I KNEW 'VELAYUDHAM' WOULD WORK : VIJAY

New Delhi:
Sharp, measured and bright. That's exactly how one can best describe actor Vijay's responses to searching questions posed by City Express.
The star, who has proven to industry pundits through his back-to-back hits with 'Kaavalan' and 'Velayutham' that he is still a force to be reckoned with in Kollywood, is clearly on a winning spree. And that spree might just not be confined to Kollywood and may well extend to the business of politics, if one is to go by the indications given by the star.
With 'Velayudham' still going strong after having been declared a hit in over 800 centres and with three other big films with established directors like Shankar, Murugadoss and Gautam Menon all set to follow, Vijay's reply to his critics, who wrote him off after Sura's failure, it seems, is only bound to get stronger and louder in the coming days.

Beginning by commenting on his experience of working on 'Velayutham', Vijay says, "We worked really hard for a year. In fact, when about 60 percent of this film was over, I recalled all the scenes that we had shot and knew then itself that this movie would work big time. I told director Jayam Raja too about this feeling of mine."
But then, draw his attention to the fact that during Deepavali, there were reports of a battle being silently fought over screens and he responds by thinking for a complete minute before answering, "I want to discuss something useful. Today, my movie's a hit and that is all that matters."
'Velayutham's handsome performance at the box office, that too close on the heels of 'Kavalan's success, is certainly a shot in the arm for him. But he Sharp, measured and bright. That's exactly how one can best describe actor Vijay's responses to searching questions posed by City Express.
Did he actually make a conscious effort to plan these films to reverse his fortunes at the box office? Responds Vijay, "Everybody goes through these phases. I don't pay too much attention to them. I went through a bad phase and now it is going well. I don't plan anything. If something appeals to me, I do it. For instance, I was supposed to do a movie a couple of years ago with Jayam Raja. But then, that never materialised. Had it materialised also, we still could not have been sure if it would have been as successful as 'Velayutham' has been."
The actor's next film to hit screens will be Shankar's 'Nanben', the Tamil remake of the blockbuster '3 Idiots'. Initially, rumours were doing the rounds in the industry that all was not well between the ace director and Vijay and as a result, Vijay had even walked out of the project only to return later.
Refuting these rumours, Vijay says, "Firstly, director Shankar is a wonderful human being. I've known him from the days he was an assistant director to my dad. His growth has been nothing less than phenomenal and I've been both impressed and proud of his growth. As for the rumours, there is no truth in them. The only thing that we had to sort out was the dates problem. 'Nanben's offer came my way when I was half-way through 'Velayutham' and managing dates wasn't easy. But we figured a way out."
About the cast of 'Nanben', Vijay says, "Both Srikanth and Jiiva are good friends. Sathyaraj Sir plays the villain in the film. Tamil cinema would not have witnessed a bond as the one that exists between Sathyaraj Sir and me in this film."
Finally, ask Vijay where he sees himself five years from now, Kollywood or Bollywood and he pauses. "I don't plan anything. Especially, anything that's that long", he says.
Persist and ask him, 'Politics'? He smiles and signs off saying, "May be".