'A 16-minute single take; I felt like running away': Suraj Venjaramoodu on Tamil debut

Chennai: Actor Suraj Venjaramoodu has made a strong debut in the Tamil industry with the recently released Veera Dheera Sooran Part 2, starring Chiyaan Vikram in the lead.

Directed and written by S.U. Arun Kumar, the film builds on the success of his previous hit Chithha and is garnering praise for its gripping action scenes and emotionally charged narrative.

Vikram plays the role of Madhura Veeran, while Suraj appears as a gangster named Kanna. Suraj has also dubbed his own voice in Tamil for the role.

Interestingly, Part 2 of the film was released before Part 1. Viewers can expect the upcoming first part to answer the many questions and mysteries raised in this instalment.

Speaking about his Tamil debut, Suraj said he was thrilled by the grand reception. “I had received offers from Tamil cinema earlier, but I was hesitant because of language barriers. After watching Chithha, I really wanted to work with Arun Kumar. When the offer came, I didn’t think twice,” he said.

Suraj recalled that Arun Kumar narrated the story while he was on the set of another film in Kochi. “I didn’t understand much of the story initially. I asked Arun if he was confident that I could do justice to the role. When he said yes, I agreed,” he shared.

The film draws inspiration from real-life events, and one of the major highlights is a 16-minute-long single-shot sequence featuring both Vikram and Suraj, filmed after four days of rehearsal.

“On the first day, I had very few dialogues. I thought the role was simple and laughed off my earlier fears about the language. But on the second day, the director brought a thick bundle of script pages and asked me to read them,” Suraj said.

“I felt I should just run away. Arun Kumar came over and asked if everything was okay and then revealed that the scene would be shot in a single take. I felt like everything went dark for a moment,” he recalled.

Suraj said that although he was excited about playing a performance-heavy character, memorising long Tamil dialogues was a major challenge. “Most of the scenes were shot at night. I spent the day memorising lines and performed at night, thanks to the support of Vikram sir and the team,” he added.