Dhaam Dhoom Ravi or Jayam Ravi

At last a great movie Dhaam Dhoom which is going to be massive hit of this year in south India has been released. After a string of soft romantic capers that made hearts flutter, ‘Jayam’ Ravi is all set for some rapid-fire rounds in Dhaam Dhoom. “Though love forms the crux of the story, there’s plenty of action,” he says, sitting in his trophy and photograph studded office in Kodambakkam. Check out the posters and publicity stills. Instead of the usual bubbly Ravi in vibrant tee, Dhaam Dhoom portrays the star with a blood-smeared face and serious look donning pullovers in autumnal hues. “Strictly speaking, it’s not a departure, but an experiment within my formula,” he clarifies. “Like all my previous films, this one too revolves around love. It’s about a medical college student who goes to Russia for a conference and falls in love with a girl there. The problems he encounters lead to some action sequences. It has director Jeeva’s stamp in terms of style. Sixty per cent of the film was shot in awesome locations in Russia. The film moves in stream-of-consciousness mode and flits between Russia, Chennai and Pollachi. A past master of visuals, Jeeva chose some never-seen-before locales in Pollachi too.” With deep feeling for the late director-cinematographer, Ravi continues, “The film is a tribute to Jeeva, who was like a brother. It was not easy for us to come to terms with his death, but the entire crew went ahead with the film because we wanted his Dhaam Dhoom dream to come true. Clothes, hair colour or location… Jeeva had an eye for detail.” Talk about an image change seeing his new adipose-less, moustached look for his forthcoming film Peranmai and Ravi’s brows crinkle, “Change can’t stop with looks, one should learn to handle roles better and work with directors from whom you can absorb a lot. I’m still a passionate student of cinema, I’ll never stop learning.” “As for the look,” Ravi continues, “since I play the role of a forest guard, a tribal, in Peranmai, I shed a lot of weight — 12 kg to be precise. You’ll also see me with a moustache for the first time. It’s a far cry from my usual rotund college guy look. It’s an action-adventure that takes up socio-political issues. There’s a strong emotional undercurrent too. The script is totally new. It’s a very realistic film. We shot in remote places and sixty per cent of the film is done. Hopefully, we’ll wrap up the shoot in November and the film will be ready for Pongal.” Fire-works in Dhaam Dhoom, adventure in Peranmai, is Ravi getting selective about scripts? “I guess the criterion changes with experience. It also depends on your confidence level and comfort level with the director. Cinema, I believe, is a director’s medium. A good director can make a mediocre script work and a bad director can kill a good script. I had immense faith in Jeeva, that’s why I went ahead with Dhaam Dhoom, and as for director Jananathan, we all know he’s one of the most promising talents.” Obviously, the discussion about directors veers to his brother, ‘Jayam’ Raja. “He’s the one who made my career take off. Ours has been a creative partnership that’s seen a string of successes starting from the box office surprise Jayam to the recent Santhosh Subramaniam. Our wavelengths are the same, so it makes the creative process a lot easy.” A Visual Communication student at Loyola, Ravi was clear about his entry into films. “With my dad editor Mohan around, I never thought of anything else but films. So I took up a course in acting, honed my dancing skills and also learnt martial arts. Thanks to all that training, today, I’m able to overcome the endurance tests — whether it’s getting wet in the rain for 40 days for Mazhai or hanging upside down, 60 ft from the ground for Peranmai. I couldn’t eat for four days while the scene was being shot. My stomach churned, and I felt like puking. But hard work reaps good dividends. I’m willing to go the whole hog.” Hope you all might enjoy the article. It has been published in Hindu and is good to be known.