Dulquer sells I'm Game to Chennai: 'almost a straight Tamil film'

Dulquer Salmaan has a habit whenever he brings a film to Chennai: he meets the press himself, shows them the footage, and lets them make up their minds. “If you like the film, I have always trusted that you will support it,” he said, two days before I’m Game opens on September 3. His pitch this time was direct. “When you watch I’m Game, it will almost feel like a straight Tamil film. There are plenty of Tamil actors in it.” It is also, he said, the biggest budget and the largest production Wayfarer Films has ever put together, which for the banner that made Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra is not a small claim.

He spent most of his time talking up other people. Kathir’s performance, he said, is natural and intense, and completely believable in the part he plays. Mysskin is “the guru of the project”, with an energy Dulquer says is rare even among today’s younger actors. Samyuktha Viswanathan gets what he expects to be a turning point in her career. And Antony Varghese, who headlines big films in Malayalam, “is truly the hero of the film”, and Dulquer expects Tamil audiences to celebrate him the way Malayalam audiences already do. Jakes Bejoy’s album still has songs in reserve beyond the ones already out, Arugey Arugey included. The film itself he described as a complete commercial entertainer: comedy, romance, mystery, suspense, action, thrills, cricket and gambling, all in one.

Kathir plays a cricket captain, and he was candid about how little cricket he had actually played. “I had barely played the game after school, just bat cricket in school days, so casting me as a captain was a big risk. The director’s nerve genuinely surprised me.” He learned the sport for the film and reckons he could retire from it now. The trailer, he says, is only a glimpse: every scene was planned in advance to land as an experience, the cinematography is a major part of the film, and there are more surprises than the cut has given away. Nahas Hidhayath he describes as calm and composed on set while building something intense and spectacular. And he echoed the room’s line on the producer: Dulquer takes risks on new stories, and that appetite is what he found inspiring.

Samyuktha Viswanathan said yes on the first narration. “The moment Nahas sir told me the story, I said, I’m 100 percent in. I’m game.” She grew up watching films for the feeling they leave behind, and the character touched her. The long Hyderabad schedule, where she had to produce the emotion a scene needed in very little time, was the closest thing to a training course she has had, and sharing scenes with Dulquer was unforgettable. The film has a large cast, but by the end of the shoot they had become a family, and she thinks the trailer has shown only a handful of the characters. She closed by thanking her mother, her biggest support system.

Antony Varghese was on his first stage in Chennai. “Kathir, Dulquer and Samyuktha are already familiar faces here. I am the newcomer, so I need all your support.” Whenever he finished a scene, he says, he would ask Nahas if it was good. “He would laugh and say, super, macha, but save that for the next film. For this one, you have to act differently.” Nahas is a close friend, and the jokes on set are what he will remember about the shoot. He would not say much about his character, only that it will land as a special experience on screen. On his producer, he was warmer still: a wonderful co-actor, a great friend, an amazing person. “He is not just our producer.”

I’m Game is Dulquer’s 40th film and opens in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada, having stepped out of the Onam rush for a clean corridor of its own. Kayadu Lohar, Parth Tiwari and Mysskin round out the cast. Jimshi Khalid shoots, Chaman Chacko edits, Anbariv handle the action and Zee Music holds the album. It is in theatres on Thursday, September 3.