Jeeva Interview about Nanban and Vijay

How has Nanban shaped up?

Nanban has shaped up well. It has more grandeur, better quality. And, as it is Shankar sir’s film, it has his touch all over. We did not want to spoil the essence of the Hindi original. We have filmed in such a way that people who have seen the Hindi original will not say it’s not as good as the Hindi. Comedy has worked much better in Tamil and emotions have been conveyed beautifully. I can confidently say that if this film has been taken by anyone other than Shankar, it would not have come out this well. I can say this as someone who has seen the finished rough version.

Is there an influence of Sharman Joshi in your character portrayal in Nanban?

Our aim was not to disturb the original character even in the minutest way. But I feel the Tamil version will be more entertaining. That’s what I felt when I saw the film as an audience. And the finer emotions involving friendship are well brought out. I am very positive about Nanban. I cannot say there is an influence (of Sharman Joshi). I have portrayed the role in my individual style.

Abt Nanban unit?

It’s a great unit with Vijay sir, Sathyaraj sir, Srikanth, Ileana and Anuya, You would get the feel of having eaten a full course meal when you see Nanban. I am the youngest in the unit and Vijay sir is senior to me in age and in experience. It was a lively unit and we all had fun playing pranks on each other. We have all becomes good friends and I know Vijay from my childhood days when he has acted in some of our production ventures when I used to call him Anna. With this film, the bonding between me and Vijay has strengthened. And Srikanth and I have been friends for a long time. In this film, our travel has been more together and as there is no jodi for me and Srikanth, it was boring and since there was no other go, me and Srikanth have become the jodi of Nanban. It was good fun and also we had lots of travel in Nanban. We went to Andamans, Ooty, Coimbatore and Dehradun for the shoot.