Model-turned-actor Arav made his debut with Vijay Antony’s Saithan in a role with negative shades. Despite not having a single dialogue in the film, he was able to create an impact with his screen presence.
Though Arav is an engineer by profession, his passion for films made him quit his job to try his luck in tinsel town. “I was into theatre and have been modelling since college. One day, I got a call from Vijay Antony sir’s office to meet them for Saithan. They had seen my pictures on my Facebook pages and felt that I would suit the role of Natraj, who had grey shades. They wanted someone with a good physique and face, and I got selected after an audition. It was challenging because I had no dialogues and had to perform with just my facial expressions. Fortunately, I could pull it off and the kind of positive messages I got from audiences is the proof of my work.”
Arav says he was scared that he would be trapped in a certain image and directors would call him for similar roles. “Luckily, I crossed that hurdle too. My next film is a bilingual in Tamil and Hindi titled Meendum Vaa Arugil Vaa and a dual hero subject. Santhosh Pratap and I are playing the leads. Jayaraja Chouhan, who has done 40 short films in Bollywood, debuts in Tamil as a director. It’s a hardcore horror film and my role of an architect is designed on the famous Ahiravan character in the epic Mahabharath. Sarah Deva from B’town stars opposite me,” he quips.
On his role model, he says, “My journey into films was with my own effort. I have heard that Ajith sir had also been through hardships to eventually reach this level. So, he is my role model.” Arav has also signed a solo hero flick, which is a cop story.
