Exclusive! Adrishyam, Yugi gave me the chance to work with new-gen actors like Kathir and Sharafudheen: Narain

Malayalam actor Narain has always bided his time for great roles. While some have not paid off, his recent choices have provided a boost to his career. The actor, who was part of Kamal Haasan’s Vikram, is now all set for another riveting thriller with director Zac Harriss’ Malayalam-Tamil bilingual titled Adrishyam and Yugi, respectively.

In an exclusive chat with OTTplay, Narain talks to us about the challenges of working in a bilingual, collaborating with so-called new-generation actors such as Kathir and Sharafudheen and why he decided to sign up for the movie, despite refraining from bilinguals in the past.

Zac had earlier told us that you were the one who had suggested this idea of making the movie into a bilingual.

That’s not entirely true. I try to refrain from doing bilinguals. They narrated the script to me saying it’s a Malayalam film and that they might make it in Tamil also. I told them that I am not a fan of bilinguals. But when I heard the subject, I felt it had the possibility of being made as bilingual. Rarely do you find a subject that is not rooted in the culture of where the story is happening. The film’s story is happening in Chennai and it can also pass off as a Malayalam film. That’s why I agreed, but primarily why I decided to do the movie was that it’s a smartly scripted thriller. There’s a mystery from the start till the end that is sure to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

You are part of both the Tamil and Malayalam versions. That would have required you to alternate between two different performance meters.

Yes, it was a very new and different experience for me. I had previously done a bilingual – U-Turn, which was made in Tamil and Telugu. But I didn’t have a hold over Telugu, so I didn’t have to worry too much about it. Here, I was doing it in two languages I was familiar with. I would finish the Malayalam scene and get ready for the next, when they would tell me that I have a Tamil sequence next.

When you are doing the same scene in Tamil, that’s when you also understand that you are not able to do it the same way as you did Malayalam. So sometimes, you would feel you are doing a scene better than how you did it in the other language and sometimes, you feel it’s just not working. That’s also when you realise that each language has its own charm; you have to account for the pauses and nuances. It was a learning process. I feel if the movie had a rural backdrop, the Tamil and Malayalam scenes would have been poles apart. Fortunately, the story is set in a city and my character has a composed demeanour.

Some of the sequences in the two languages also might have had you sharing screen space with different actors. How much did that affect your performance?

It was interesting in a way. Sharafudheen played Kathir’s portions in Malayalam, while Athmiya Rajan was there in both Tamil and Malayalam. The highlight was that I hadn’t worked with the new-gen actors till this film. I could do that with Sharafudheen, Kathir and Joju George through these films. That was a new experience and I enjoyed that process.