Pushing his boundaries with each project is perhaps what keeps actor Vishal going in the film industry. Despite having a career spanning for almost a decade now, Vishal says he doesn’t want to restrict himself to working with established directors or to movies of one particular genre or two.
“Most of the films I have done were actually not written for me, but happened to come my way. So, I can’t restrict myself to working only with established directors for the next two years to be rest assured that my films would meet the minimum guarantee status. Those in the industry say that I should be churning out a hit film now, but I can’t do one keeping just the hit factor in mind. For me, the story should be good. I go by spontaneity, a gut feeling while choosing a script,” says Vishal.
But the actor is confident that he has a winner in hand with Pattathu Yaanai, which hits the screens on July 26.
“In the 90s, there were movies of Kamal and Rajini sirs such as Sagalakala Vallavan and Rajadhi Raja, which were entertaining right from the word go. Such films were a big hit among family audiences. We embarked on Pattathu Yaanai as we knew that the flavour this season is comedy. Director Boopathy Pandian is very good at comedy and Pattathu Yaanai is his best script till date.
The film is not of the ‘preaching’ or ‘social message’ type. It’s just a rollicking comedy entertainer. However, it all depends how the audience receives it,” says Vishal, who has also secured the theatrical rights of the film for Chennai area and those of the entire Telugu version (titled Dheerudu).
Interestingly, Pattathu Yaanai too has been set in the backdrop of Tiruchy like their earlier film Malaikottai.
“It was not a conscious decision. The story should have been shot in a town setup. However, the director’s affinity towards his hometown made him chose Tiruchy. But there is nothing common in these two films. If at all people are going to compare Pattathu Yaanai and Malaikottai, they would only say the former is better,” says Vishal.
The actor says he has an additional responsibility in heroine Aishwarya, the daughter of actor Arjun. “I’m waiting for Arjun sir’s word that I have done the right thing in making Aishwarya debut with Pattathu Yaanai. She appears as a Class 12 student and I won’t say that she has got a major role in the film. But she has played it to perfection because she was raring to go,” he says. Vishal is currently shooting for Pandiya Naadu, a hard-hitting rural action flick, directed by Suseenthiran and feels lucky to have bagged the project both as an actor and a producer. He has planned to produce director Thiru’s next flick in Tamil, in which some other actor would play the lead role, and has decided to act in a straight Telugu flick after Pandiya Naadu.