“Anything for Ai”- Vikram

“Every actor would want to do a film like Ai. But it’s a difficult role to handle,” began director Shankar, in a recent interview to a magazine about his upcoming mega budget entertainer, produced by Aascar Films. “Ai will have everything people expect from me. But, I assure you, this will be nothing like my earlier movies,” adds the director.
 

Starring Vikram, Amy Jackson, Suresh Gopi, Upen Patel, Ramkumar Ganesan and Santhanam in the central roles, Ai has music by AR Rahman and cinematography by PC Sreeram. As informed earlier, Vikram will carry multiple looks in the movie.
 

“There’s a lot of importance for make-up and costumes in Ai. Hence, we roped in New Zealand based Weta Studios, who worked on projects like Hobbit series and Lord of the Rings. Vikram went through extremely difficult regimes for this film. But it was amazing to see him embrace all the pain happily. He kept asking me if he would ever get an opportunity like this again. Vikram is a treat for any director,” feels Shankar.
 

The director also narrates, “For a character, Vikram volunteered to go leaner. It wasn’t really required, but I thought it would definitely add value to the film. I initially tried to talk him out of it, but he was very particular. I didn’t force him any further. Later the Weta people asked me if Vikram could shave his head, so that it’d be easier for them to change his looks. When I asked Vikram, he said, “Anything for Ai, sir”. I knew he’d agree. But his passion always inspired me.”
 

Shankar’s Ai is expected to be a summer release.