Dude’s Pradeep Ranganathan on ‘onscreen frustration’ becoming a trademark for him

Pradeep Ranganathan is only two films old as an actor, with Love Today and Dragon, and his third, Dude is out on October 17 for Deepavali. Ever since the trailer of the Keerthiswaran directorial came out, what’s been pointed out is that Dude seems to follow a certain template as far as Pradeep’s character goes. Much like Love Today and Dragon, in which his characters famously erupted in abject frustration and went crazy, Dude has a similar trajectory. Isn’t this repetition overkill for audiences?

Pradeep about his Dude character's eccentricities 

Pradeep admits that he realized this similarity, but says that it would not have been as noticeable as it is now, if his film Love Insurance Kompany (LIK) had released earlier as his third film. LIK, though, got postponed to December. “Dude was supposed to be my fourth film. If LIK had come out earlier, audiences would have thought that it was quite different. It’s a full-on romance and I am not stuck in eccentric problems like I am again in Dude. Vignesh Sivan has actually shown me in a different, softer light,” he said in conversation with Gulte.

In fact, when Dude director Keerthiswaran narrated the script, Pradeep felt that the character was very subtle, with a careless attitude. It is only when they began shooting for the film that he realized that the filmmaker was not looking for a subtle performance. The character, explains Pradeep, is unpredictable and his behaviour with different people in his life varies vastly. Keerthiswaran wanted to appeal to audiences who liked the actor for what he did in Love Today and Dragon. “His idea was that it would be a different Pradeep, but with the strengths of what I have done before,” says the actor.

Also read: Mamitha Baiju on Jana Nayagan: Sharing screen space with Vijay sir is one of the greatest achievements of my career 

Having said that Pradeep adds that he is aware that it is beginning to feel repetitive and he is looking at making a conscious call with his choice of films after LIK. “For sure, there will be a change of genre,” he says, adding that the eccentricities in Dude are a requirement of the script and not because it is a Pradeep Ranganathan film.

FAQs

Q. Why is Mamitha Baiju so famous?

A. Mamitha Baiju became famous for her performance as Reenu in the film Premalu, streaming on JioHotstar via OTTplay Premium.

Q. When is Dude releasing?

A. Dude is releasing on October 17.

Q. Which platform has Dude OTT rights?

A. Netflix has bagged Dude OTT rights.