For young Sagar Surya, the last few days have been nothing short of a dream come true. Calls and congratulatory messages have been pouring in for him ever since the release of Pani, in which he played one of the villains alongside Junaiz VP. Sagar's portrayal of a remorseless, cold-blooded killer, that too opposite a towering Joju George, has made him a talent to watch out for. While he is a familiar face through TV shows, Pani has turned out to be Sagar's much-needed break in cinema. "It all feels new," says Sagar, about the overwhelming response, as he continues to bask in the glory of the film's success and the appreciation for his performance. "Although my role in Kuruthi (2021) also got noticed, its theatre experience was missed due to the pandemic. So watching Pani's first show with a packed audience truly felt surreal. It's rare for the audience to clap for a villain's actions and when I saw that happening, I felt blessed and fortunate. It's a result of the last eight years of my relentless hard work," adds the actor, who has also done brief roles in films like Upacharapoorvam Gunda Jayan (2022), Jo and Jo (2022), Kaapa (2022) and Kasargold (2023).
Pani, also the directorial debut of Joju, is a typical revenge drama that works largely because of the characterisation and performances of its two villains, Don (Sagar) and Siju (Junaiz). After having done humour roles mostly, Sagar says he was excited when Joju first pitched the idea. "I've done around 300 sitcom episodes and a few comedy roles in films, but I always wanted to push beyond that. Though the character in Pani also had a touch of humour, underneath it was a terrifying villain. Today, I feel accomplished when people say they hate the character. I'm finding joy in being hated."
On Joju's process of preparing them for the film, Sagar explains, "Junaiz and I had a three-month-long acting training camp, which helped us overcome a lot of confusions and boost our confidence. During the nights, Joju chettan would take us around Thrissur city and Thekkinkadu Maidanam to discuss our roles in detail. He also instructed us to visit the local markets and observe the people there, all of which helped us subconsciously."
The fact that Joju is an actor-turned-director made things easier, believes Sagar. "He had complete clarity about these characters, right from their motives to body language to even their slightest of gestures. So, apart from some minor improvisations, we didn't improvise a lot, but simply followed his instructions. Joju chettan wanted us to push ourselves to the extreme to ensure we stand out. Maximum pani edukuka... that was his policy," laughs the youngster, while wondering how Joju managed to stay focused throughout.
Apart from acting and directing, Joju also scripted and produced Pani. "It was not an easy film to execute," recalls Sagar, adding, "Joju chettan did feel the pressure, but he was cautious not to spill it over to others. Even if he gets angry, he would ask us not to take it personally. At the same time, if he liked something, he'd shower us with appreciation."
On the shooting process, Sagar vividly remembers Joju's insistence on keeping things as real as possible. This includes not referring to any film or character for inspiration. Similarly, unlike the usual system, the actors were told about their scenes only on the day of the shoot. "We knew the overall story, but not all the situations. So it was a challenge to adapt quickly, that too while shooting on busy stretches like the Thrissur round. We shot during peak traffic hours with hundreds of artists and even if one of them got their lines or look wrong, we had to reshoot from scratch. Every film has such challenges, but with Pani, it felt like gaining the experience of working in five films."
Besides the mental preps, the film also demanded Sagar to exert himself physically, including performing some risky bike stunts. "Except for the bit where we fall off the bridge, all the other bike stunts were done by myself. It has been a while, so it was tough doing the drifts and all the chasing."
With all his efforts eventually paying off, Sagar says he is now more motivated than ever. Expressing his gratitude to the audience, he says, "They are the ones with the ultimate authority to decide any artist's future. Seeing all this love and appreciation from them, that too for such a brutal villain role, has only inspired me to do better."