Vidaamuyarchi actor Nikhil Nair: Ajith sir used to give me character inputs on the sets

Actor Nikhil Nair might come from a well-established film family, and grown up getting accustomed to the glitz of movie business, but says he is still nervous with slivers of excitement, as we speak just a few days before the release of his film Vidaamuyarchi, starring Ajith Kumar in the lead role.

“I have the same anticipation as the audience,” says Nikhil Nair, who entered the film through auditions. After hearing about auditions, the young actor attended, which had three levels. “The first level was general, second one closer to the character, and third one was the character. After seeing it, Magizh sir welcomed me onboard for AK 62 (Vidaamuyarchi),” he adds.

Nikhil Nair Interview for Vidaamuyarchi

Guarding what his character is, Nikhil says it is a different one. But digging it a bit deeper, the actor says it is not something that is withing a set template. “In Tamil cinema, there are certain characters that people normally get to play. Either a good or bad guy, a brother role, or hero friend. Unlike these, my character is different from that. I think Magizh sir has written the characters in such a way, and I am sure AK sir’s inputs were also there for my role, because I remember him giving me inputs to me on the sets of Vidaamuyarchi.” Nikhil says.

Also read: Vidaamuyarchi director Magizh Thirumeni confident, but says 'no punch dialogues, build-up for Ajith sir'

Reaffirming his character will be one-off, Nikhil talks about shooting in Azerbaijan, a locale with extreme weather conditions and a landscape that we haven’t seen in Tamil cinema so far. “It was my first time I went there, and that’s also one of the reasons why I love being an actor. You can travel to many places as part of your work. My costume was just a vest and torn jeans, and shooting in extremely cold weather was such a challenge. Dialogue delivery was hard, but looking back now, it is a beautiful memory in the hindsight.”

‘I was the child on sets of Vidaamuyarchi’

Nikhil who has a lot of combination scenes with Ajith Kumar, recalls the times when he had seen the actor way before on the sets of Kireedam, a remake of his uncle, Mohanlal’s film by the same name. “I have met him at some social gatherings. AK sir is a very funny person, and his comic timing is phenomenal. I was youngest on sets, and would get bullied in a nice way by everybody, be it AK sir, Arjun sir, and Trisha mam. I was the child on sets. But at the same time, he is also extremely helpful as fellow artiste.”

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If there is one takeaway from Vidaamuyarchi, Nikhil says, “To see someone like AK sir put in so much of hard work, even after achieving so much, is the reason why he is still on top. A lot of people tend to slack off after they get to a certain point. But just like the title Vidaamuyarchi, sir also never gives up. He does not have concept of fear and the way he channelises to bring the best in him, is interesting.” The actor also says he and Ajith Kumar have similar passion, racing. “We went on a bike ride from Chennai to Coorg, and I too love cooking. It is my stressbuster,” he adds.

Concluding the conversation, Nikhil says that he likes to concentrate more on Tamil cinema. “I have grown up here, even though I have roots in Malayalam cinema. But I always look forward to working here. Tamil cinema has a commercial element that Malayalam cinema is missing. It is too much of slice-of-life, and closer to reality, that there is no escape. Apart from a few films like Lucifer, Empuraan, nobody accepts stars doing mass hero films. But here, a Vijay sir, Ajith sir, Rajini sir’s films are considered as festivals, which I really miss there.”

Vidaamuyarchi is set to release on February 6 in theatres.

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