Strong screenplay impressed Arya

It wasn't very difficult to convince Tamil actor Arya to make his debut in Sandalwood with director Anup Bhandari's 'Rajaratha'. The actor had already watched Anup's previous project 'RangiTaranga' and was impressed with the subject and the way the story was knit together.

Arya, who plays the character of Vishwa in 'Rajaratha', says that he liked the freshness of the subject and that all the actors had a definite purpose for being in the project. "The director knows how to tap into the strength of each actor and get the best out of him or her. I liked the way the entire team came together to pull off a brilliant subject," says Arya.

The actor says that he liked his character because it has a dark side to it. "There's a certain darkness to my character and it is kept that way till the second half of the film. It is only towards the end that people will realise that the negativity about my character plays a vital role in steering the story forward. There is a positive streak to my role," explains Arya.

He also points out that his character is pitched in total contrast to Nirup's role of a happy-go-lucky college-goer. "I was thoroughly impressed with the screenplay. I liked the way my character is juxtaposed with Nirup's role. There's a lot of thought gone into showcasing the journey of the two characters," says Arya.

The actor also feels the team of 'Rajaratha' was easy to work with. "Every member of the team was brimming with new ideas and there was always room for experimentation and improvisation. Everybody was working towards getting the end product up and running. That togetherness was overwhelming," adds Arya.

About the most challenging part of shooting for the project, Arya says that he found learning the language a little hard. "Kannada is new to me and the director wanted the dialogues to be said in one flow and didn't want to cut and take it. I found that a bit challenging because I had to spend extra hours mugging up the dialogues," reasons Arya.

But the actor feels it was worth the trouble, "There were so many actors who were giving counter dialogues and I had to memorise the lines to keep pace with that. It was a good experience," he signs off.

Sudeep inspired Arya's look in 'Rajaratha'

Arya's first look as Vishwa in 'Rajaratha' was inspired by Kiccha Sudeep. Sudeep had earlier worked in Anup and Nirup's father Sudhakar Bhandari's Kannada teleserial 'Premada Kadambari' in the 90s. Ever since, Anup and Nirup would discuss story ideas with Sudeep in mind. When Anup directed an award-winning short
film 'Words', it was Sudeep who came to the press meet as the guest of honour in 2010. Back then Anup was working on the initial draft of 'Rajaratha'. Sudeep's attire for the event - a blue 'kurta', jeans and sandals, immediately struck a chord with Anup. It was exactly what he wanted Vishwa's character to look like. When 'Rajaratha' pre-production started, he suggested the same to his wife Neetha Shetty, the costume designer
of the film. She used that as reference to come with Arya's look for the film.