'Uriyadi' not for the faint-hearted: Vijay Kumar

Director Vijay Kumar says his forthcoming Tamil directorial debut "Uriyadi", which he describes as a very intense film featuring very realistic action, is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

"It's a very intense film in which the action will be justified. It's not your regular commercial film that everybody can watch. The film is high on violence and it has been portrayed very realistically. It's not a film for the faint-hearted," Vijay told IANS.

The film's trailer, which has piqued everybody's curiosity, gives one the glimpse of the violence from the film.

"The trailer was purposefully cut like that. I didn't want to cheat my audience. It's an out-and-out action thriller. It hasn't been made keeping the generic commercial template in mind which means you can't find romance, duets and glamour. In fact, my film doesn't even feature a heroine," he said.

Despite all the violence, Vijay calls "Uriyadi" a family-friendly film.

"It's for everyone above the age of 18 in a family. And I call this a family film because all of us can relate to the story. It's about those who become the victim of the society, about those who unnecessarily get dragged into issues they're no way connected," he said.

The story revolves around a few college-goers and what happens when they cross paths with a politician.

In the process of capturing realistic action, Vijay said his actors sustained several injuries.

"I was supposed to hit someone in the back with a rod, and somehow the blow landed on his head, much to my surprise. Although we used a fiber rod, he suffered severe injury. There were so many instances where we ended up hurting ourselves," he said.

Vijay has also played the lead and also produced the film, which also stars Mime Gopi, Sivakumar and Chandru.

Most of the actors were exclusively auditioned for their roles.

"I wanted passionate actors and it didn't matter if they were familiar or not. I auditioned hundreds of aspiring actors and shortlisted those who were ready to go any extent for the sake of the role. From the shortlisted lot, we picked actors who worked out economically for us," said Vijay, who quit a plush job with Infosys to chase his filmmaking dream.

"Uriyadi" is slated to release in cinemas on Friday.