Last year, after doing the Malayalam movie Mithram, a horror flick directed by Jespal Shanmugham, actor Ashkkar Soudaan took a decision. He vowed to quit Mollywood due to the terrible experience he had to face during the shoot. And, it seems the ghost of Mithram still lingers around him. “Mithram was a wrong choice. That movie not only hurt my feelings, but brought negative reputation too. The shooting of the movie had halted many times due to various reasons. Shooting for it was a nightmare for me. I was locked up in a hotel room for 20 days as the producer didn’t give room rent.”
“I couldn’t even connect with my family. I had to plead with the hotel people to get out from there. Also, the moviemakers didn’t give me the full money. Now, the director and producer spread rumours about me in the industry saying that I am arrogant on the set. Am I not supposed to react when I am treated badly?” asks Ashkkar, adding that he has never had to face such bad treatment from anyone else.
“It was not my first movie. I had done many movies in Malayalam earlier. And no one ever said that I was bad,” he says. Fed up with this, he left Mollywood to concentrate on Kollywood. However, though he had to wait for a while, good characters came to him from Tamil as well as Malayalam. Ashkkar is happy that he got to act characters with negative shades, his dream roles, in the three upcoming movies — Sowkarpettai, a Tamil movie directed by Vadivudaiyan and Kola Mass and Podikkattan, two Malayalam movies. “I think Kollywood is better when compared to Mollywood. There we get respect. I joined Kola Mass because I trust Baiju chettan, who is my well-wisher.” Ashkkar sports a new look in Sowkarpettai.
Every time he watches a movie, he observes the antagonists in it. Many villains have inspired him and he always wanted to do roles with a negative tone. “Jagan of Sowkarpettai and Christy of Kola Mass are two such characters. I am so happy that I was able to work with legendary figures in Sowkarpettai. If I performed well in that movie, the credit goes to the director,” says Ashkkar.
In Kola Mass he does a role that is equivalent to the hero. “The character’s name is Christy. He is a corporate man,” says Ashkkar. In Podikkattan directed by Binu Balan and produced by Rajan Manakkalath, he appears as the hero. Shooting of Kola Mass has begun. Podikkattan will soon start rolling.
