‘People are talking about south’s cinema. They know who we are’

Has life changed after Raavanan?

Raavanan is the best thing that could have happened to me.

I did get a few offers after Aparichit,but I was uncomfortable with Hindi. For us (top heroes) it is really huge here,what we stand for,what we have worked at. There is no reason for me to go to Bollywood to be one of three heroes,or just another protagonist. If I go anywhere,I’d rather play a Pithamagan (for which he got the National Award in 2003) or a Sethu (Salman played his role in the remake Tere Naam: both films were huge hits),or a Raavan. It’s different for the girls. Someone like Asin can go to Bombay and be the glam quotient of an Aamir (Khan) and a Salman (Khan) film,and then return here and do a film. I can’t at this moment battle against an Aamir or a Shah Rukh,and I can’t leave everything here unless it is with a big director like Rajkumar Hirani or a Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

But do you see a shift?

Enthiran (Robot) garnered the attention of the whole nation. Everyone wanted to see Rajini Sir do his thing. Already people are crossing the borders. After Raavan,I know I will be dubbing my films (in Hindi) simultaneously. I know there will be takers,however few. People are now talking about southern cinema,till now they only thought of us as a source of remakes,now they know who we are. They know who I am.

Is dubbing the key then?

Yes,this new one I’m shooting (he plays a character with borderline mental retardation in director Vijay A’s film),I will dub in Hindi. We’ve made it keeping ‘Hindi audiences’ in mind,we are in trousers (as opposed to veshtis),and the locations we’ve used in Ooty can be anywhere in India. By the way,do you think my Hindi is atrocious? Did it bother you in Raavan?

Not really. Your Hindi is like that of a non-Hindi speaker from the south who’s just getting started.

We’ve been oppressed by this anti-Hindi sentiment for years. My father made sure I never learnt any Hindi,and that’s our south Indian psyche,we hear Hindi and we tune out. I’m sure it happens to you in the north when you hear Tamil. My wife is from Delhi,she’s a Mallu,and her Hindi is chaste. My children speak Hindi. But I know what I’m losing. The time has come to learn it,and learn it well.