Dhanush: I am a very competitive person

It’s rare to see Dhanush break his calm composure. He might have played all sorts of over the top, commercial characters in his films, but off screen, he likes to speak less. But he does open up in the few words he utters about his approach towards acting.

“I am a very competitive person,” he makes it clear, “Even if I am playing video games with my children, I compete with them without mercy. But the thing is you should know where to compete and where not to, what to compete for, and what not to.”

The 38-year-old’s third Hindi film, Atrangi Re’s released directly on an OTT platform. After Shamitabh, in which he starred with Amitabh Bachchan, he shares screen space with Akshay Kumar in this one, with Sara Ali Khan torn between the two characters. He makes it clear that he has no apprehensions about sharing the screen, “I have definitely always been comfortable. Sara is a hard worker, very dedicated, she gave her everything for her character Rinku. It was really nice to see a youngster who has done some three films put everything on the line, and understand the value of the jackpot character she has landed.”

Dhanush feels that actors of today’s generation are lucky to be able to prepare so much. “It is nice to see how clear youngsters are. If I had that clarity like 15 years ago, I would have been in a much better position than where I sm. I am grateful, but I could have done more. They have amazing clarity because of the exposure we have right now. Back then, it was not like that,” he says.

And while his film choices have more or less been bang on all these years, and also landed him National Awards, he surprises us when he says he didn’t even read the script of Atrangi Re before signing it. Dhanush reveals, “Aanand L Rai. That’s it. I don’t need any more details than the name. I have immense faith in him and Himanshu Sharma, and if they insist they need me for a story, I will immediately know it is something special. Himanshu had mentioned about the plot when we were doing Raanjhana eight years back. Then I understood it is a great story and going to look really good. Of course, Himanshu being Himanshu, I know he will bring his wackiness. The weird title says it all.”