Vikram is, of course, a fanboy film, but it should win: Lokesh Kanagaraj

Lokesh Kanagaraj, awaiting the release of Kamal Haasan-starrer, Vikram, tries to be as calm as possible. “There is pressure but we’re very close to the release date, so the last stages of post-production and censoring are going on,” he says. In an interview with Film Companion, the Master director speaks about Vikram's making, working with Fahadh Faasil and Vijay Sethupathi, besides his fanboy moments watching the Kamal Haasan movies.

When it was decided that Lokesh would make a film with Ulaganayagan, both had a narration for a different script. “Kamal sir liked the story but when we further discussed it, I told him that there was nothing that he hadn't done and I asked him if there were any interesting ideas that he had. Then, he told me about a character from the original Vikram and it was superb. I told him to stop at a point. From there on, I took the character and built a story.”

It took about six to eight months to make a bound script, tells Lokesh. At different stages of the script development, he had multiple narrations with Kamal Haasan.

Speaking about the genre of Vikram, Lokesh states thrillers and emotions are very much drama-related. “The way a trailer is cut is to tease the audience and not reveal too much. Action is quick cuts and you get an idea of what it’s going to be like and to show how technically strong we are. The driving factor for the film will be action, but emotion will majorly help it and it will be an emotional action film!”

Lokesh adds that more than revenge and rivalry, there is a message for societal impact in Vikram. "Kamal Haasan is a person of great stature. When he voices such a problem, it reaches the audience. In that way, there are a lot of layers in Vikram, unlike a regular film. Of course, it is a fanboy film, but it should win."

How was the experience of directing three powerhouse performers in a single film? "As you said, the three of them are powerhouse performers. So, there is no point in giving one person more to do than the other. What you see in the trailer in terms of segregation of space, similarly the film has the three of them with equal space and contribution to share in terms of performance."

What was the first hard-hitting moment when Lokesh realised he was a very big fan of Kamal Haasan? "That’s when Vishwaroopam was released. It was very emotional for me. It wasn't even released in Tamil Nadu. I went to Kerala. The theatre over there wasn’t nice, so I came out. Then, I had to go all the way to Bangalore. During the Vishwaroopam transformation fight scenes, I almost fainted because of the way I screamed. We’d travelled all the way to Bangalore in the car overnight and went straight to the show without even eating!"

Vikram will have a theatrical release on June 3.