Exclusive | Prithviraj Sukumaran on 'I, Nobody': 'Lead Actors Should Be Stakeholders In Their Films'

Prithviraj Sukumaran, who has both acted in and co-produced the upcoming Malayalam film I, Nobody, said in a conversation with THR India that the film excites him more from an actor's standpoint than from a producer's. "This is a film that I am really proud of as a producer, but I'm more thrilled about as an actor," he stated.

The film, directed by Nissam Basheer and written by Sameer Abdul, is a heist crime thriller, though the actor explained that the screenplay spans genres and is packed with plot twists while remaining rooted in its central character, Rajeevan, a government Secretariat employee. "You think when you start hearing the story that it's that classic wrong man at the wrong place film," Prithviraj noted. "But then five minutes later you realise, 'Hang on, it was not about the wrong man at the wrong place.'"

The actor plays Rajeevan, whom he describes as "the common average man" in society. He felt portraying an ordinary person was no different from playing larger-than-life characters. "The challenge is exactly the same as playing an extraordinary man. It is just another character." Comparing Rajeevan to Varadharaja Mannar, his character from Salaar, Prithviraj explained, "Rajeevan is to the left, and Mannar is to the right. The exercise of reaching either one of them remains the same."

What interested him most about I, Nobody, however, was the extraordinary journey of its protagonist. "The greatest thing about the film is that he does all these extraordinary things, and what he finally comes back to is the most ordinary life. He does all these heroic things, but you never look at him as a hero."

Prithviraj also credited writer Sameer Abdul and director Nissam Basheer for the film's approach. "Sameer has this ability to take the most ordinary situations and find an angle that makes you look at them differently," he said.

On co-producing a number of his films, Prithviraj explained how he sees value in actors becoming stakeholders in their projects, adding that he would prefer to produce his films whenever possible. "Given a chance, I'd like to co-produce every film I'm part of," he admitted. “I think that is the way cinema should be, especially when we are paid well. Especially for an industry like the Malayalam film industry, it makes a lot more sense that the lead actor is a stakeholder.”

I, Nobody also stars Parvathy Thiruvothu and Suraj Venjaramoodu and is set to release on July 9.