Meet Krishnakumar Balasubramanian, the Chennai-based theatre artiste who performs Suriya’s loyal buddy, Che, in ‘Soorarai Pottru’
If the relentless Maara (performed by Suriya) and a fiesty Bommi (Aparna Balamurali) have been the discuss of the city for the previous week, courtesy Soorarai Pottru, Maara’s reliable confederate Captain Chaitanya Rao aka Che, too, has been turning heads.
Is it the character’s cocky manner, the uniform, the crew lower or the actor that’s accountable? It’s laborious to say. Maybe, it’s a mixture of all of them.
Judging by the response on Instagram, Krishnakumar Balasubramanian aka KK who performed Captain Che has made a strong impression. From a 1,000-odd followers, the Chennai-based theatre practitioner and actor leapt to a 65.7K (and counting) within the span of per week. Reward, feedback and Twitter love letters have additionally been steadily pouring in; to not point out a number of lively, devoted fan pages.
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KK credit the love and recognition to the Soorarai Pottru workforce . “I imagine that when there’s a script in place, a lot of the work is already accomplished for the actor and also you simply waft,” he says, including that it has been an awesome week for him: “loopy is the phrase,” he says.
Acquainted to Chennai’s theatre fraternity as The Little Theatre’s creative director, Soorarai Pottru has been KK’s first outing in movie after a 10-year hiatus, (His debut movie Kadhalagi launched in 2010 and tanked on the field workplace).
Funnily sufficient, his function in Soorarai Pottru was the consequence of a brand new coiffure. In 2019, whereas in Thailand for a Muay Thai coaching course, he posted movies in his contemporary ‘crew lower’ on social media. When she noticed them Poornima Ramaswamy, the costume designer of the movie, felt he match the invoice for Che. This led him to audition for the function and in flip meet Sudha Kongara, the director.
“I met Sudha and we hit it off very well. She was simply great to speak to and she or he had no qualms about speaking concerning the script. And, after all, Irudhi Suttru (Kongara’s debut film) is a stunning, progressive movie that I cherished watching,” says the 34-year-old.
Che, as a personality, was well-defined earlier than it reached him, says KK. “The director was very clear about what she needed. I used to be instructed this man is an alpha male, a girls’ man, a topper who’s rattling good at what he does… however all that issues to him is his pals. The thought of how this man communicates with Maara was very clear to me: ‘on an equal footing’ form of a state of affairs,” he says.
Within the second
KK says the spotlight of working with Suriya is that, “the person simply offers you a lot [to work with].” The scene the place Maara and Che get right into a verbal battle, shoving and pushing at one another, is testomony to this. “Humorous factor about that scene although, is that each time I walked off angrily to take a seat on the bike, it simply refused to begin,” he provides, laughing.
In a single occasion, after a very intense scene, when KK and Vivek Prasanna (who performed the character Seby) have been joking round, Suriya rebuked them. They have been admittedly terrified. However, it was all an act. “Suriya laughed and requested if he scared us. The following minute, he referred to as us for a cup of espresso.”
The time on set was colored by light-hearted moments like these, he says. In scenes the place Suriya is in focus whereas KK and Vivek are within the backdrop, inside jokes have been the norm. “However, whereas dubbing we realised that the mic had caught most of our nonsense,” he laughs. “When the vibe on set is such, it’s simple for actors to improvise. Having stated that, think about Nedumaaran’s feminine model… that’s Sudha; a stickler for element, she made positive she obtained what she needed.”
Greater than a decade in theatre, in roles that embody route, lighting, scripting and educating, has fine-tuned KK’s performances. He calls it an “intensely productive” time. “I’m not actually depending on the movie business to make my bread and butter,” he says, including “I actually get pleasure from theatre.” And, his takeaway from cinema that he feels may very well be integrated in theatre, is its spontaneity. “The talent set of with the ability to collect your feelings with no continuity [as it is in film], will show adventageous to non-linear theatre.”
As and when good scripts come his approach, he gained’t hesitate to enterprise into cinema, he provides. “However, nothing is within the pipeline as but.” In the meantime, KK who can be a licensed hospital clown says he intends to proceed working with youngsters by way of The Little Theatre. “A few of my greatest lecturers have truly been youngsters. They don’t have any disguises. If you happen to work with a toddler, you actually perceive the craft.”
