Vikram opens up about his transformation for ‘Thangalaan’

To each their own. When I took up this role initially, I was excited because it was something I had never done before. I was all bulked up at the time, and had to lose weight, muscles. I needed my veins to pop out. I was happily training to look thin and weak. That’s my way of approaching it, and I like what I am doing.

I had to don the loin cloth or a langot for the role. A lot of people would baulk or be apprehensive about it. On the first day of the shoot, we were all shy and we would be pulling the cloth down. But when we realised that everybody was dressed in a similar manner, it felt cool. When the director and the crew arrived on the sets with sunglasses and hats, we would feel they were overdressed. I love how I look in the film, and I really miss not being in that clothing right now (laughs).

The southern language versions of the film have set the box office ringing. Do you feel any pressure, now that the film is set to release in Hindi on OTT?

We want the film to reach every corner of India. It has a message, and it is something different that director Pa Ranjith has tried. We are glad that it has found acceptance with audiences in the south, and now we want the rest of the world to also see it.

How much do you fret over the box-office performance of your films?

The pressure of box-office success is always there.

I would be lying if I said no. But, I have always wanted to act since I was a child; it was my hobby. And when you make your hobby your profession, you don’t have to work. You enjoy doing it every day. So

I am not working; I am enjoying every single day doing what I love.

You are known as the Christian Bale of Tamil Cinema. How do you look at such comparisons?

He doesn’t know Tamil, so he’s got to work a little harder. Jokes apart, he’s an amazing actor, and I am honored to be compared to him.

What are your thoughts about social media as a way of promoting films?

It is a great medium, and I love it. In fact, I feel that if social media was as popular in the early 2000s, Aparachit would have performed so much better. Social media can really help a film. The moment it releases, people know what kind of a film it is, and helps them decide if they want to watch it.