After the good success of Arima Nambi, Vikram Prabhu’s next film Sigaram Thodu is all set for release this Friday. The film has Vikram Prabhu essaying a cop role for the first time in his career and Sathyraj, a good friend of Prabhu, plays Vikram’s loving dad in the film. While Monal Gajjar makes her K’town debut with the film, Imman has composed some adequately entertaining tunes for the album. The film is directed by Gaurav Narayanan who earlier directed the madurai-based film Thoonganagaram which received fair critical acclaim. Sigaram Thodu is produced by UTV Motion Pictures. It’s their second film in last two months after Suriya’s Anjaan which released last month.
Please find below some interesting nuggets about the film before you watch the film on the big screen this Friday!
- Vikram Prabhu does not play a full-fledged cop role in the film. He appears in police uniform in only three scenes and it will be neither over-the-top nor any heroism-based scenes
- Shreya Goshal number: The team shot the song Pidikuthae sung by Shreya Goshal for over a year. “We shot the ‘Pidikuthae’ number in Gangotri for a couple of days. As we were not able to finish it, we made another trip and shot the remaining portion of the song after 11 months. I had to work hard as I wanted to look the same as I did a year ago for my audience” – Vikram Prabhu to a daily
- Story of Sigaram Thodu has two layers: A beautiful portrayal of a father-son relationship on one hand and a police-procedural subplot for hunting scamsters involved in ATM robbery on the other hand
- Vikram Prabhu’s preparation: Vikram cut his hair short, grew a thick moustache and shed about four kgs of weight as instructed by director Gaurav. He also underwent rigorous training with the officers in the Tamil Nadu Police Academy in Vandalur to further perfect his role as a cop
- Police-procedural story: “I feel there are many notable feats of policemen that actually go unnoticed and unreported in the media. I have attempted to focus on the way the department works, the intra-departmental camaraderie, how they track down culprits and so on” – Director Gaurav about film’s cop episode
- Eye-opener: After arduous research into ATM robbery and credit/debit cards frauds, Gaurav has learnt that nearly 1500 crores of money is robbed this way. “The movie is based on scamsters who cheat people by faking their credit and debit cards. People and the police don’t know the intricacies of the vast network behind it. I want my film to be an eye-opener” – Director Gaurav
- Meeting real-life scamster: To lend credence to his storyline, Gautham has met a real-life scamster in Puzhal jail by seeking special permission from the authorities. “I met a real scamster who has defrauded people off `12 crore in ATM transactions. It was difficult to make him open up about the story,” said Gaurav earlier
- How Vikram Prabhu saved Gaurav’s life: “I was shooting a chase scene on a treacherous Himalayan route. Vikram was ahead of me, while I was in an auto. Our unit was behind in a car. Suddenly, the auto overturned and I fainted due to the impact. Vikram noticed what happened. He immediately stopped his vehicle, picked me up and carried me to a hospital. He didn’t waste a second, looking for help. His presence of mind in that remote location, and his true concern saved me that particular day,” Gaurav narrated the incident to a daily in an interview
- Going the extra mile: If Vikram Prabhu had undergone training in Tamil Nadu Police Academy for his role, Gaurav attended special sessions conducted by the police department to understand how scamsters swindle money from people and how these thefts take place
- Chase scene from an 18-storeyed building: “Director Gaurav, parked his camera atop an 18 storey building for the chase scene on the ground. Vikram recalls, “I had to run at full speed with the villain Anand behind me. It was very dangerous because hundreds of lorries were moving in and out of the yard simultaneously,” told Vikram Prabhu about the scene
Sigaram Thodu is all set for a worldwide release this Friday and will compete with Vanavarayan Vallavarayan and Burma in the box-office.