80,000 hours of sweat condensed into 'Uttama Villain': Ramesh Aravind

Actor-filmmaker Ramesh Aravind said the team of upcoming Tamil drama "Uttama Villain" starring Kamal Haasan condensed over 80,000 hours of sweat into the film, slated for worldwide release on April 2.

"As a team, we worked really hard on this film. We condensed 80,000 hours of sweat into a two and half hour film. The two stories, set in 8th century and 20th century, is linked together with a great screenplay," Aravind told reporters here Sunday.

He was speaking at the audio launch of "Uttama Villain".

"The stories have a great mix of comedy and drama. It's a film we can all be proud of. I really need to thank Kamal sir for giving me the opportunity to direct this project," he said.

"Uttama Villain" is the last film of late legendary filmmaker K. Balachander aka KB, who launched the careers of Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan.

Balachander plays Kamal's mentor in the film.

"The first scene between Kamal sir and KB sir will be terrific. It will be the clash of two legends," Ramesh said.

Talking about his guru, Haasan said: "Had he not spotted me, my life would've been different. He shaped my career and I will continue his work and carry his legacy forward. I would've remained a fan of cinema without KB sir's support".

"He's a mahaguru for many of us. It was an honour to act with him," Kamal said.

Kamal plays a theatre artist as well as a modern-day superstar in "Uttama Villain", which also features Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremiah, Urvashi, K. Vishwanath and Jayaram in important roles.