'I would have rejected Amaran if it was just about a mission'

Sivakarthikeyan speaks about his experience filming for Amaran, how he related to Major Mukund Varadarajan, what he iearnegfrom Kottukkaaii, and more

- PRASHANTH VALLAVAN

PEOPLE in the army often talk about how a career in the armed forces is more than just a job; it is a lifestyle. In order to capture that lifestyle in a realistic manner, the makers of Amaran have gone to extraordinary lengths. Actor Sivakarthikeyan, who portrays Major Mukund Varadarajan in the film, speaks about how it was surreal to be on the sets. "We shot in the place Mukund sir was stationed. Every day, we had to travel by road to the location, through Pulwama. Inside the dormitories, there were several AK 47 guns propped up against the wall. We once shot a scene where I was lying on the bed and I rolled over to see grenades. It was a completely new experience for all of us but for the officers, it was their everyday life," he says. While a significant portion of the scenes were shot in sensitive areas, the actor reveals that the Amaran crew was given a three-layer protection. He added, "We shot in Kashmir for three months and our director Rajkumar Periasamy was uncompromising with his vision for a realistic film."