Exclusive Interview: Mahaan Director Karthik Subbaraj Says He Had Always Wanted To Work With Vikram

It's raining praises for Karthik Subbaraj. The director's latest outing Mahaan is in all sense a gem of a movie. The scripting, implementation, treatment and narration, to be precise, all the writing and helming aspects have been laid out to a fare-thee-well.

Mahaan

Point to be noted that this is not your conventional film, where the 'whole' focus is on the main lead, the character's rise and fall, successful/failed relationships, and so on. It might take a lot of time to even simp over Vikram and Dhruv's characters Mahaan and Dada respectively, as their energies are high and out of reach.

Maahan has much more to bequeath and trust us it is mad, mad energy written all over. Also marking the maiden collaboration of Kollywood's stylish father-son duo Vikram and Dhruv Vikram in full-fledged roles, the film is all about the 'spirit' that is passed on from one person to another and finally to the audience.

In an exclusive tête-à-tête with Filmibeat, the writer-director of Mahaan, Karthik Subbaraj talks to us about the film, his experience working with Vikram and Dhruv, and much more.

Excerpts from the brief conversation

Mahaan marks Dhruv and Vikram's maiden project together in full-fledged roles. Considering the same, was there any pressure of highlighting them separately? Also, did you implement any plan of action to make sure that their characters don't overshadow each other?

Nothing specific was done after scripting because the story itself was about a father and son. They both were equally spaced, they had their scope to perform and that's the reason why they (Vikram and Dhruv) liked the script and finally came on board. So nothing specific was done to showcase something or highlight any part because I think the script already had everything.

Your films are known for their mad energy. Even Mahaan's trailer speaks for itself and screams loud and clear that it is a Karthik Subbaraj directorial. What do you think makes Mahaan different from your previous projects?

Script-wise, the story itself was something new for me to write. If you divide the film into the first half and second half, in the former part there is a big journey. Every character goes through their respective twenty years of journey. It also shows the liquor industry's growth and how a man takes up the business and becomes a billionaire and what sort of problems he faces, how he changes his lifestyle, and all that. And the second half of the film is completely drama and action-driven and things happen in a short span of time, like in three or four days. So to show their growth and life in 20 years was something new for me. I haven't done that before. It was more exciting to write and also challenging to gradually show how the characters change. The film starts in 1996 and you meet Mahaan and Satyavvaan, who are not the same people after 20 years. They have changed, both emotionally and character-wise. So that was an exciting part to write.

Mahaan

What was the experience like to work with Dhruv and Vikram?

Chiyaan Vikram is a great actor. One of India's best actors and I always wanted to work with him. He is a great performer and I am glad that I could do Mahaan with him. The character had a lot of scope for him to perform. It goes through a lot of things and emotions. It keeps on changing from the beginning till the end. So it was great to see how an actor like Vikram sir is taking it up and yeah it was very exciting for us to watch him perform the character. It was a great experience. And for Dhruv, it is his second film, but he is a very good actor and is very passionate. He has that energy level which is high and he is always in the character. He puts a lot of thought into his character. So to work with such actors is a great thing that can happen to a filmmaker and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Mahaan

What was your biggest takeaway from the film?

Actually, when I finished writing, I felt the challenge for me would be to convey the emotions to the audiences, whether I would be able to do it because it had a lot of performance-driven characters and the scenes should connect to the audiences and subsequently they should feel the emotional connection to it. So it was kind of a challenge. The biggest takeaway for me was how good actors can change your perception of your script and bring something really new to it.

Can you tell us about your upcoming projects?

Actually right now I haven't decided on what would be my next. Because I was completely into Mahaan. So far I was waiting for Mahaan's release. I think I will start planning for my next very soon.

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