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Janagaraj, who has not been seen onscreen for a while now, is set to play the role of a school watchman in 96. Director Prem Kumar took pains to make sure he cast Janagaraj in the film. In a way, it is a comeback for the actor, who was Tamil cinema’s favourite sidekick during the 80s.
Kumar cast Janagaraj in the role as he has an innocence and child-like behaviour that school watchmen typically have.
“School watchmen, in my opinion, never get old. They have that child-like behaviour and innocence that schoolkids have. I wanted someone who had that naturally in him and I could think only of Janagaraj sir. Initially, we were not able to reach him. Eventually, we landed at his place and I directly began narrating the story to him. I gave him the scene papers immediately. I didn’t give him much time to decide. But he seemed to have liked it and came for the shoot. He still is very sensitive and curious about his scenes and worked on improving on them. Something, that is rare to see,” he said.