Dhanush to learn from Raj Kapoor?

Dhanush to learn from Raj Kapoor?

Director Aanand L Rai gives him 25 DVDs of the late filmmaker to help him transform for his role in Raanjhanaa

Garima Sharma

Playing the role of a Varanasi boy may not be easy for Dhanush, but director Aanand L Rai, who has cast the Tamil actor along with Sonam Kapoor in his next Raanjhanaa, is going all out to ensure that Dhanush gets the nuances of the character right. So much so, that Rai recently gave Dhanush a collection of Raj Kapoor films to help transform into a similar persona.
In the film, both Dhanush and Sonam are shown hailing from Varanasi, but the story shows Sonam finishing her college education in Delhi at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). So, while the actress will spend time at JNU to get into the skin of her character, Dhanush is taking similar lessons from Raj Kapoor it seems.
Rai says, "I want Dhanush to totally transform into a Varanasi boys so I gave him DVDs of movies like Shree 420, Awaara and Mera Naam Joker. I want him to notice the peculiarities of the roles, and then give his own touch to them. He is a very perceptive actor and has the astuteness of a director, therefore, it's easy to explain this experiment to him. Raj Kapoor's portrayals touched your soul, and that's what I want Dhanush to also be able to do with this film."
Dhanush too is working hard to portray the same Dickensian shades which so many of Kapoor's roles had. He says, "I'm working on a Tamil film right now and whatever time I get from that, I spend in preparing myself for Raanjhanaa. Aanand sir wants me to know the dos and don'ts of playing this character, and I'm learning all that from Raj Kapoor's films. Even though I've done 24 Tamil films, doing my first Hindi film is making me learn new things. It's refreshing."
Only time will tell if this experiment is able to aid him in that.

RELEARNING Dhanush