Leading Malayalam actress Anna Ben, known best for her roles in Kumbalangi Nights, Helen, Kappela, Naradan, and Night Drive, to name a notable few, is set to make her Tamil cinema debut with the much-awaited Kottukkaali opposite Soori under Koozhangal fame PS Vinothraj's direction. The upcoming film bankrolled by actor Sivakarthikeyan has been announced to be premiering at the prestigious 74th Berlin International Film Festival and is gearing up for a big theatrical release soon. With Kottukkaali now garnering the distinction of being the first Tamil film to premiere at the Berlinale Forum soon, Anna Ben sat down with National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, some time back to talk about her experience of working alongside Soori and witness how he has evolved as an actor.
During the interview, Anna Ben goes on to shed light on witnessing Soori's performance in Kottukkaali, while also opening up on what she's heard about his acting in Vetri Maaran's Viduthalai: Part 1. She said, "It was such a beautiful vision to see this guy act because I've seen his previous films and it's all humor. And, it's definitely difficult to do, what he's doing. But, Viduthalai and what he's done in Kottukkaali, is extremely different from what he's done. And, he's such a hardworking actor and he's put in so much time and effort into what he's done in the last 4-5 years, and that is definitely paying off. I still haven't watched the film, but I'm hearing so many great things about the movie. He was very excited when we were shooting this film. He used to tell me every day the kind of struggles that they went through shooting the film. They had a lot of problems, I think, but then they all were very much excited about Viduthalai. They did face a lot of issues here and there, but they were so excited for the film and his transformation was just, 'Oh my God. Mindblowing.' "
Anna Ben further stated, "And, in this one also, he had done some very interesting things that you see. When they are shooting, you see an actor change whatever they've done in the past. They change it in just one scene. Like in an eye movement that they've never done before. So, I've seen so many moments of his like that in this film that we did together. I'm very excited for him."
Watch Anna Ben and Baradwaj Rangan talk about Kottukkaali below:
