Vijay's interview to Times of India

• Velayudham has been liked by the audience and critics. How do you feel?
I am very happy. After one year of hard work put in by the whole team, it’s nice to reap the rewards. I was keen on working with Jayam Raja and I am glad this worked out well for us.
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• Were you confident the movie would click?
When you are making certain movies, you know almost instinctively that it will work. When this movie was 60 per cent complete, I told director Raja that I had seen the rushes and I am confident that the movie will turn out well. The highlight of this film is the story. My father always says that for a movie to be a commercial success, the base of the film has to be strong. I also don’t believe in talking too much about my film before it releases — I would like the audience to go with an open mind, without any expectations and really enjoy it. And I think they did.

• So it’s a remake of Azaad?
It’s been inspired by Azaad. I first saw that film years ago and I thought I should do a film like that at some point. When I met director Raja and we got chatting, this movie came to mind. And then we realized the remake rights were actually with my father!

• There was talk that you had trouble getting adequate screens to release Velayudham :
I don’t want to waste time talking about such things. The movie is a success and that’s all that matters.

• How is Nanban coming along?
If Velayudham has been a success, Nanban will create euphoria of a different kind. Everyone would have seen 3 idiots. Even if you have seen the Hindi version, the Tamil film will be fresh. Director Shankar has tailor-made it for the Tamil audience.

• Director Shankar?
Working with director Shankar has been an amazing experience. I was supposed to do Mudhalvan with him but it didn’t work out unfortunately. His knack of bringing out a performance from an actor was novel to me. He appreciates the little nuances in an actor. And, he’s a wonderful human being as well.

• Are remakes a good trend?
I personally believe it’s a healthy trend. We are taking something that has already worked and adapting it to our sensibilities. When the remake of 3 idiots came along, I definitely wanted to do it.

• You have seen a few ups and downs in the last few years :
Sura was one film which affected me terribly (laughs), but it was my mistake. I did the film with full faith, but unfortunately it didn’t work. Kaavalan was cute and it did well.

• Would you want to do try something offbeat?
I would like to try different things within the framework of commercial cinema which I have been successful at.

• And what keeps you busy at home?
Right now, I am between films so I am spending a lot of time with my family.