Leading Tamil actor Jayam Ravi is gearing up for the release of his new action film, Siren, opening in cinemas worldwide on February 16. The film has been directed by debutant Antony Bhagyaraj and also stars National Award-winner Keerthy Suresh and leading Malayalam actress Anupama Parameswaran sees Jayam Ravi sporting a salt-and-pepper look for aged character, with the actor now explaining in an exclusive interview with National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, about how he went grey for the role and why the audience can't be deceived with anything that is fake.
Explaining the process behind achieving the salt-and-pepper look in Siren, Jayam Ravi stated, "First of all, I don't want to fool myself. That's what I thought. When I look at the mirror, I wanted to look like a 45-year-old man and that's what I believed. So, I didn't want to fool myself. Then comes the audience. It's no easy task trying to fool them. There are techniques, I won't say you can fool them, but rather manipulate them. So, you can do using those techniques. You can show a person tall or short using graphics. So, there is an expense and expertise for that technique, and making them believe is something else. But, since I thought about wanting to play my character in an authentic way, they waited for nearly two months. Even I didn't know how the look would turn out to be. The director was also clueless about the getup. I would keep looking at whether the grey hairs were growing, but it eventually turned out fine organically. And, in that regard, Anu Parthasarathy (costume designer) did a sketch in a pattern and gave her inputs, with the director also sharing his suggestions, and so on."
Jayam Ravi further explained, "My character will be seen wearing a Rudraksha and many advised me not to go with it saying everyone else is doing the same. So, I told them, 'I haven't worn it to date. This is new to me. I don't need to know who is wearing it and who isn't.' The reason I needed it for my character is because he appears to be carrying belief within himself even though he lost it before. And, for that to be depicted, you require a presence. That symbol is the sign of belief and I think it worked out in the movie."
Watch Jayam Ravi talk about Siren in the video below:
