He’s full of witty one-liners and even his co-stars say that its tough to know when he’s pulling their leg, given his accompanying poker face. But then that’s Shiva for you and it’s this natural affinity towards humour that has endeared him to audiences so far. And the dream run continues for Shiva as he gears up for four releases this year.
Thillu Mullu, the classic Rajnikanth comedy, remade by Vendhar Movies and directed by Badri, releases this Friday. If Shiva is feeling the pressure of being in Rajni’s shoes, he’s not showing it. He says, “The intention behind the remake is to make people laugh. I was thrilled to meet Rajini sir and director K Balachander and see their passion for cinema. I realised that if you love cinema, it will love you back.”
In one of the two avatars, Shiva plays a karate master called Ganguly Kandhan, but the toughest part was not the karate moves. “To show the difference in his two characters, the hero removes the meesai (moustache) in the original. I feel that was easier than having to change into blue contact lenses everytime!” he jokes
After Thillu Mullu, this year, he has Sonna Puriyadhu, Ya Ya and Vanakkam Chennai slated for release. Shiva, who was very choosy and took it slow earlier, is now making up for the lost time. “After Kalakalappu’s success, I realised that if the audiences, exhibitors, distributors, producers and directors are happy seeing me on screen, then I should do more movies. So when these scripts came along, I went ahead,” he explains.
Though Santhanam appears briefly in Thillu Mullu, he has a full fledged role alongside Shiva in Ya Ya. “We both improvised a lot and got along jolly well. It was good fun,” recalls Shiva.
But it is debutant director Kiruthiga Udayanidhi’s Vanakkam Chennai that has him all excited. “It’s a musical romance and cameraman Richard M Nathan has actually made me look handsome!” he quips.
The radio jockey-turned -actor is just back from a trip to Geneva where the Thillu Mullu audio was launched. “It was my first time in Switzerland and I saw many familiar white faces after the event. Then I realised that I had seen all those people dancing in the background in Tamil and Telugu films!” he concludes in typical Shiva style.