After the super success of Ghajini in 2008, director A.R.
Murugadoss took a six-year holiday from Hindi movies but is now back with his
next movie, the Akshay Kumar starrer Holiday .
Murugadoss struck gold with Aamir Khan in Ghajini but the
director tells “Akshay was my first choice for Holiday .”
He asserts, “No one could have played this character better than Akshay.”
Comparing Aamir and Akshay, he tells, “Both actors are very
sincere, hard working and full of energy.” The South director claims not to
have had any difficulty in casting either of the megastars. He tells, “Since
Ghajini was a remake, I didn’t have to convince Aamir to do the film.”
Murugadoss insists that Holiday
cannot be called a remake of his Tamil movie Thuppaki and explains why: “Akshay
wanted to make Holiday in Hindi with me but I requested
him to allow me to make the Tamil version first. Therefore, I made Thuppaki in
Tamil earlier.”
In keeping with Akshay’s action image, Holiday
is also a taut thriller. Murugadoss discloses, “Holiday
is a terrorist film but of a different type. It is about a sleeper cell. Being
sleeper cells have common men, they know where exactly to attack. The
intriguing tale has been conceptualised with the help of newspaper cuttings and
I also read books pertaining to sleeper cells. After the 26/11 attacks on
Mumbai, this story suits Mumbai the most.”
Though he is a superhit director in the South, Murugadoss
would like to continue making films in in Bollywood. He reasons, “Bollywood
producers are great to work with; they offer bigger budgets. Also, Hindi films
have a wider reach than South films. If given a chance here I will surely make
more films. I am comfortable directing in Hindi as well. And yes, I am here to
stay.”
Ask him for his wish list of actors, and pat comes his
response, “Salman, Shah Rukh, Aamir, Akshay and Ranbir Kapoor.”
Murugadoss watches Hindi movies regularly and singles out
Vicky Donor, Barfi and Ram Leela as entertainers, each in its own space. But he
doesn’t like to watch the remakes of his own films. He frankly discloses, “When
I see my films remade by others directors. I experience trepidation. When I see
the changes, I feel bad. So I don’t like to watch remakes of my films.”
