Filming 'Blue Star' Was Like Travelling To Another World: Ashok Selvan

S Jayakumar's Blue Star takes us over 20 years into the past and into the world of Arakkonam to tell us stories of resillience, oppression and lots of cricket. Ashok Selvan, who plays one of the leads in the film, tells us that shooting the film almost felt like stepping back in time and travelling to another world.

"As an actor, a role needs to inspire you for you to wake up in the morning and go to set. We were on fire during the filming of Blue Star. It felt like we travelled to another world. We lived in the world of Arakkonam and came back. That's how I look at it." The film, which co-stars Shanthnu, Keerthi Pandian and Prithvi Rajan, among others, tells the story of two cricket captains in Arakkonam and how caste-politics impact their lives. While Ashok Selvan has done his fair share of underrated small films, he still believes the commercial success of a film is very important.

"When people are finding and enjoying some of my earlier films today, it does make me happy. But if I would’ve gotten this response then, I would’ve made ambitious films consequently. But in this journey, I have developed a better understanding of how to balance commercial success and the films I like, especially after Por Thozhil." And Blue Star fits perfectly into this zone, according to the actor. The actor has had a history of working with many debutants in his careers, as early as his first starring role in Pizza:II (2013) to his latest hit Por Thozhil (2023). While the process is a gamble, reading a film's script is all that one needs to know about a filmmaker, he explains.

"I choose a film based on how they talk about it. For instance, Jayakumar was so passionate about Blue Star. And he was an assistant to Pa Ranjith sir, whose filmmaking has a unique craft and aesthetics. Since Jay was from his school, I had the trust. You can also gauge a director’s intention from the script. Jayakumar is a brutally honest director and in our films, most directors also write these films. So we can gauge it through the script."

For the role, the actor was required to develop a tan to reflect the look of a young boy who is always on the cricket ground in the sun. "Arakkonam is one of the hottest towns in India. We didn’t want to bring in this skin tone for the sake of it. Standing in the sun for hours a day will do this to a person. We had to match the skin tone of a boy who plays a cricket in the sun every day." Apart from playing Ranjith in the film, the actor had one more role on set. He was the designated DJ. "I made a Blue Star playlist consisting of Tamil songs from the 90s to match the vibe, and would start playing it loudly at 6.30am. The songs just took us to the era. I’ll maybe make the playlist public soon," he says with a laugh.

Watch our full interview with the cast of Blue Star here: