Dhruv Vikram is cinema royalty. There is no point beating around the bush about it. Of course, he didn't face the struggles that his illustrious father had to face in Tamil cinema. But Dhruv's journey has been unlike many other star kids of his generation. His debut was mired in the controversy of the not-so-good kind. And he went for a do-over. His next film, Mahaan (2022), much to his and his co-star and father Vikram's chagrin, had to be a direct-to-OTT release. And then, he was out of people's minds for a couple of years before finally returning to the playing field with Mari Selvaraj's Bison. Now, he can either be praised for his resilience or criticised for the seemingly unlimited do-overs he gets in Tamil cinema. "Even before others put forth such questions, I keep on asking them to myself. I feel confused. I feel the pressure. But that's how I work," says Dhruv, who has no qualms admitting that the tag of being 'Vikram's son' is not going to leave him, come what may. "They have the right to point it out. Till I earn the people's love, respect, and adulation, that perspective isn't going to change, but getting to change that perspective is my work, right?"

It is to change this perspective that Dhruv gave it his all to become the Mari hero in Bison, a gritty social drama built around the sport of kabaddi. And through Bison, Dhruv asserts that he is a changed man. "To shed my city-bred lifestyle, I spent time in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi to acclimatise to the region, its dialect, and understand the people. I had to step out of my comfort zone. But I went through that initial discomfort and transformed that into my comfort zone. I bonded with the kabaddi players, learnt about their lives and experiences. That became a way of life for me," says the actor, who shares that the training wasn't just about the sport, but also about becoming one of them. "We had athletic training, warm-up, 20 rounds of running, actual games of kabaddi, practising endurance, and swimming. And Mari sir asked me to also do work in the farm, the woods, herd goats, and understand where the residents of the area got their strength to play kabaddi like it was second nature."

One might assume that someone like Dhruv, who has an athletic build, would have indulged in a sport or two in his life. "I was involved in a bit of track and field, but this was my first brush with sports. I was more into photography, art, and cinema," says the actor with a disarming smile. From being a complete novice, Dhruv transformed into a player who understands the game, its efforts, the hardships, and the contentment that can only come after every inch of the body exerts itself to its maximum during a competitive game. "I played kabaddi with people across age groups. I had to play with school kids, then the ones in their 20s, and then players in their 40s. Everyone shared their insights, and we developed a close relationship. In fact, I realised that they gelled with me much more easily because I was a relative newcomer in the industry. If I were an established actor, it could have posed a different kind of challenge. After a point, they didn't care I was Vikram's son or Dhruv. They saw me as another player, and that made the process beautiful," says Dhruv, who reminisces on the discomfort he felt when dressing up in trendy jeans and fashion-forward shirts whenever he came down to Chennai after spending weeks together working in Bison. "Appa felt the same while shooting Thangalaan."

Giving it all to become a character isn't something that is a novel idea in the Vikram household. And in this case, the apple didn't fall too far away from the tree. In fact, Dhruv shares that when he got injured while filming Bison, his father said it was these lessons that would help him become a better actor. But if the apple isn't falling too far from the tree, there are also comparisons bound to happen. "Every stressful situation, be it a night shoot, a stunt sequence, or even a kabaddi scene, my father is there in my mind. Of course, there will be comparisons, but imagine the person I am being compared to. It is Chiyaan! I am completely fine with it," says Dhruv.

Dhruv also believes that these comparisons egg him on to push himself to his own limits. In fact, in the pre-release events, Mari said that he actually gave Dhruv the option to do another film that was far less demanding, but the actor decided to become the Bison he envisioned. "Honestly, I was hurt with the offer," says Dhruv, adding, "I knew it would haunt me if I wasn't able to do justice to the story that he wants to tell. What were my limitations? I couldn't sleep because there was something that I wasn't able to pull off. Say, my father had been given a film like Bison... he would have jumped right into it. I had the chance to be the face of the film made by one of Tamil cinema's most powerful voices. Why shouldn't I take it up?"

And what is that powerful voice trying to tell the world with Bison, which is based on the real-life kabaddi champion Manathi Ganesan? "There is a compelling commentary on the social fabric, but Bison is also an aesthetic film with the necessary commercial values, powerful performances, and top-notch making. Beyond all this, Bison will create a conversation, a debate, and that's what makes a Mari sir film."