Prithviraj: 'Took 3 months to convince Kuruthi director to cast me as a villain'

In an exclusive interview with indiatoday.tech, Prithviraj Sukumaran, who awaits the release of his upcoming action thriller 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan', opened up about how it took three months to convince 'Kuruthi' director, Manu Warrier, to cast him as a villain and playing negative characters in films. The ‘Salaar’ actor will be seen in a negative role in Ali Abbas Zafar's directorial, 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan'.

Speaking about opportunities to play negative roles, Prithviraj said, "I think that, as an actor or a star, you should always be wise enough to identify how you can lend yourself the best possible way to a film. With directors like Ali [Abbas Zafar] - they make that decision for you. Like Ali would know this character [Kabir] - he knows that he wants to get this particular person, and also he would be very, very clear about why. He would have already seen the entire character in his mind."

Here's the trailer of 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan':

He continued, "For a film like 'Kuruthi', it came to me just as a project with no casting, nothing, and I produced that film. It took me about three months to convince the director [Manu Warrier] that I shouldn't be the hero and I should be the villain. I thought that was the best way I could lend myself to the film. It is always important that you prioritise the film first and what you do in the film second. As I always maintain, that doing a character in a great film is better than doing a great character in a not-so-remarkable film. Films live long, but characters don't. No character in a bad film lives long."

When asked Prithviraj if he has any jitters before the release of 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan', he responded, "I've done this long enough now to understand the fact that you will have to, at some point, disassociate yourself from the films you do. I give 120 per cent to every film I do while making it, and while promoting it. And then you will have to start walking away from it, because the easiest thing to do when you are in this business is to get stuck either with the celebrations or with the misery. There will be lessons to learn both from the successes and the failures. Learn them, pick them for your future references but walk away. So, whatever happens on April 10 and April 11 will still be the same for me, but I have a fair feeling about what is going to happen on April 10."

'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' starring Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Alaya F, and Manushi Chhillar is all set to release on April 10.