Aaditi Pohankar recalls Elan showing her a scene from Kaaka Muttai (2014) during her preparation for Star – where the young boys discuss how their grandmother’s food is actually better than the pizza of their dreams. “The boys’ attitude and innocence is something we wanted Jimikki to have,” the actress tells us.
In Star, we get to know that Surabhi aka Jimikki has been in love Kalai (Kavin) years before proposing to him. Although her character is introduced only halfway through the film, Jimikki comes across an innocent yet strong woman who goes all out to support Kalai, a scarred, struggling actor. It was important to get the nuances right as Jimikki is both vulnerable and strong, points out Aaditi. The actress, who hails from Maharashtra, roamed the streets of Chennai and other cities in Tamil Nadu to observe and understand the culture.
“The thing with acting is that when you can imbibe the accent, body language, etc, it makes things interesting. For an actor, the process is more important because once you go on set and you’re shooting, it’s always like an eight-hour or twelve-hour shift. And strangely, most people want to wrap things quickly and move out. Everything happens at a fast pace. So, I always take a month or two before the production starts and work on myself, and have fun with the process on my own.” With Star, the process was more collaborative as Elan is also her friend. “I used to send some reels to him, share a few videos and images I liked and discuss what worked for Surabhi. We came together to make this vulnerable yet strong woman.”
