At a time when Sandalwood is counting in crores, Duniya Vijay has made a priceless gesture. For his role as the hero of Ring Road Shubha, Vijay is charging only a rupee as his fee. The film is being made by an all-women team.
Vijay will be playing an investigative officer in the movie that is based on the real-life incident of the murder of city techie Girish by his fiancee Shubha Shankarnarayan. Shubha is currently serving a life-sentence for her crime.
Ring Road Shubha’s director Priya Belliappa is thrilled about having Vijay on board. She says, “While we were working on the screenplay for Ring Road Shubha, we came up with this important character and thought it would be nice if Vijay could play it. But at the same time, we were apprehensive whether he would be ready to work with a team of women and whether we would be able to match his asking price. ‘‘However, we took the risk, approached him and made a presentation on how the film would be. He was impressed with the subject and with his role. When it came to the money, we were clear that we couldn’t afford his current fee. When he confirmed his involvement with the film, he said he would do it for `1 and that profit making could be thought of post release. What he appreciated was that we are an all-woman crew working on a good film.”
Priya and team are now ready with a bound script for the film. “We have a star in our film and it was all possible because of Vijay. He is down-to-earth and patiently listened to the concept of the film and this boosted our confidence,” she says.
Priya is not expecting Vijay to play a real-life character on the screen. “Though film is based on Shubha’s case, we have taken creative liberties and the story has fictional elements in it and it is here that Vijay's and a few other characters have come into the picture,” she says.
Vijay is equally excited to be part of the film. He says, “I liked their approach to the story and the way they presented my role, which is something new to me, was quite impressive. I see good effort being made by every woman in the team and I want to contribute whole-heartedly to the film. This being a film with a message for all, I decided to charge only one rupee.”
Vijay is keen to meet Shubha in prison. “Even the thought of killing a person makes me jittery, I wonder what drove her to take such a drastic step. I hope to meet and talk to her in person,” he says.