Ten again

Why 10 roles?
It was Kamal’s idea. We had done three films together and all were comedies. This time,we wanted to do something different. Kamal is a huge fan of South superstar Late Sivaji Ganeshan’s Navarathri — Sanjeev Kumar’s Naya Din Nayi Raat is a remake of this classic — and was probably inspired by it.

What were the challenges you faced while filming?
More than 90 per cent of the film has computer graphics. There were times when we needed six of

Kamal’s characters in a single scene and such scenes can be done only in multiple layers. These took long to shoot because each character’s makeup would take five hours and we’d end up shooting only one layer in one day.

What kind of special effects have you used?
Besides the layering,there is a part of the movie that depicts 12th century India. We have also ‘created’ a tsunami. We worked with 10 different special effects companies and had 30 people from the US in Chennai working with me. We tried our best to give the film a Hollywood finish.

It was quite a risk to invest Rs 60 crore in a film.
The day Kamal narrated to me the concept I told him it’s going to be a super-hit. I was so confident that for the first time I let someone else write the film. But the biggest compliment came from filmmaker K Balachander. He told me I’ve made a technically brilliant film and it’ll take years for people to understand the kind of work that has gone into it.

How did you sign up Himesh Reshammiya as the music director?
We were in talks with AR Rahman but he had a packed schedule. I had heard about Himesh and would see him often on television with his cap on. So I decided to give him a shot. Things worked out and he did brilliantly for someone who has never done music for our industry.

Would you want to work in Bollywood?
Yes,and I’ve heard that some Bollywood stars would like to work with me too. But I hardly get a chance to think about it. If I have a choice,I’d like to work with Shah Rukh Khan,Aamir Khan and of course,Amitabh Bachchan.