Why Lokesh Kanagaraj for Inimel? Shruti Haasan explains

Despite all the rewards and pleasures of working on Inimel, Lokesh Kanagaraj could never fully understand why Shruti Haasan would think he would be the right man for the job.

Lokesh Kanagaraj and Shruti Haasan in Inimel.

Filmmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj is set to make his debut as an actor with a music video titled Inimel , which is bankrolled by his mentor Kamal Haasan's production house, Raaj Kamal Films International. Composed and performed by Shruti Haasan, "Inimel" is touted to be a love song for Gen-Z.

The producers recently unveiled a teaser, giving us a glimpse of what the music video is going to be about, which unleashed a sea of memes about Lokesh playing a romantic hero in the video. Lokesh's movies are touted to be anti-romance because love stories in his movies always meet often violent and tragic ends.

ALSO READ: Inimel teaser: Lokesh Kanagaraj shares an 'awkward' chemistry with Shruti Haasan

However, Lokesh refuses to accept that aspect of his movies as he feels that as a storyteller, he is compelled to do what is needed to move the narrative forward. "When I get this question, every time I feel like I am on a witness stand. But the fact is, when you make an action film, you follow a template specific to that genre. That's why these things happen (in my movies)," Lokesh told in an interview posted on the RKFI YouTube channel.

Lokesh also revealed that he was initially very reluctant to take up the acting offer in Inimel when Shruti offered it to him. However, he noted that "I am in no position to say no when some offer from RKFI."

Shruti Haasan and Lokesh Kanagaraj's unlikely pairing

Besides producing the music video, Kamal has also written the lyrics for the song. This song offered Lokesh the opportunity to work with Kamal in a new capacity, adding an extra layer to the mentor-mentee relationship between the two.

"One of the joys of working on this project is that. I told Shruti that I feel very content knowing that Kamal sir's voice accompanies my visuals in the video. My only fear was to act in a way that would satisfy Kamal sir's expectations," Lokesh added.

From writing and directing Kamal to acting in a song written by Kamal, life has come full circle for Lokesh. Despite all the rewards and pleasures of working on Inimel, he could never fully understand why Shruti would think he would be the right man for the job.

"One question that kept occurring to me, why me? I was not confident about what I could do. I hope I have done something that the audiences won't find repulsive," he said.

ALSO READ: Kamal Haasan to write screenplay for Dhanush's Ilaiyaraaja biopic

Shruti, however, revealed that she had complete faith in Lokesh's ability. She also explained that she thought the unlikely pairings between them would infuse the music video with an element of surprise.

"At times when we meet some people, we would feel that they would be good in front of the camera. I felt that about him. And when we discussed the idea for the video concept, we were considering other actors. I wanted it to be real because unexpected pairings happen in real life. I wanted that energy as no one would ever think about this combination," Shruti explained.

The full music video of Inimel will be out on March 25.

Share