Atharvaa interview: ‘I have started to enjoy the process without worrying about the results’

Remember the promising young boy you saw 15 years ago in Baana Kaathadi? The smile remains unchanged; the energy and potential are all there, but the man he has become is far different from the boy he was. Everything Atharvaa says ahead of the release of his new film, Thanal, paints a portrait of someone who strived to put his best foot forward and is now finding a rhythm to his run. The actor is excited about his current slate, a feeling he says comes from the joy in exploring himself as an actor, something that was apparent in his last release, DNA. “It feels nice. We plan life, but life has its own plans too, right? A couple of months ago, I had DNA, which was received well. We didn’t really plan the release of Thanal; but I am glad that it’s coming out. I believe that a film decides its own fate.”

The actor hints at having entered a rather new phase of his career, one in which the process concerns him more than the results. “It’s no longer just a job for me, and so I have started enjoying it. Every day, it’s exciting to wake up in the morning and look forward to that day’s shoot. More importantly, I have started enjoying the process of creating a character.”

This is also why Thanal might be the last time he plays a cop on screen, having already donned the khaki in 100 and Trigger (and the web series Mathagam). “I love doing cop roles, and I feel like a different person the moment I wear the uniform. But, even though all three of my cop films are drastically different, I find it somehow limiting me as an actor.”

Is it the body language that men in uniform need to carry? “Yes, to a certain degree, but I also want to explore myself more. I recently did a film called Valai, which is yet to be released, and I play dual roles in it. One of the characters demanded I wear a wig, and I felt like a completely different person; it wasn’t about looking different externally, but it was more internal. There were no boundaries set for me, and so I began to create my own boundaries.”

​The actor says he gets a kick from collaborating with the director and finding the character. “I feed off the director’s energy now. So my director, for those 60 days of making a film, is part of my close family circle. I prefer talking to my director daily, or at least a few days before the shoot, about the film.” All actors must feel restricted by the variety of expressions and gestures that their face and body allow them for a specific situation. Being a director’s actor, Atharvaa isn’t too concerned about that. “Let me give you an example; in DNA, in the final sequence, I am supposed to turn towards a car and run at it in a split second. Now, when I run, I have a certain way of running...it’s my body language. Director Nelson Venkatesan told me, ‘No, you need to feel helpless, you need to run like a father who lost his kid. Imagine being in that situation.’ So, while running, I didn’t raise my hand above chest level to show desperation, as if I were pushing everything aside and running towards something. So you need a director to anchor you,” he explains.

What if a shot/situation reminds him of something similar from a previous title? Would he care about how differently he can pull it off? “No, because the backstory matters. While performing a shot, they’ll tell me what happens before and after that shot in the script. So I don’t perform for a shot but for the weight of what has happened before and what will happen next. Moreover, I don’t have stock expressions for emotions, and coming from the school of acting I am from, I can’t do that,” says the actor.

​Atharvaa’s previous release, DNA, garnered acclaim from the audience. What stood out is his portrayal of a vulnerable man battling grief and hopelessness. Of late, it’s refreshing to see actors like Atharvaa and Sivakarthikeyan break the notion that it’s not ‘heroic’ to show vulnerability or play a character battling mental health issues. Atharvaa says this evolution is the need of the hour. “Firstly, it makes it easier to connect to audiences, but more importantly, people are now enjoying films for the content.”

With the director playing such a key role in his process, Atharvaa says he has a way of assessing whether debutants — like Ravindra Madhava, who helmed Thanal — could effectively translate their scripts to the screen. “Whenever I meet someone pitching a story, I try to understand their approach to cinema. In today’s times, it’s not just about the script. I met Ravi and we spoke about the film, not as a story but as a concept. He had a vision. Ravi is very sure about everything, and when he isn’t, he will tell you. He doesn’t pretend or put on a facade.”

The difference between working with a debutant and an established director, the actor adds, is that working with the former would be more of a collaboration. “Being actors, we don’t get too involved in the director’s space,” which is to say there wouldn’t be any hand-holding, “because a director knows his film more than I do. He has been with the script for three years. Just hearing a narration for those two hours doesn’t make me smarter. So if my director is confident, I will be too.”

In Thanal, Atharvaa’s cop character takes on an ex-military man, played by Ashwin Kakumanu. You wonder if Atharvaa would be keen on playing the other role, as a villain or anti-hero. “I would love to. I’ve become more attentive about my surroundings, so now my perception is that there are three worlds: the world that you’re looking at, the world I see through my eyes, and the actual reality. So the common point of where you and I meet becomes reality.” The answer piques your interest to know how he applies this philosophy to cinema. “How do we know who’s right and who’s wrong, or who knows things and who doesn’t? Everyone is trying to figure everything out. That’s how I see it. Take this film, for instance. Ashwin plays the negative role in it. What my character does is right from where he stands, but Ashwin’s character has his own reasons behind.”

Recently, director AR Murugadoss, in an interview, highlighted how Tamil cinema is facing a dearth of young heroes. On the flipside, many industry pundits are wondering if there is a deficit of content for young heroes, like Atharvaa. The actor, however, believes that content and collaboration are all that matter today. “Cinema is a business at the end of the day. I’ve started believing that you are only as good as your last Friday, and content is king. Many films that nobody would have heard of have become blockbusters after release. So, it is no longer about the names, and collaboration is important. Everyone is on the lookout for directors who have sensible scripts. In today’s world, if you spot a director who is sensible, and is able to execute his idea, he is the next big thing tomorrow. It’s become like a 20-20 match, so you need to identify the kind of content,” he says.

Up next, Atharvaa is all ready to take on two pivotal projects. He will be seen in Idhayam Murali, a film titled after the famous nickname of Atharvaa’s father, the late actor Murali. After that, he will get to shine on a bigger canvas, in Sudha Kongara’s Parasakthi, co-starring Sivakarthikeyan and Ravi Mohan. He laughs it off when asked if he feels nervous about the upcoming months. “I used to be anxious in my initial years. Now, I understand that the process is more important. Of course, there will be some nervousness ahead of the release, but right now, both Idhayam Murali and Parasakthi are different in their own way. So it is exciting to switch between roles in a span of one month.”

As we sign off, I ask him if he has reached the destination he dreamt of as a kid who made his film debut in 2010. “I don’t think I will ever be where I wanted to be then, because my ambitions keep changing over time. We as humans are never satisfied.” So what would he say to his younger self? “Don’t take yourself too seriously. Many of us tend to think that wherever we are is the world. But the world is such a big place. What we are doing matters to us, but we need to think about whether it matters in the bigger picture. I constantly step out of the box. A few years ago, I took a break because I wanted to understand the kind of films I wanted to make. I started signing films only after I got that clarity, and it has worked in my favour.”

Thanal releases in theatres this Friday