Actor-filmmaker-choreographer Prabhudheva will be teaming up with Charlie Chaplin director Sakthi Chidambaram for the film, Jolly O Gymkhana.

“In the recent times, many films are revolving around violence, brawls, and caste issues. We wanted to make a film in which audience can come to theatres and just have a jolly watch for about two hours,” says Sakthi Chidambaram.

Prahudheva playing a dead body in Jolly O Gymkhana

In the film, Prabhudheva plays a corpse, while his body reaches the hands of four women who run a restaurant. The filmmaker says, “Initially, the film was a double hero story based on a dead body, and I narrated it to master (Prabhudheva). I pitched the character of a man who is carrying the dead body. But instead, he wanted to act the dead body. It was master who turned the story, and instead of being a double-hero subject, it went becoming about four women with a corpse.”

Prabhudheva pitches in saying how after Charlie Chaplin and its sequel, he has found a comfort space with Sakthi Chidambaram. Speaking about playing a corpse, Prabhudheva says, “I initially thought playing a dead man would be easy. But it was very difficult because you need to hold your breath. At the same time, you cannot move even for a second because the continuity will be lost otherwise. In fact, more than me, it is for actors like Madonna Sebastian and Abhirami, who have to carry me throughout the film.”

He further continues to say that Jolly O Gymkhana will be a jovial film which will also be “intelligent”. “The film’s story spans across 1.5 days, and it has a brilliant screenplay. I will be alive in the film only for about 10 minutes, and for the rest of the film, I play a corpse. It was very challenging to play this role, because even if you have to move for the scene, I have to do it, but pretend I am not doing it,” he says.

Jolly O Gymkhana is a travel film: Sakthi Chidambaram

Jolly O Gymkhana will be a travel film, that revolves around four women who run a restaurant. After a conflict leads them to meet a lawyer, the latter is found dead. Now with a corpse on their hands, they have to make sure others do not know that the person is dead, and try to dispose it off. “Most of the times, I only did trust fall on them. But none of the times, did the cast ever let me fall. That requires a great amount of coordination,” says Prabhudheva.

Prabhudheva says the main difficulty in the film while acting as a dead body is holding one’s breath. “So, I tell Sakthi to immediately start rolling once I hold my breath, and have everyone be ready. Once, I hold my breath and signal it to the director, we go rolling, and sometimes miscommunications too happen (laughs). It was jovial,” he quips.

Jolly O Gymkhana will release in theatres on November 22.

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