EXCLUSIVE: The inspiration for 'Thalapathy' Vijay's Jagadish character in Thuppakki - A. R. Murugadoss reveals!

A. R. Murugadoss' next production venture August 16 1947 directed by his former assistant NS Ponkumar and starring Gautham Karthik is gearing up for a big release on April 7. The hit director, who has been promoting the film extensively of late and best known for his blockbusters like Dheena, Ramanaa, Ghajini, Kaththi, Sarkar to name a notable few, recently sat down for a heart-to-heart conversation to discuss about August 16 1947 ahead of its release, while also opening up on his own directorials over the years, including the 2012 money-spinner, Thuppakki, starring 'Thalapathy' Vijay. Speaking about Thuppakki, Murugadoss went on to reveal many interesting experiences in the film, including how iconic Tamil author Sujatha's Ganesh–Vasanth characters in his crime thriller novels served as the inspiration behind Vijay's character Jagadish, which incidentally was the Tamil superstar's first venture to enter the 100 crore club at the box office. 

Explaining how Sujatha's writings and the works of other good and esteemed writers had an impact on him and his films, Murugadoss opened up on the original inspiration for Vijay's character in Thuppakki. The hit filmmaker, who also collaborated with Vijay in blockbusters like Kaththi and Sarkar, said, "Among the characters in the novels written by Sujatha sir, Vasanth approaches any situation in a comedic manner. For example, a murder will have taken place where Ganesh will be conducting the investigation seriously at one end, but Vasanth will be flirting with a girl on the other side. That's such a lovable trait. When I went to pay homage to Sujatha sir at his funeral, what hit me big time was that the Ganesh-Vasanth characters too have died along with him. The way he characterizes those characters have been a big inspiration to me." 

Watch A. R. Murugadoss in conversation with Baradwaj Rangan below: