Noted filmmaker Mari Selvaraj's debut film Pariyerum Perumal won critical and commercial acclaim upon its release in 2018 for its hard-hitting portrayal of caste attrocities. While the film featured Kathir in the lead role, the Maamannan director has revealed that he wanted to originally cast Atharvaa in it.
During the audio launch event of the actor's upcoming film DNA directed by Nelson Venkatesan, where he stars alongside Nimisha Sajayan, Mari Selvaraj revealed that he was very upset when he couldn't sign the film due to his busy schedule.
"I don't know if Atharvaa remembers this. The first hero to whom I narrated the script of Pariyerum Perumal was Atharvaa. After watching Paradesi, I had penned the script of Pariyerum Perumal and was wondering which hero to approach," he said, noting that he approached Atharvaa following the release of Banaa Kaathadi.
"When Atharvaa's Banaa Kaathadi released itself, I had imagined Atharvaa in the protagonist's role of Pariyerum Perumal. My protagonist would look like him. I met him and narrated the script to him. But due to his busy schedule, he could not do this film," Mari Selvaraj disclosed.
He also shared that he was a big fan of actor Murali, Atharvaa's father who had portrayed many characters with one-side love and underlined that the perception of it being seen as love being turned down needs to be broken. "In one side love, love does not even have to be professed. The idea is 'I don't even have to tell I love you. I simply love you'," he added, confessing that he had doubts on whom to cast for the lead role after Atharvaa's unavailability.
"I had told my wife that Pariyerum Perumal will have Atharvaa. That did not happen. But one day, I knew I would tell this. I think seven years have passed. From them, my sights have been on him and on the basis of the fact that I have seen him for such a long time, Atharvaa is an actor who will rise higher. He's got the capacity, speed and skill. DNA will be an important film for him," he said, praising Atharvaa's talent and hard work.
Apart from Atharvaa and Nimisha Sajayan, DNA also stars Ramesh Thilak and Balaji Sakthivel, along with Viji Chandrasekar, Chetan, Riythvika KP, Subramanian Siva, Karunakaran and Pasanga Sivakumar.
Athisha Vino has co-written the script of DNA with Nelson. The technical crew includes cinematographer Parthiban and editor VJ Sabu Joseph. Singers Sathyaprakash, Sreekanth Hariharan, Pravin Saivi, Sahi Siva and Anal Akash have composed various songs in the film.
The upcoming film is backed by Jayanthi Ambethkumar and Ambethkumar under their Olympia Movies banner and is scheduled for a release in theatres on June 20.