When Kaala stars Nivetha Pethuraj, Avinash Tiwari danced to Thalapathy Vijay songs!
By Rinku Gupta
Disney Hotstar's latest web series, Kaala is special on several counts for its actors. In Chennai for the promotions, when co- stars Avinash Tiwari and south star Nivetha Pethuraj, spoke to us, their excitement was palpable.
"This is Bejoy Nambiar's first full length long format debut, in 7 languages. Also, giants T Series are stepping into the ott production space with Kaala. So its exciting to be a part of this project. I'm doing a full on action role playing an IB officer on the trail of black money, " says Avinash.
Incidentally, the talented actor who is just a few years into the Hindi industry, has already got himself noticed with his performances, (Laila Majnu, Khakee The Bihar Chapter, Bambai Meri Jaan).
With two of his series airing in the same week, namely Bambai Meri Jaan, and now Kaala, its no wonder he is on cloud nine. " As an actor, we can only choose from what we are offered. So, just to be able to do a range of characters, from the greatest lover of all time to the greatest gangster, I just feel so blessed with the opportunities coming my way. Now, I hope the audience likes Kaala and validates all our efforts," says the actor.
Talking more about Kaala, he adds, "Its a very immersive experience, a very engaging human drama. There is lots on action and we have shot extensively in various places, from Mumbai to Kolkata and Darjerling."
Avinash has another South Cinema connection apart from director Bejoy Nambiar and co-star Nivetha Pethuraj. Avinash has dubbed for Jayam Ravi in the Hindi version of Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan. He smiles at the mention, "Yes, it was a great experience dubbing for Jayam Ravi. And now, here I am, also for the first time, promoting my series in Chennai. So it would be great to be part of a Tamil film next!"
For Nivetha, Kaala is her OTT debut in Hindi. Playing an IB officer, she had several action scenes, much like Nayanthara in Jawan recently. She smiles at the mention of Nayan and Jawan, " Even my friends commented at one shot, while watching the series with me, 'how is Nayan here!' Its was really cool to play this role with several action sequences, much like Nayan. Bejoy has a very stylish way of filmmaking and he knows how to show an actor in the coolest way. Im so glad to be a part of it".
Were there any mishaps during the action shoots? Nivetha laughs at the memory, looking at Avinash, "During one action shot, Avinash had to punch me. He went all out, fully into character and in the melee he actually punched me by mistake, right on my nose! I thought my nose was broken and I just started crying! Luckily there was no serious harm!"
Avinash jokes, "That was in response to all the dancing you made me do during breaks ! Nivetha would never let me sit quietly, and would always come up and say, ' lets dance'!" Bringing out his phone, he shows us a video clip of a dance number, where he dances with Nivetha on Thalapathy Vijay's peppy Halamithi Habibo. "I didnt know much about the steps, just followed my own thing. It was most enjoyable dancing to Vijay's song though," he signs off, seemingly happy at one more South cinema connect.
Kaala dropped on Disney Hotstar on Sep 15th.
