Thalapathy' Vijay's Leo directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj is all set for a massive release in cinemas around the world starting October 19 and social media has been abuzz with curiosity regarding the film's story. Among the several other big names in the film is art director Sathees Kumar, who has now in an exclusive interview with Galatta opened up on the importance of weapons used that include fake swords, guns, forks, and other such properties. In that light, Sathees Kumar shared an interesting story behind the use of a Webley Revolver pistol shown towards the end of the Leo trailer and said, "When we wanted it to shoot, it wouldn't fire the dummy bullets. This has been an issue since the days we made Maanagaram. And, Lokesh would pull our legs about how this is continuing even now."
Speaking about the swords used in Leo, Sathees Kumar said, "Lokesh has a special interest in them. He'd tell me that he wanted to start his own collection. Each time before handling these swords to the artistes, he would check once whether they were properly designed. The sword in the 'Bloody Sweet' promo was okayed by him. He checked whether the weight was right, including the other aspects of the sword. We initially made 3-4 swords, but he zeroed in on the one shown in the Leo title announcement promo." He further stated, "Based on the director's input, the stunt masters will arrive at a decision about the design for a weapon. We will present them with options and have everything set. We will set a number of forks and when they ask for more, we'll begin making dummy versions. It'll be interesting and a challenge for us because they'll put forward a request and we'll have to come up with 100 pieces on the next day since they'll break easily."
Sathees Kumar further explained, "In Leo, swords play a big role. We made more than 100 models from a design perspective alone because there's a huge crew. And, we created more than 1000-2000 dummy versions for those and there was a department that would be working on making those swords every day throughout the shooting." Talking about the one unique sword made for Leo, Sathees informed that Lokesh Kanagaraj had asked him to model it similar to the one that was used during the Scottish independence, which can be seen in a museum in the European country.
Talking about Vijay's reaction after using the sword during the Leo shooting, Sathees said, "He handled it easily. The originality of an object should be felt in our hands. If you use a dummy, you'll be able to lift it up easily and swing it around. This sword, on the other hand, has been created keeping in mind the weight of an original sword. Factors like the weight and whether he can lift it up were kept in mind while creating the fake sword and Vijay was very comfortable using it during the shooting."
Watch art director Sathees Kumar talk about Leo in the video below:
