Sarfira Director, Akshay Kumar Didn't Get Along Initially But This Incident Changed It All: 'He Wasn’t...'

Sarfira director Sudha Kongara admitted that she and Akshay Kumar took time to get on the same page when they began filming the movie. For the unversed, Akshay is headlining the upcoming Hindi film. A remake of National Award-winning film, Soorarai Pottru, Akshay fills Suriya’s shoes in the Hindi version. Sudha had directed Soorarai Pottru and reprised her role of helming the Hindi version. Speaking about working with Akshay, Sudha confessed they didn’t get along in the intial stage of the filming.

“Suriya is Suriya. I have known him for over 25 years, and it’s much easier to tell him what I want. It’s very friendly and casual. But with Akshay sir, it’s ‘sir’ first of all, and I was meeting this gentleman for the first time. Since I have no filters, it was almost similar. The first six days, he wasn’t happy. He was like, ‘What is this girl making me do all this rubbish?’ So then he and the producer spoke to me, and I said, ‘You do whatever you like to do, and I will tell you when it isn’t going right,’” Sudha told Galatta Plus.

“I also had to let go because I had created the perfect Maara in my head, and I thought there could be nobody better than Suriya, and that’s how it had to be played. I soon realised that I was suffocating this actor who had his own method, so I had to let go,” she added.

Eventually, Akshay and Sudha eventually found a middle ground. “After six days, I showed him a cut of a particular scene, and the next day he came to me and said, ‘I have a way of performing. I have a way of doing things and a process, but this is the first time I am trying to understand what is going on in your head. I am trying to give you that.’ I said, ‘Very good. I love it.’ From there, we made peace, and we had a wonderful time shooting with each other. I really enjoyed working with him. He keeps saying, ‘Isko toh filter he nahi hai (She doesn’t have a filter),’” Sudha said.

Sarfira is set to release on July 12. Written by Sudha and Shalini Ushadevi, with dialogues by Pooja Tolani, and a G.V. Prakash Kumar musical, Sarfira is produced by Aruna Bhatia (Cape of Good Films), South superstars Suriya and Jyotika (2D Entertainment) and Vikram Malhotra (Abundantia Entertainment).