The intricacies of married life are multifold, and next week’s release, Irugapatru, explores the lives of not one but three different couples and their approach to relationships. Vidaarth, who plays an IT professional and Abernathi’s husband in the film, talks about how he got into the project and his unshakeable confidence in Irugapatru’s script. The actor reveals how a collaboration with director Yuvaraj Dhayalan was a long time coming. “My film Mynaa and his debut Potta Potti released around the same time and we have been friends ever since. We have always wanted to work on a project together.”
From Potta Potti to Tenaliraman, and Eli, Yuvaraj Dhayalan’s filmography is entirely composed of comedy films... until Irugapatru. “His last three films just happened to be comedies. I don’t think he wanted to focus on that genre specifically. I still remember three of the other scripts he narrated to me eight years ago and I remember thinking how brilliant he was.”
However, Vidaarth’s reason for doing Irugapatru was not his friendship with Yuvaraj. “Over the years, I have missed a lot of good scripts due to various reasons, and those films have gone on to become bigger hits. So when I read the script for Irugapatru, I was blown away by what I read and I was immediately determined not to let this opportunity slip away. More than my confidence in the story, my desire was the bigger driving force because I loved the story.”
In fact, Vidaarth gets candid about who his favourite character was when he read the script. “I originally wanted to do Vikram Prabhu’s character Mithran. He is such a pure and innocent character and I didn’t know he was going to play that role when I read the script. But Yuvaraj thought I would be better suited to play Rangesh,” he says. However, the actor cautions us that this doesn’t mean the film paints a black-and-white narrative with its characters. “There is no good or bad person in this film,” says Vidaarth.
Talking about his own character Rangesh, Vidaarth reveals, “He is a middle-class IT employee who moved to Chennai from a small town down South and he still carries those sensibilities with him. And that goes on to shape his outlook on marriage and relationships as well.”
While the film is a dissection of a married life, Vidaarth says that the film won’t feel voyeuristic. “Irugapatru could have easily been like taking a peek into someone else’s house. But the film is so grounded and the story is shaped in such a way that it feels like something that has happened to us already.” Beyond the success of the film, Vidaarth is looking forward to the audience’s reaction. “I can’t wait for the first reaction. The film does something to you and I want to see how the audience reacts to it,” he says.
According to the actor, the immense confidence he seems to have in the film stems from the moment he read the script. He says he still carries that feeling he had when he first read the script. “I am really proud and happy about doing this film. I am not saying people will change or have big revelations about relationships but the film did make me introspect a lot and made me understand certain things,” signs off Vidaarth.