Vijay Antony on sharing screen space with Arjun in Kolaigaran, and choosing his films wisely

Vijay Antony, the music director-turned-action hero specialising in mystery thrillers, is a success story.  He is also huge with his Telugu dubbed films and is turning hot in the market for South Indian action films dubbed for Hindi satellite channels.     [caption id=“attachment_6771071” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Vijay Antony in a still from Kolaigaran. Twitter[/caption] Vijay has made a smooth transformation from providing peppy songs to working in front of the camera. His 10th film as the leading man,  Kolaigaran, releases this Friday. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Vijay Antony opens up. The promotions of Kolaigaran, where the team paid tributes to some of the best thrillers in Tamil cinema, have created expectation around the film. What is your reaction? It was the idea of the producer Pradeep and the presenter and distributor G Dhananjayan, which showcased the rich library of iconic suspense thrillers in Tamil cinema. We are hoping that Kolaigaran, as a suspense thriller, will live up to the legends in that genre.             Kolaigaran is your 10th film. So far, you have avoided doing multi-starrers but here, you are sharing the screen space with Arjun. Have you changed your mind? I have decided to do more films depending on the script. The director of Kolaigaran, Andrew Lewis was my classmate in college and later, he became assistant to SJ Surya. He was instrumental in trying to put me in touch with a lot of directors when I turned hero. I agreed to do this film not because he was my friend, but his narration and script were convincing. You have a good script sense and the choice of your early films worked for you. How do you choose a script? I look at the audience’s viewpoint when directors narrate the script to me. Take for example Naan, Salim or Pichaikkaran. The moment I heard the narration I knew I could do it and it proved right. See, I’m a very limited actor. Don’t compare me with legends of Tamil cinema like Kamal (Haasan)  or Rajini (Rajinikanth) sir (laughs). In your interviews, you always say that you are a limited actor. Then how have you became so successful? I will still say I’m a limited actor and am not half as talented as others. But I make up with my hard work and sincerity, which have worked for me.  Of course, choice of scripts has also helped . Your films have negative titles like Saithan, Yaman and Thimiru Pudichavan (arrogant fellow), which nobody in this superstitious industry will choose as titles for their films. Why? I have found the so-called titles with negative vibes working for me. Take my biggest hit in Tamil and Telugu Pichaikkaran (beggar), which many people advised me not to give as a film title , but it went on to become a blockbuster! Of course, my characterisation has to have some relevance with the story. Now, in Kolaigaran (killer), I’m playing a guy who is a murderer. In a way, the title justifies the story. So in Kolaigaran, you are playing a negative role and Arjun is a cop in search of the killer? Let me put it this way: We are exploring the other side of human nature, which may be dark. Nobody is born a villain in life. It is the way you interpret his story or journey. Have you moved away from music composition as you are no longer composing music even for films that you do as a hero?     Yes, I have stopped composing music as I became busy as an actor. Acting and marketing my films is a full time job. As an actor, I have been more successful, so I have decided fully to concentrate on it. What are your upcoming films? I’m doing a multi-starrer with Arun Vijay for director Naveen titled Agni Siragugal. It is a full blown action movie shot in Europe and Goa, and not even one shot is in Chennai so far. Then I’m doing Thamilarasan, an action drama, and Kaaki.