Gautham Menon: ‘I started acting only to fund Dhruva Natchathiram and finish it’

Dhruva Natchathiram was first announced with Suriya in the lead role in 2013. AR Rahman was supposed to compose the music for the project, but the film was shelved. Later, Vikram got on board after hearing the idea from Gautham while discussing the possibility of a project. “Over a casual phone conversation, he asked me what happened with the movie, and why didn’t Suriya like it. I said, ‘I don’t know about that (reasons for Suriya to back out).’ But I told him the story. He said it is really good and we can do it.”

However, after the film was announced with a trailer, it hit a roadblock due to production issues. Later, it came to a standstill for about three years. “At one point, even I thought the project was impossible to make. Then I realized it’s not. People started calling me to act. I never went asking for such opportunities. It came to me by itself. But I did that only because I could use that remuneration to fund Dhruva Natchathiram and finish it. I didn’t get in to serve the art. I have told no to many films as a service to art because it felt wrong. A few films were bad experiences. But thankfully the creme de le creme roles came to me. They were also good experiences and they paid me well that I am here to tell you today all the acting chops helped me finish this film,” Gautham said.

Talking about the plot of Dhruva Natchathiram, Gautham Menon said said, “From the trailer, you would have gotten an idea what it is about. The film is about, on top of RAW and the intelligence agencies, somebody feels that they need a secret team to protect the country. So, every country could have a team like this… I mean you wouldn’t know if it’s true. That’s the whole point. So, if there is one such team in our country, how would it be? That’s what the film is about. Among those 12 characters, I wanted Vikram to play the central figure Dhruv, who is also called John. There is another name for him, we have said it in the film. There are a lot of open threads in the film… that’s the idea. We wanted to explore everything in part 2 and part 3. But for that, part one has to work.”

Talking more about the film, Gautham revealed the movie is about the one who created this team at the start. His favourite is Dhruv (Vikram). Instead of dealing with the set-up, the film will open at a point when the team has been in place for the past 13 years. “Today, the team has a problem, and it is about how they all work towards solving it,” the director said. GVM has asked fans to watch out for the fight sequences in the movie, which will be realistic and stylish.

Dhruva Natchathiram’s trailer has already been released in theatres ahead of Leo’s screening. It will soon be out online.