Crowning glory!

Considered one of Kollywood’s finest thinkers, Parthepan comes across as an individual who dares to be different, both in thought and action.
The actor, who has come in for rich praise for his brilliant portrayal of a monarch in exile in Aayirathil Oruvan (AO), gets talking to CT about his last film and his eagerly awaited next.
On Aayirathil Oruvan: I was thoroughly impressed with director Selvaraghavan as he was able to extract the kind of work he wanted from me.It would take a good three hours for me to put on my make-up and another two hours to remove it. The black paint would leave the room in a mess. AO required a lot of effort. There are scenes in which you won’t find me batting my eyelids for almost a minute. A man can remain without blinking for a max of 15 seconds! To practise for that scene, every night I would not blink for as long as I could. My effort seems to have paid off as people have appreciated my work.
On his impeccable dialogue delivery in AO: I need to thank my dad for that. He was the one who insisted that I pronounce words the way they are meant to be. I dubbed for certain scenes in AO about 10 times. The Tamil words used in my portions of the film are from the 11th and 12th centuries. In fact, the team repeatedly consulted Tamil experts to find the most appropriate words, that would have been used during that period, to express a thought. At least seven or eight experts were consulted to find the right words. So, everytime a more appropriate word was found, I had to dub again.
On his next film Vithagan: Ninety per cent of Vithagan is over and I’m 100 percent satisfied with what has been shot so far. I have been repeatedly reviewing Vithagan in the hope of acquiring a bird’s eye view. Filmmaking is like a maze. To anybody inside it, the route he or she chooses appears to be right but only the one who has a bird’s eye view of the maze will be able to choose the right path.
On Vithagan’s message: It’s a sleek story that revolves around a cop. In any society, I believe that teachers and policemen have the most responsibility. Mistakes that they commit affects the society more. Most people who make mistakes or commit crimes cite family compulsions as the reason for their acts. Vithagan attempts to address this issue of crimes committed due to family compulsions in an interesting manner.
On Vithagan’s cast and crew: I’ve penned six songs for the first time and Joshua Sridhar has composed the music. The music of this film is brilliant and will be grouped in the same league as that of Joshua’s Kaadhal. I have always given importance to women in all my films and Poorna too has an important role in this film. I face several villains in Vithagan and Milind Soman happens to be one of them.
A Memorable incident in Vithagan
I’ve used a friend’s jeep to shoot a particular sequence in this film. The vehicle has a seat right in front, attached to the bonnet, just like the vehicles used by hunters. In the sequence that was to be shot, I had to drive the vehicle at great speed with the heroine in that seat. So, Poorna sat on the seat and we ensured that her seat belt was fastened. We took several shots of the scene, which was enacted quite a number of times. Finally, after we had shot the sequence, the driver appointed by my friend came up to me to find out if we were done with the shoot. I said, ‘Yes, but why do you ask?’ He replied, “Sir, there’s a small problem with the vehicle, I need to take it to the mechanic. The problem is with the seat that is right in front.” I was shocked. I lost sleep for three nights thinking of what could have happened if luck had not been on our side. This despite, repeatedly checking and ensuring that all safety measures were in place. I have decided that from now on, I will not take any such risks.