Exclusive! Jayaram on Ghost: The crux of the film revolves around Shivarajkumar and my character

Actor Jayaram has been in cinema almost as long as his Ghost co-star Shivarajkumar, both having made their debuts in the late 80s. And yet, despite having worked in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu cinema, it’s taking him that long to finally step into the Kannada industry with the MG Srinivas directorial. In a quick telephonic conversation with OTTplay from the set of his next in Telugu with Mahesh Babu, ahead of the release of Ghost on October 19, Jayaram tells us that he could not have got a better Kannada film debut.

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This is not the first Kannada film that has come Jayaram’s way, but while he wasn’t inclined to pick up the earlier offers, with Ghost, things were different. “I have known Shivanna for a very long time and every time we’d meet, either at some award event or at the annual Navaratri get-together of the Kalyan group, for which both of us are brand ambassadors, he would tell me that I ought to do a Kannada movie. I would then tell him that if I were to ever venture into the industry, it would be with him. When the casting for Ghost was going on, Shivanna suggested my name to Srini. He called and then we met for a narration about a year ago and when I heard it, it seemed quite exciting. The narrative of Ghost revolves around two characters – on one side there’s Shivanna and on the other, there’s me. This is a role that gave me, as an artiste, 100% satisfaction. Also, what I liked about Ghost is that it is truly universal and will work in any language that it is presented in. This film came to me at the right time; I could not have got a better start in the Kannada film industry,” says Jayaram.

Shivarajkumar: I wanted to work with Ghost director Srinivas a long time ago, but it’s come together only now 

Ghost is a pan-India film that is releasing in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam, and has Anupam Kher also on the cast. Often, pan-India films tend to include actors from different industries to make them more relatable to audiences in those markets. Director MG Srinivas, though, has maintained that his decision to cast Jayaram stems from the fact that he thought that the actor was the perfect choice. “I would agree with Srinivas. I am not the token actor for Malayalam and Tamil audiences. I play a pakka Kannadiga called Changappa in the film, for which he got me to dub in Kannada and worked with me on getting my diction and intonation just right. He could have made me a Tamilian or Malayali with a thick accent, which would not be out of place, in, say, a place like Bengaluru, for instance,” he says.

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What Jayaram loved about the experience was that although working in the Kannada industry was new to him, and unlike the comfort zone that he has back home in Kerala, for instance, the team of Ghost went out of their way to ensure that he didn’t feel out of place here. “They gave me a homely feel on set and now that I have made baby steps in the industry, I don’t mind exploring it further,” he signs off.