13 Turns Lucky for Manoj Bharathi

He has stayed off screen deliberately for a while and he admits that a lot of decisions haven’t turned out to be right. Actor Manoj K Bharathi, who was last seen in his father and filmmaker Bharathiraja’s Annakodi, says that he is glad to have landed a role that is as intense as his role in 13. “Many people say the number is unlucky, but it is not so always. I play a husband and father of two kids. The movie is a thriller and a major portion is centred on the kids. A few incidents change the lives of the family members. In the end, it is something very emotional and intense,” says Manoj. Manoj is sure that 13 will appeal to different kinds of genres. “The story is like that and I think a number of people will relate to it,” he says. Lauding the new director, Manoj says that he was impressed with his preparedness. “Suresh is the assistant of Balaji Shaktivel. He was so well-prepared and there were no glitches. He didn’t work like a newcomer,” he adds. After debuting in 1999 with Taj Mahal that was helmed by his father, there were several notable projects for the actor like Alli Arjuna and Varushamellam Vasantham. However, he has no qualms in admitting that things didn’t work out the way they had to. After his marriage to actor Nandhana in 2006, Manoj has been slowing down a little. “I have deliberately not been signing up offers. I was a little dejected about my career. After marriage, I wanted to shut myself off and get into directing. Maybe my decisions were wrong. Too many things were happening and I think it was natural for me to get confused,” he says. “Annakodi was an accident and I didn’t expect to land that role. The character had only 10-15 minutes initially, but it was developed later,” he adds. If there is something that Manoj has been eyeing consistently for a while now, it is directing. Born to an ace filmmaker, he has also been deeply influenced by the works of a number of filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Clint Eastwood, his father and Mani Ratnam. “But if I had to direct I would concentrate on that alone. Even as an actor, I look at the directing aspects and I observe the making,” he says. “I have this script called Sigappu Roja that was penned almost five years ago. People might assume that is inspired by Sigappu Rojakkal, but the story is quite different,” he adds. As a director, Manoj says that he would be a mix of his father and Mani Ratnam. “My dad showed me what movies are and Mani Sir taught me how to make them,” he adds.