At the press meet of Thaana Serndha Koottam (TSK), Suriya said that the Censor Board appreciated director Vignesh Shivan for making a clean film. “There won’t be any smoking or drinking warning cards,” he added.
Elaborating on why he chose TSK, the actor, who is happy that his film is getting released on a festival day after seven years, said, “Kamal Haasan’s Sathya and Varumayin Niram Sigappu have always been my favourite films. My character in TSK will have traces of such characterisation.”
Suriya feels that director Hari has been instrumental in his growth. “I often discuss my films with Hari sir. When I told him about Vignesh, he suggested that I work with him. I met Vignesh and he narrated the script that he had kept aside for Sivakarthikeyan/Vijay Sethupathi.” He said that the script was based on real-life incidents that happened in 1987, which was, of course, the inspiration behind the Hindi film, Special 26.
“I sat down for discussion thinking that the story would be along similar lines. But I was suprised by Vignesh’s different narration. He simply used those incidents as a backdrop and crafted his own screenplay.”
On a lighter note, Suriya added that TSK was a different experience as far as shooting was concerned. “I’m so used to my characters being anger-driven, that for some of the scenes in this film, I carried that same attitude. But Vignesh would say, ‘Sir, your character doesn’t have to be angry here.’ I’d immediately change my expressions. Right from my dialogue delivery to the body language, everything was new to me!”
At the event, Suriya also congratulated Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and Vishal for embarking on their respective political journeys.