Sivakarthikeyan on working with Nayanthara in Mr.Local: Her presence will be felt till the end

Sivakarthikeyan established himself as a leading star in Tamil cinema only with a series of comedy entertainers. But with films like Velaikkaran and Seema Raja, he moved out of his comfort zone to try something different within the mainstream commercial format. With his new film Mr.Local, the actor is back to his favorite genre - comedy. “Comedy has always been my arena. Audiences also wanted me to do a full-fledged comedy entertainer. I can guarantee that Mr.Local will be a jolly entertainer for me after Remo,” said Sivakarthikeyan, in a group interaction with the media in Chennai. “From the word go, Mr.Local will entertain the audiences. We haven’t conveyed any serious message to them. But compared to the previous films of our director Rajesh, there are a few changes. There won’t be any drinking scenes in the film and the hero won’t an unemployed, happy-go-lucky guy,” said the actor. [caption id=“attachment_6640781” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Sivakarthikeyan in Mr.Local. Image via Twitter/[/caption] When asked whether Mr.Local is a remake of Rajinikanth-Vijayashanti’s Mannan, Sivakarthikeyan said: “No, it’s not a remake of any film. But as Mr.Local and Mannan’s basic stories deal with a clash between the male and female protagonists, it may seem like that to a section of audiences. While Mannan had a serious angle to it, Mr.Local will be an out and out comedy film.” “Nayanthara is an amazing performer, but we couldn’t fully utilise her potential in Velaikkara. In Mr.Local, I have a lot of combined scenes with her. She plays a TV serial producer in the film and I play a sales executive in a car showroom. The film is about the clash between Keerthana (Nayanthara) and Manohar (Siva), Nayanthara enters into the film at the fifteenth minute and her presence will be felt until the end. Of course, the clash will end up in romance, just like it would in any other Tamil film,” he added. Generally, Santhanam is the biggest strength in Rajesh’s film, but as the actor is now concentrating only on films where he plays the hero, the filmmaker used three other leading comedians — Sathish, Yogi Babu, and Robo Shankar in Mr.Local. “Rajesh sir has written the screenplay in such a way that he filled the absence of Santhanam with Sathish, Yogi Babu, and Robo Shankar. Yogi Babu will be seen as my neighbourhood friend, Sathish comes as my colleague whereas Robo Shankar is my boss.” Siva also said that he always wanted to work with director Rajesh. “I still remember the day Rajesh sir called me to dub for a song in which Jiiva was to sound like Rajinikanth sir in Siva Manasula Sakthi. Later, he recommended Ponram and set up the team of Varuthapadatha Valiber Sangam. We were also in talks to join hands, but due to Rajesh sir’s prior commitments, things didn’t fall into place. Finally, he narrated me the script of Mr.Local at the shooting spot of Seema Raja and my producer Gnanavel Raja also told me that he would be comfortable working with Rajesh sir." Sivakarthikeyan also added that he has decided to do at least two films per year. “Cinema is indeed a self-learning process. From my recent experiences, I found that I have been allocating more than 150 days for a film but not all the shot scenes make it to the final version. So instead of wasting the producers’ money and my time, I have decided to work with the filmmakers at the scripting stage so that the number of days can be reduced and we can decide the exact number of scenes required. Mr.Local was shot in 75 says and all my future films will also be shot in such a way that I am able to do two projects in a year.” When asked whether he had any inhibitions while doing a comedy entertainer right when people started accepting him as a mass hero, Siva said: “For me, a mass hero is someone who attracts a large number of audiences. I think comedy is one genre that is enjoyed by people of all ages.” Talking about his upcoming films, the actor said: “All my upcoming three films will be different. My film with director Pandiraj will be a rural mass entertainer; Mithran’s Herowill be a unique film, and the sci-fi film with director Ravi Kumar will release only in 2020 because of several CG shots and action scenes.” Sivakarthikeyan also has a film with Naanum Rowdy Dhaan and Thaana Serndha Koottam director Vignesh ShivN. Siva has become a successful producer now. His debut production venture Kanaa won critical and commercial acclaim. “Nenjamundu Nermaiyundu Odu Raja is my second production venture. It will be a satirical take on politics, but we haven’t targeted any individual party or their members. We are planning to release the film in June,” said Siva who also clarified that he won’t be playing the lead role in films bankrolled by his own production house.