The genre and the character arcs decide my looks in each film: Sivakarthikeyan

CHENNAI: The last time he met us, he was seen in a brown shirt and a veshti. This time we see him in a blue shirt and a veshti as he walks in for the interview. Has veshti become his comfort wear off camera lately we ask him. “I am coming directly after a temple visit.

Not only for the film but also for the kind of questions I will have to brace myself for when I give interviews,” he laughs. Another thing we have noticed in Siva of late is his physique. While he adds a few pounds for the camera, he looks completely off workout and proteins and maintains an athletic body off it.

“Amaran and Madharaasi required me to sport a bulkier frame, and I hit the gym and toned my body for those particular characters. But I really don’t think I should be sharing with you my diet details on how I shed those muscles.

Okay, to be honest, I only eat vegetables, fruits and soups, which have in a way become my staple food of late. You know that I am a sweet tooth. But I have been in total control of what I eat. Moreover, Parasakthi is a period film that takes place in the 60s. This is the weight that I am supposed to be for playing that role and I wear chest-high pants in that film,” he adds.

The audience has predominantly been appreciative of SK’s performance in Madharaasi. According to Siva, the safe bet is that he totally went by Murugadoss’s vision. “This is his pattern of film completely, and not a comedy one, though there is a bit of comedy initially in the movie. We never tried to play the balancing act by keeping Madharaasi between mine and his template of film. I had to change myself to Murugadoss’s intensity. I have not done such a film that is heavy on action,” says the actor.

Over the last few years, Sivakarthikeyan has given equal importance to his looks apart from the story and the directors he chooses to work with. “I guess it is the genre that decides how I look.

Doctor was a film which explored dark humour in a commercial pattern. I don’t think we had any such movies previously designed in that manner. I played a peculiar character and that was the look Nelson zeroed in on for me.

Likewise, I had to justify that I can transform myself into playing an army man in Amaran. But the challenge for me was off camera to maintain the look because I had to hit the gym twice a day. For Madharaasi, I had to be around 80 to 82 kilos and also perform stunts and dance. So, I kept my oxygen levels tougher while working out. This is how I train at the gym for each of my films, which is essential,” remarks the actor-producer.

Sivakarthikeyan has never restricted himself inside the pan-Indian tag despite Amaran, Doctor and Maaveeran being lauded across India. “We work with an intention of taking a film to the audience across India. However, it could be called so, only if the core emotion resonates with people in our country, in all states.

A film will be released in multiplexes across the north only if it runs for 56 days. But here, we give it off to OTT in just 30 days. This is the reason why we couldn’t release Amaran in the north. Also, I am not comfortable speaking other languages as of now. The market is bigger and the producer needs to see if the film has that potential,” he tells us.

There have been rumours about him playing a cameo in different films. “They said that for Coolie and now Jailer 2 and Jana Nayagan. I am not a part of these films. I have Parasakthi and a film with Venkat Prabhu for now,” he remarks.

At a time when production houses are shutting down, in a recent event, SK said that producing movies under his banner, Sivakarthikeyan Studios, gives him ultimate satisfaction. “Producing movies is my passion and I put whatever money I get from acting into production. There are a few issues in structuring here and I prefer not to talk about it,” signs off Siva.