After 100 films, Ravichandran accepts his first mythological role of playing Krishna in Darshan’s 50th film Kurukshetra directed by Naganna. The actor believes that it could have been the filmmakers’ intuition that led them to him, and he says that he will meet this responsibility with utmost sincerity.
Ravichandran, who had left eating non-vegetarian food around Shivarathri, which was much before Kurukshetra project came to him, has also given up on caffeine to lose weight. He is doing all he can to fit into Krishna’s role and will be joining the sets in Hyderabad from August 28.
Before joining Kurukshetra team, he plans to complete the talkie portions of his upcoming film Dasharatha directed by MS Ramesh. The filmmaker completed the first schedule of his directorial Rajendra Ponnappa and will now continue its shoot after he completes work on his historical film.
The actor has been preparing for the role, and he didn’t get too worked-up over it.
He says, “I was prepared to get rid of my moustache but I was sad to know that I will have to lose my chest hair as well. But it is all for the character. People have asked me why I haven’t been part of any mythological film, but I need a physique that justifies that role too. I have slimmed down naturally now and have lost around 8 kg... I am trying my best to get lean to play Krishna’s role.”
People were surprised when the filmmakers named Ravichandran as their Krishna, and the actor is aware of this.
“They were worried how I would play the role with a paunch, but they didn’t know that I have been consciously losing weight,” he says. “It is Krishna who drives the story and the team felt that I would do well in this role, from among the present lot of senior actors.
This character essentially is soft-natured but has to switch to crudeness once in a while, and producer Munirathna was confident that I could do it. Of course, there was a hesitation when my weight was taken into consideration but the filmmakers put their faith in me. I have ensured that the weight of that responsibility is lifted off their shoulders and I am working towards getting physically fit.”
He has set aside 25 days for the schedule and will be temporarily camping in Hyderabad for this movie. He will be preparing on dialogue delivery before the shoot begins, he says.
“I usually find it difficult to stress on few alphabets such as Na and La and that’s one thing I have been working on, and therefore requested to be given the dialogues before the shoot,” he says. “I have improved but would want to take a little more effort before I reach the dubbing studio.”