Sarzameen actor Prithviraj Sukumaran, who will also be seen in SS Rajamouli’s next, opens up about on how both films are shaped by their strong stories, not their big canvas
Prithviraj Sukumaran and SS Rajamouli. Pics/Getty Images, Instagram, Youtube
Banner and co-stars are hardly ever the criteria for actor and filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran when choosing a film. It has always been the script. That’s what drew him to Sarzameen as well — that it stars Kajol and is backed by Karan Johar are a bonus. The actor shares, “I prefer to keep it straightforward. If a script appeals to me and I mean as a film lover, not as an actor or a filmmaker, that’s the first yes. From there, many things can make me say no. But with Sarzameen, everything was a yes at every step. I read the script in 2022. At that point, Kajol and Ibrahim Ali Khan weren’t attached. After reading it, I immediately called Karan Johar, who suggested that I speak to Kayoze [Irani].”
(L-R) Kajol and Prithviraj Sukumaran in Sarzameen
With his debut feature film, director Kayoze Irani attempts a complex human drama about the troubled relationship between a father and son, set against the backdrop of Kashmir. How does a seasoned actor like Sukumaran place their trust in a first-time filmmaker? “For me, the number one requirement in a director is clarity — do they know how they want to tell the story they’ve chosen? It might be completely different from how I would tell it, that’s fine. What matters is clear vision. You can judge that quickly in a conversation. Kayoze had a vivid and focused idea of what he wanted to say.”
(L-R) Meghna Gulzar, Prithviraj Sukumaran, and Kareena Kapoor Khan are uniting for Daayra
It’s fascinating how Sukumaran has two films mounted on a big canvas — the upcoming JioHotstar film, followed by SS Rajamouli’s SSMB29, easily among the most ambitious movies of India. He is unperturbed by their scale. “Scale can never be the story; it’s just the canvas. Rajamouli sir chooses large backdrops because he excels at telling a story through big, visual strokes. Sarzameen has a big canvas; it has Kashmir, the army, and insurgency. But the story is human. The intricate character dynamics — my character’s relationship with his son, with his wife — were nuances [we] discovered as we shot.”
Soon, the actor will move to director Meghna Gulzar’s Daayra. He reveals that the film, which sees him opposite Kareena Kapoor Khan, has been the easiest yes he said. “Usually, you hear a narration and take some time to process it. With Meghna’s film, the narration was three-hour long, and right there in that room, I said, ‘I am doing this’. It’s a cracking script.”
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