Actor Arya, last seen in Mr X, is currently gearing up for the release of his Tamil-Malayalam bilingual film, Ananthan Kaadu. The actor is busy touring cities to promote the film, helmed by Murali Gopy, and scheduled for release on June 25.
In a recent conversation with Pearle Maaney, Arya spoke about his experience working with director Bala at length. Of the many anecdotes he recalled, the Sarpatta Parambarai actor particularly mentioned that director Bala scrapped nearly 40 days of footage for Avan Ivan and restarted the shoot for a shocking reason.
Arya, who first worked with Bala in Naan Kadavul, reunited with him for Avan Ivan after the project. On how Vishal came onboard, he said, "After Naan Kadavul, Bala sir told me he wanted me for his next film, Avan Ivan. He said there would be two heroes and picked me for one of the roles, but he was still looking for the other actor. Just a few days later, I happened to attend Vishal’s birthday party and pitched the idea to him. He immediately got excited. I called Bala sir, and told him, ‘Oruthan sikkitan’ (laughs)."
Eventually, the film went on floors with Vishal, as Arya had prior commitments. "Once Bala sir narrated the story, Vishal came on board. At the time, I was busy shooting for Boss Engira Bhaskaran, so Bala sir wanted to begin with Vishal’s portions first," he shared.
Detailing director Bala's style of working, he continued, "On the first day of the shoot, I called Vishal to wish him luck. Around pack-up time, I called again to ask how the day had gone. He said, ‘I’m still in the caravan waiting to be called.’ Apparently, the shoot kept progressing like that."
Arya joined the sets after making changes to his appearance, but Vishal was missing by then. "Later, Vishal told me to join the sets soon, telling me that by the time I came, half the film would be completed. By the time I came in, around 40 days into the schedule, Vishal wasn’t there. Bala sir had me cut and change my hairstyle, gave me a mushroom cut, and coloured my hair."
Arya then explained why Bala decided to restart the shoot. "I asked him, ‘Where’s Vishal?’ Bala sir casually said, ‘We shot all these days, but in every scene, Vishal still looked like himself. So I’ve sent him to Chennai to slightly alter his teeth and eyes for the role.’ I was shocked and asked, ‘Then what about the 40 days of footage you’ve already shot?’ Bala sir just smirked and said, ‘Arya…’ — and I understood he meant he was going to scrap it all," he revealed.
Apart from Arya and Vishal, Avan Ivan also stars GM Kumar, RK, Madhu Shalini, Janani Iyer, and Ambika in key supporting roles. Upon release in 2011, the film opened to largely positive reviews and box office success.
