Filmmaker Adhik Ravichandran made a rather flashy debut with the GV Prakash Kumar-starrer Trisha Illana Nayanthara, which faced criticism for its content, but managed to have a decent run at the box-office. Soon enough, he worked with Silambarasan TR in the much-hyped Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangaadhavan, which was a disastrous outing for everyone involved. “In fact, no one even looked in my direction after the debacle. But it was a nice feeling to get the support from Ajith sir,” said Adhik, in an interview to Galatta Plus ahead of the release of his big-ticket film, Good Bad Ugly.
Talking about how his life can be divided into ‘Before meeting AK sir’ and ‘After meeting AK sir,’ Adhik pointed out that his first couple of films were purely made for the reason of survival in the industry, and it catered to the youth audience who fill up theatres in the first weekend. “When I did my first film, I was just 22. I didn’t have enough maturity, but now, I am in a better place. When I did Nerkonda Paarvai with Ajith sir, he told me to think bigger, and stop catering to a certain set of audience. That is why my route changed.”
Opening up about how his mother guided his admiration for Ajith, Adhik Ravichandran said that his first brush with the stardom of the superstar was when she stopped everything she was doing whenever a song of his was played on television. “I loved Ajith through Dheena. I was attracted by his rage, and hearing stories of his personal things made it even deeper. Be it the help he does for others, or the way he treats people around him, Ajith sir is a rare gem. He doesn’t like hurting anyone, and even bad-mouthing people. Knowing all this, there was no turning back in my admiration towards him,” said Adhik, who said that the best aspect of directing Ajith was in the way he transformed into characters in front of the camera. “He can do transformation scenes like a pro, and can pull off a lot of different characters. In fact, we used a lot of costumes for his character, and he carried them off so wonderfully. It was almost like suits were invented just so that Ajith sir could wear them.”
When asked to list five films of Ajith Kumar that he thinks best represent the superstar to someone who doesn’t have an idea about him, Adhik said, “Dheena, Kandukondain Kandukondain, Mugavaree, Varalaaru, Nerkonda Paarvai, and Yennai Arindhaal.”
Meanwhile, Good Bad Ugly is set to hit the screens on April 10, and will be released in Tamil and Telugu. Apart from Ajith, the film boasts of a terrific ensemble including the likes of Trisha, Simran, Arjun Das, Prasanna, Sunil, Prabhu, and Shine Tom Chacko.
