Perfectionist! Vikram risked his life once again for a single shot in ‘Cobra’

Chiyaan Vikram is one of the few stars in Indian cinema who dedicates himself for the characters he plays in his films and goes to any extent to perfect them on screen.  It is already known that for ‘Kaasi’ he strained his eyes so much to play a blind person that his nerves were affected.  Similarly for Shankar’s ‘I’ even though the director did not want him to reduce weight he went ahead and lost several kgs to transform into a diseased hunchback and required medical treatment to get back in to shape.

Now director Ajay Gnanamuthu has revealed in his latest interview that Vikram risked his life not once but thrice for an underwater shot for ‘Cobra’ that has him playing multiple roles.  The scene required Vikram’s hands, legs, and mouth to be tied and immersed upside down underwater.  Since the mouth also is gagged it was difficult to breathe and even the stunt double could not manage more than a few seconds and the shot did not come out well.

In spite of the director attempting to change the sequence Vikram asked him not to compromise.  He then himself hung upside down underwater and stayed that way till the shot was complete but the co-actor who was also part of the shot failed to give a proper take.  Here again, Ajay had told Vikram that he could manage it in the edit but the dedicated star insisted on doing the shot and it came out well at last.

Only the next day the team realized that because water entered Vikram’s eyes and ears a nerve got blocked and he had to undergo treatment on the sets itself but still continued to shoot for the other sequences.  Well that is why Chiyaan Vikram has sizeable diehard fans who just can’t have enough of his towering performances and he is hungry to give them more as a thorough perfectionist.

‘Cobra’ has music score by A.R. Rahman and is produced by Seven Screen Studios with Irfan Pathan and Srinidhi Shetty playing important roles.  The film is fifty percent complete and the team has to go to Russia for the next schedule as the story is set to happen there.