Harish Kalyan interview: On ‘Lubber Pandhu,’ ‘Diesel’ and his take on stardom
Set in Trichy, Harish says he did not have to work much on getting the slang right. “There were just a few words, such as ‘ingutu, angutu’ that needed to be incorporated. Similarly, they use ‘pulla’ while addressing a younger woman. I’ve always played cricket but I’m a batsman/wicketkeeper, so I had to work on the bowling action as I play a fast bowler,” adds the actor.
Sanjana Krishnamoorthy and Harish Kalyan in a still from ‘Lubber Pandhu’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Harish believes that “a film should get both critical acclaim and also do well commercially”. Comparing his last film, Parking, with Lubber Pandhu, he says, “Because of the floods, the theatrical run of Parking was affected a little but it gained a good name for itself and did commercially well in theatres apart from doing great on streaing. Lubber Pandhu has more heroic moments, fun elements and family sentiment. It’s packed with emotions and has a lot of theatrical moments to make sure it will be a wholesome entertainer.”
Earlier, actors turned heroes with an action film in just a year or two after their debut, but the current crop of actors doesn’t seem to have a preset roadmap towards stardom and Harish is well aware of the reasons. “The current generation of viewers are exposed to a lot more content. We have the OTT as well as formats like web series and even YouTube, so there’s never a deficiency of content. It’s a task to make people choose a theatrical film. Only if that film does well, its actor gets star value. Past the films, it’s the acceptance of the audience that makes an actor into a star or an action hero. I would love to do an action film,” says Harish whose next release, Diesel, is apparently one such attempt.
Attakathi Dinesh and Harish Kalyan in a still from ‘Lubber Pandhu’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Circling back to the topic of stardom, Harish adds, “The transformation to a star can happen in one film for an actor, and it might take more for others. I was in the mindset to take things slowly and that’s changing just now. I’m also getting scripts accordingly, and I’m trying to take the best from it. The idea is to do a mix of all genres and not just stick to action. The goal is to entertain the audience and choose scripts that will take us up the graph.”
Lubber Pandhu is releasing this Friday, September 20, 2024
Published - September 18, 2024 04:39 pm IST
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