Chennai, July 16

In upcoming Tamil crime-drama "Vaaimai", actor Shanthnu Bhagyaraj says he has moved away from the usual genre of films in which audiences have seen him over the years. He also says he had undergone physical transformation to pull off the role.

"For the first time, I've done a film that's completely out of my usual genre. There's absolutely no love track, duets and running around the trees. It's even got a small action block. I have also been styled well and I shed about five to six kg for the role," Shanthnu told IANS.

"About 70 percent of the film is shot inside a courtroom and it wasn't easy to do that. Therefore, a lot of time was spent on making the screenplay interesting. The dialogues too will add a lot of weight to the film as they'll be very intense from the story's perspective. Audiences will get to see me in a subtle role," he added.

Directed by newcomer A. Senthil Kumar, the film features an ensemble cast of Thiagarajan, Ramki, Goundamani, Urvashi, Poornima Bhagyaraj, Muktha Bhanu, Manoj K. Bharathi and Prithvi Pandiarajan.

Shanthnu says rubbing shoulders with several experienced artists gave him an opportunity to learn.

"It was wonderful to share screen space with so many experienced actors. I feel the opportunity to work with them helped me improvise the way I deliver dialogues, my body language and so many other important things involved in acting," he said.

"I also got to work with legendary comedian Goundamani. Although he doesn't feature in a typical comic role, but it was so much fun working with him. I also got to work with my mom. All these reasons make this film really special," he added.

Known for films such as "Sakkarakatti" and "Ammavin Kaipesi", Shanthnu wants to concentrate on doing interesting work.

"I want to ensure that I don't do films in the same genre anymore. Even in my next film 'Amali Thumali', I play a playboy with a different shade in my character. It's not the usual lover boy character because I'm experimenting with different shades with the role," he said.

"I want to do some rustic and brutal roles. I would love to do some realistic action film as I feel it will change my appearance as an actor on screen. I'm even looking forward to do some rural stories as well," he added.