencil,
which
was
originally
supposed
to
mark
his
acting
debut.
"On
the
sets,
it
took
him
just
4-5
days
to
get
a
hang
of
things
but
he
never
showed
any
signs
of
struggle
to
act.
I
think
he
found
it
really
comfortable
to
act
because
he
was
apt
for
the
role,
which
is
why
I
approached
him
in
the
first
place," Nagaraj
told
IANS.
Prakash
initially
was
hesitant
to
act.
It
took
some
persuasion
to
finally
make
him
don
the
greasepaint.
"I've
known
him
for
a
long
time.
I
wanted
a
new
face
for
the
film
because
the
role
demanded
it.
When
I
approached
Prakash,
he
wasn't
really
interested
because
he
was
happy
composing
music.
But
I
explained
to
him
how
he
was
perfect
for
the
role,
be
it
appearance
wise
or
age
wise,"
he
said.
Predominantly
shot
in
a
school
campus,
the
film
throws
the
spotlight
on
commercialization
of
education
system,
with
a
thriller
backdrop.
The
debutant
director
admits
shooting
in
a
school
campus
was
very
challenging.
"The
challenge
was
to
ensure
the
audiences
don't
get
bored
watching
the
same
building
and
students
in
school
uniform
throughout
the
film.
And
we
achieved
that
with
the
help
of
visuals.
We
didn't
use
even
one
lengthy
shot,
instead
we
used
as
many
multiple
shots
and
also
kept
each
scene
as
short
as
possible,"
he
said.
The
film's
ensemble
cast
also
helped
Nagaraj
overcome
the
challenge
of
monotony
in
the
visuals.
"With
the
help
of
the
multi-starrer
cast
featuring
VTV
Ganesh,
Urvashi
and
Rahman,
we
could
shift
scenes
between
the
lead
cast
and
the
supporting
cast.
We
also
included
some
humour
to
cater
to
everybody,"
he
added.
Pencil
was
supposed
to
release
last
year,
but
the
long
delay
has
worked
in
the
director's
favour.
"I
might
have
lost
three
years
on
this
project.
However,
in
this
interim,
Prakash's
market
has
grown
phenomenally
thanks
to
his
back-to-back
hits.
We
had
signed
Sri
Divya
right
after
her
first
Tamil
release.
She's
also
quite
popular
now.
I
think
this
long
wait
was
worth
it
from
the
commercial
standpoint,"
he
said.
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