Two years ago, Kannada actor-filmmaker Raj B Shetty announced he was foraying into Malayalam cinema with a film called Rudhiram, directed by debutant Jisho Lon Antony, which would also star Aparna Balamurali. While the film was meant to be his official Mollywood debut, after his Toby was released with a Malayalam version, his subsequent signings, Turbo and Kondal hit theatres ahead of Rudhiram.

The film’s back on course now and is set to hit theatres on December 13. Dubbed a survival revenge thriller, Rudhiram pits Raj against Aparna, a casting choice that the filmmaker stated was made because he needed two strong performers. But what was it about Rudhiram that enthused Raj enough to consider debuting in another industry?

Raj B Shetty: Rudhiram's characters have shades of grey

Speaking to One 2 Talks during the promotions of the film, Raj explained that the clincher for him was the script and the way the characters in the film had been written. “The characters in my films are inherently people with grey shades because that is basic human nature – they will do right and wrong. In Rudhiram too, all the characters have a tinge of grey to them. That is something that I really liked; the writing of the characters in Rudhiram was brilliant,” he said.

Raj added that he also saw the opportunity as a challenge to himself – to take on a character he’s not done before and see if he can do justice to it. “In a nutshell, Rudhiram was about how it was written and whether I could do it,” the actor said.

As for the film, Raj says that his sequences with Aparna were about two actors complementing each other and giving it their best, for the overall betterment of the final product. “Aparna and I have done this film together, without a thought about who has the bigger and better character. We were there to make a good film,” he said.

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