Siddharth on shooting for actioner Takkar: ‘I was in tons and tons of pain’

“Every film will leave you with some memories, some nostalgia, some sense of sight, sound and smell which you will always take away with you,” says Siddharth as he adds, “During Takkar, it was what I was feeling when I was shooting the film. I did 30 plus call sheets of action in the film and when you are doing that much action, for that I have to change my physique, I had to work out and I don’t always enjoy working out. I had to bulk up for this film and I am much more muscular and larger in this film than I am,” shares the actor, whose character in the film is named Kunj.

Siddharth, whose work is known in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi cinema, further decodes his schedule during the shoot of the film. He says, “So for this film, I had to fight a lot of other people and there was a lot of training involved. So, I was in a lot of pain. I know action heroes shouldn’t feel it but I was in tons and tons of pain because I had also gone through a shoulder surgery at that time and was recovering from it and doing rehab on one side and stunts on the other side.” He quips, “All not what the doctor had ordered at all!”

On a serious note, while the actor praises the Vietnamese stunt crew that supported him through a very important and intense scene in the film, he also remembers wincing in pain the next day.

“They had some brilliant martial artists. So, it was a great experience but I would go back home in tons and tons of pain and then in the morning the ‘aiyyooss’ and ‘ammaas’ were there. So, for me the strong memory from Takkar was what pain I used to be in those days. So, they say no pain no gain and I don’t think any film deserves that idiom more than Takkar. I am excited to see that translate to claps and whistles. It is the reason why you do these sequences,” shares the actor.

While Takkar has been shot keeping in the mind the sensibilities of Telugu and Tamil audiences, Siddharth is focused on entertaining everyone who is coming to see him in theatres.

“I don’t think there is a difference in sensibilities. The audience just wants to enjoy the cinema. All films are culturally rooted and presented. So for my audience in Telugu, the film is happening in Telugu states and for Tamil the film is happening in Tamil Nadu. So, it’s not that the film is happening in one geographical location and then you translate into multiple languages. So as far as Telugu audience is concerned, they are watching a Telugu film and Tamil audience is watching a Tamil film.

“The way the character has been written is very universal, so that there is the same kind of impact in both places. Of course, audiences will clap louder depending upon the theatre in a city. So that’s when something becomes ‘mass’ and I have not experienced that with my films. This film has a lot of clap moments and energetic highs. So that’s gonna be fun to watch in Tamil and Telugu,” he says.

Post Takkar, Siddharth will be seen in Indian 2 along with Kamal Haasan. Besides this, he also has director SU Arun Kumar’s Chithhaa and S Sashikanth’s directorial debut TEST.