Definitely, Mr. Nice Guy

The  posters of the film look fabulous and the trailer on a popular video sharing site received a million clicks in a matter of days —  Ramaiya Vastavaiya is one of the hottest topics of discussion on many forums online and  the film’s young 24-year-old male lead can be accredited for much of its buzz. 

Girish Kumar Taurani has already had flattering words like sizzling and sexy being rained on him. “I would be lying if I said I was hating the attention, but it has been  overwhelming! I never knew we Indians were so vocal (laughs), but I do  feel really blessed,” opens Girish.  

Girish comes across as a mature person and so  the conversation is a pleasing and interesting one. We begin by asking  him why he chose Ramaiya Vastavaiya as his debut. “I didn’t choose it as  my debut, rather, I should say it was chosen for me. I must admit, I am  the son of a producer and so even though my father decided to give me a  chance, he wanted to ensure it was a good chance — something that would  also work for the company. Ramaiya Vastavaiya has that perfect  combination formula that would work for family audiences and hence, this  had to be the choice. Also, who better to direct the film, than the  director of the original (Prabhu Deva)?” asks Girish.  

So, was it easier, we ask, considering he is the son  of the producer? “I would be lying if I said it was not easy, but one should not assume that it came to me on a silver platter. Prabhu sir  treated me like any other actor and even asked me to give a screen test before even saying that I ‘might’ have the potential. He later told me  that I need to concentrate on my dance skills as they would go a long  way in shaping the forward, extroverted character that I was going to  play. It was only when he saw progress with my dancing that he (Prabhu  Deva) finally began to believe in me for the role,” Girish explains.  

Ramaiya Vastavaiya is based on the 2005 Telugu hit  Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana that was later remade into many languages  including Tamil, Nepali, Bengali, Oriya and Bangla. Girish adds, “I  watched a subtitled version of the film when it first released in  Telugu, but thankfully I forgot what most of the film was about. My lack  of memory allowed me to play the role of Ram without really being ‘too  influenced’, but the character remains the same and so, you will see a lot of similarities.” 

Referring to the trailer and several online sources, we ask the actor how a half-sari clad Shruti Hassan fits into a Punjabi  village-themed film? Girish laughs and then explains, “This is an  all-out entertainer and once you watch the film, you’ll see that there  are no real references to Punjab per se. Yes, there is a Punjabi song,  but there’s also a Gujarati song — we’ve ensured to not geographically locate the village anywhere. It could be anywhere in North India —  maybe, somewhere where women dress like that? (laughs)” 

And how was it working with Shruti? “Well, she’s really pretty and a great actor to work with. She’s really professional and we had a great work-based relationship.

I guess the best proof of  that will be seen in the film, where we look great together,” Girish answers. 

The movie’s music is already a great hit and the excitement is building with the release just around the corner. Girish himself has been on the receiving end of a lot of ‘undivided’ attention.  Just before we finally let him go, we ask him how he deals with it.  

“I appreciate any love, whoever throws it my way, irrespective of gender. I am very thankful for all the attention. I believe strongly in karma and try really hard to be a nice human being  and so, I believe, that my positive outlook is finally being paid back. I try super hard to be a Mr. Nice Guy and ensure that I do not think ill of or for others, maybe that’s what is bringing in all this attention?” the actor concludes.