Actor Arya, who plays a boxer in director Pa Ranjith's latest movie Sarpatta Parambarai, says that the filmmaker tells stories that are realistic and have a strong emotional connect. Speaking to DH, he revealed this flick, in particular, features characters that just about anyone can identify with. He added that he put in extra effort to do justice to the sports drama as the Kabali helmer wanted the boxing matches to be as authentic as possible.
Edited excerpts from the interview:
What encouraged you to take up Sarpatta Parambarai?
The main reason is the director Pa Ranjith. I wanted to do a sports drama and he had something in mind. So, in a way, everything fell in place.
What do you like about Pa Ranjith's brand of storytelling?
His films have realistic stories with a strong emotional connect. Everyone can really relate to his brand of storytelling especially in this film.
Any similarities between your character and your real personality?
He is quite different from my real personality. The character 90 per cent is nothing like me and barely 10 per cent is similar.(sic)
How did you prepare for the film?
I had to work on my physique and then get the technique right. Ranjith wanted the fights to look realistic. He did not want cinematic fights. In fact, he wanted every scene to look as if two boxers are fighting for real in the ring. We underwent a workshop to get the right modulation and also trained with national boxers.
Sarpatta Parambarai is set in Vada Chennai.
I am quite familiar with the area but that did not help as things have changed over the years. It's no longer like what it was 50 years ago. We replicated the area just the way it was mentioned in various books. We did not have the liberty to use our imagination as people are familiar with the area.
On a parting note, How do you deal with professional failures?
All of us want all our films to work. No one wants the film to not do well. We just have to put in hard work irrespective of whether the movie in question becomes a success. These things are not in your hand but yes we can analyse our failures to find out what went wrong.