Gearing up for the release of Aishwarya Dhanush directed thriller Vai Raja Vai, Gautham Karthik talks about how different his role is in the movie, when compared to the ones he has done previously. “I play a middle class IT guy. My character in the film is very polished. While in Kadal, I played a village guy, in Vai Raja Vai, I play a city-based guy,” he says. According to Gautham, the film is neither a love story nor one on gambling. However, it has elements of the power of intuition, he adds. Talking about the music in Vai Raja Vai, Gautham says, “This is the second time that Yuvan (Yuvan Shankar Raja) is composing music for my film (the other movie is Sippai). The music is mindblowing, and I feel he has outdone himself. Ilaiyaraaja has also lent his voice for a song called Move your body. I play most of the songs from the film in repeat mode these days, but my favourite track is Pachavanna Poove.”
In the movie, Gautham shares screen space with four comedy actors — Manobala, Vivek, Satish and MS Bhaskar. “It was so tough for me to resist laughing when I was acting with them. When you act in a comedy scene, you are supposed to make others laugh, not laugh yourself,” he says with a laugh. Gautham is quick to add his praise for Aishwarya Dhanush. He says, “I am glad that I got an opportunity to work with her. She is so dedicated and always knows what to do next. She has total command over everything on the sets. She is a wonderful director to work with.” Two-film-old (Mani Ratnam’s Kadal and Telugu remake film Yennamo Yedho Gautham) Gautham has two more films — Sippai and Indrajith — in his kitty. The actor expresses his interest in playing a historical role, in future. Vai Raja Vai, which has a star cast including Priya Anand, Taapsee Pannu, Vivek and Manobala, has director Vasanth making his debut in acting, along with S J Surya appearing in a song. There are a few parts of the film that have been shot in Japan. The actor says that shooting for the film was a fun ride for the crew. He fondly recalls a funny experience, “We were supposed to walk seriously towards the boat. And suddenly there was a huge storm that had all of us go wobbly and ultimately fall down!” Vai Raja Vai is set to release on May 1.