SUMO IS ABOUT HOW LOVE TRANSCENDS BORDERS'

ACTOR SHIVA SPEAKS ABOUT HIS UPCOMING FILM SUMO, THE CULTURAL SIMILARITIES BETWEEN TAMILS AND JAPANESE, THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SUMO WRESTLING, AND MORE

- AKSHAY KUMAR

In the Tamil film industry, a comedian, a supporting actor, or a character artist is considered to have gone to 'the next level' only after playing an action hero. Actor Shiva is one of the few actors in the industry right now who is not affected by this belief and keeps doing what he does best. However, the actor disagrees with this notion. "I don't think you have to do a particular genre, like action, in order to become successful. It all boils down to how convincing a story is. That's how my journey has been in the industry. It is the same with Sumo," he says. On why he chose to do Sumo, which is all set to release on April 25, Shiva elaborates, "Isn't it exciting getting to know about a culture and a people this way? I agreed to work on Sumo after listening to the one line of the story, which is, what happens when a sumo wrestler and a local guy cross paths. Our films are popular in Japan. Wouldn't it be exciting if they made a film about kabaddi and had a Tamil in the star cast? It's the same for us."