Actor Shiva, who is gearing up for the release of his upcoming film Single Shankarum Smartphone Simranum, revealed that the film's zany concept led him to take up the project. The film revolves around the bond between Shankar, a single delivery boy, and his AI smartphone.
In a conversation with Krishna, the actor recalls that he heard the film's script during the pandemic. “It is a story about a food delivery boy who gets his hands on a brand new technology, an evolved AI smartphone, and this smartphone falls in love with him. It was a fascinating idea. The phone tries to make him a millionaire and in the process, gets him addicted to gambling apps. So, after he reaches a stage in life, he no longer cares about the phone. Because of his behavior change, the smartphone thinks 'I have all your data. How can I take revenge on you?' The thought of 'what would happen if a phone had emotion' really intrigued me.”
Shiva, who transitioned from radio to films, believes that one does not need acting training to essay characters like Shankar." I didn't go to acting school. One cannot learn acting just by going to acting school. Let us take the case of Single Shankar. If one has to essay the character of a delivery boy, it's not necessary to have joined an acting school to learn how to play the character. You would try to essay the character as close to reality as possible like you were actually a delivery boy. If one goes to acting school, he will incorporate the instructor's idea of how one should play a delivery boy. You have to feel the character."
Single Shankarum Smartphone Simranum marks yet another light-hearted breezy entry in the actor’s filmography. Responding to criticisms that he does not explore films in different genres the actor says that only scripts of comedic nature are offered to him. “At the end of the day films are a business. If somebody approaches me with a film, they tell me that the treatment should be just like Kalakkalappu and Thamizh Padam. Only if the scripts are similar in tone to these films, they get offered to me in the first place. I also didn't try to do something extraordinary.”
Single Shankarum Smartphone Simranum is slated to release in theatres this Friday.