BRIEF ENCOUNTER

Kamal Haasanji 's school of acting teaches perfection while mine stresses on entertainment. I’ve taken a lot of care with the seduction scenes in Aunty No 1 but otherwise there’s not been over-emphasis on the look and that’s what makes my film different from Mrs Doubtfire and Chachi 420.

Your New Year’s resolution of punctuality seems to have ended. You’re back to reporting on the sets hours after the scheduled time.
Oh no, not again! I am tired of answering this query. See, I’m a busy actor. I’m working several shifts a day. So it’s not always possible for me to report on time. But I’m a responsible artiste, I ensure that my producer doesn’t incur any losses because of me. Once I reach the sets, I am at the beck and call of the producer and director. I don’t leave till they let me off. I just can’t help it if I’m unpunctual at times. I am trying to please everyone and in the bargain, sadly, unfortunately, I become a bad person in the eyes of everyone.

Not everyone. The makers still adore you.
Do they? If they do it’s perhaps because I am very professional. When I commit myself to a film, I do full justice to it and give it my best shot.

You are playing a woman in Aunty No.1?
Do you think you have done justice to the role?
I am playing a fake aunty. A stage artiste who gets caught in a murder case and to escape the law is forced to don the guise of a woman.

Have you seen Mrs. Doubtfire?
Of course I have. But Aunty No.1 is nothing like that film. My drag act is not as perfect as Robin Williams. The make-up’s sketchy, so too the dressing up but that’s intentional. In this film everything’s happening so fast that I don’t have much time to spend on my disguise. In Chachi 420, Kamal Haasanji looked like a woman. His school of acting teaches perfection while mine stresses on entertainment. I’ve taken a lot of care with the seduction scenes but otherwise there’s not been over-emphasis on the look and that’s what makes my film different from Mrs Doubtfire and Chachi 420.

What if you had to do the role more convincingly?
Surely, I’d do it convincingly. For me every role is important. If I have to, I’d play the role of a woman to perfection. But in this film, I didn’t have to concentrate much on that aspect.

According to thespian Sivaji Ganesan, a male artiste who can act like a woman is the perfect actor. You agre?
If an actor plays any role convincingly he’s a good actor. But yes, Sivaji Ganesanji is the greatest actor of the country. So naturally what he says must be the ultimate. I am his greatest fan. I had copied him in Khuddar.

You actually confess to copying another actor?
What’s wrong with that? I have always copied great people and I have no qualms about doing so.