The audio of Petta was launched in the city recently. Actors Rajinikanth, Vijay Sethupathi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Trisha Krishnan and Simran were all present with ready-made words of praise for each other.
Vijay Sethupathi confirmed that he was indeed playing the role of the antagonist in the project. The actor said, “Usually, we can become great only if we go against someone great. I am the villain in Petta,” he said onstage. A poster featuring Vijay Sethupathi as Jithu was released a week ago while another featuring Trisha as Saro was out yesterday.
Karthik Subbaraj, the director of the film, confessed to feeling jealous of people who spent a lot of time with Rajinikanth. He explained that Rajini films were the reason he entered cinema. “While growing up in Madurai, we used to watch a lot of films. I used to watch Rajini sir’s films with awe. I never thought that I would get to work with him in my career. For that matter, I never thought I’d work in cinema at all.”
As the director of the film, Karthik had little time to spend with Rajinikanth. “My assistant would speak more with Rajini sir than myself. I used to be so jealous. So I would force myself to go and speak to Rajini sir. Once, I even got angry at my wife for speaking too much with Rajini sir.”
Karthik said that it took a long time for him to get used to the fact that Rajinikanth had requested him to work on a script for him. “It took two days for the request to register in my mind. That’s how flummoxed I was,” he said.
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Bobby Simha, who plays a pivotal role in the project, said that it was a major dream come true to work with a mentor.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui gave an old Rajinikanth punch-line a try, but could not master the finer aspects of the dialogue. After much trying, Siddiqui laughed it off.
Rajinikanth, meanwhile, urged everybody to work with the state government to help ensure that relief work is carried out across Tamil Nadu. He also asked fans to not make a big fuss out of his upcoming birthday (December 12). The actor said that he would not be in town at the time.