Actor Ashok Selvan kicked off his career in 2013 with Soodhu Kavvum, a Tamil black comedy crime film. The same year, he played a solemn writer in the psychological thriller Pizza II. In his third film Thegidi, an investigative thriller, Ashok portrayed a dynamic detective.
His last movie, Kootathil Oruthan, hit theatres on July 14. He is now awaiting the release of his movie Sila Samayangalil, directed by Priyadharshan. “I started acting in short films, street plays, theatre plays, advertisements and corporate films when I was 18,” he says. Life And Death Of A Rebel, a short film Ashok acted in 2011, gave him a perspective on acting.
“The film is about a terminally ill person who severs ties with his family and decides to take his life travelling to Ladakh. I had to do a lot of homework for it. I lived alone for some time and didn’t talk to even my girlfriend. That taught me how to mould oneself for the sake of doing justice to a character,” he explains.
The actor tells us how he got to act in Kootathil Oruthan. “I’d gone to see Nivas, the music director of the film. I fell in love with the story and approached director T J Gnanavel. It’s the story of a middle bencher, a nobody, an outcast, who is ignored.”
Ashok is working with director Anandakrishnan, who directed Metro (2016), for his next film. “I’m playing a customs officer,” he says. His next is a romantic comedy titled Nenjamellam Kadhal, with Oorvashi, M S Bhaskar and Badava Gopi.
“Vijay Sethupathi approached me for this role as he wanted it to be played by someone younger than him. I play assistant director in the film,” says the 27-year-old actor. He will also be doing a film with Abraham Prabhu, in which Ashok plays a physically-challenged man.