Asif Ali's new look puts Cowboy in a fix

Asif Ali's new look puts Cowboy in a fix

Tamil actor Vivek replaces Jagathy in P Balachandrakumar's Cowboy, but the film stays delayed thanks to Asif Ali's different look for yet another film

Sanjith Sidhardhan

Actor Jagathy Sreekumar's accident had the directors, of the films for which he still had a few scenes to do, looking for replacements who could match the veteran's acting calibre.
While it is Prashanth Narayanan who fills in for the role in Edavapathy, Baburaj replaced Jagathy in Mr Marumakan. The latest to join the list is Kollywood comedian Vivek, who replaces the actor in P Balachandrakumar's Cowboy. "Vivek was the best person who could fit into Jagathy's role as the flick has quite a lot of comedy scenes and we needed someone who could match the veteran's comic timing," says the director.
Matching the dates for the new starcast for all these projects has been a challenge. "Jagathy's character has a lot of scenes in combination with all the lead actors Asif Ali, Mythili and Bala. So we were trying to get them all together to shoot a few indoor scenes in Kerala before heading to Malaysia for the rest," explains Balachandrakumar.
However, even after this replacement and matching of dates of the new star cast, Cowboy continues to be in trouble. Asif's clean-shaven look for Ozhimuri turned out to be the final decider, as the director was not ready to film using artificial add-ons and make-up.
"I wanted Asif in his usual get-up because the fake moustache and beard would bring in discontinuity to the actor's appearance in the film," says Balachandrakumar, adding that the team has now given their slotted dates to Sangeeth Sivan's Idiots in return for Asif's dates in June.
sanjith.sidhardhan@timesgroup.com

NEW AVATAR: Asif Ali in
Ozhimuri;
(left) in
Cowboy;
(below) Vivek and Jagathy Sreekumar

Vivekh turns a new Cowboy

The Tamil comedian replaces Jagathy in a Malayalam film titled Cowboy

Sanjith Sidhardhan

Jagathy Sreekumar's accident had the directors, of the films for which he still had a few scenes to do, looking for replacements who could match the veteran's acting calibre. While it is Prashanth Narayanan who fills in for the role in Edavapathy, Baburaj replaced Jagathy in
Mr Marumakan. The latest to join the list is Kollywood comedian Vivekh, who replaces the actor in P Balachandrakumar's Cowboy. "Vivekh was the best person who could fit into Jagathy's role as the flick has quite a lot of comedy scenes and we needed someone who could match the veteran's comic timing," says the director. Matching the dates for the new starcast for all these projects has been a challenge. "Jagathy's character has a lot of scenes in combination with all the lead actors Asif Ali, Mythili and Bala. So we were trying to get them all together to shoot a few indoor scenes in Kerala before heading to Malaysia for the rest," explains Balachandra kumar. However, even after this replacement and matching of dates of the new star cast, Cowboy continues to be in trouble. Asif's clean-shaven look for Ozhimuri turned out to be the final decider, as the director was not ready to film using artificial add-ons and make-up. "I wanted Asif in his usual get-up because the fake moustache and beard would bring in discontinuity to the actor's appearance in the film," says Balachandrakumar.

Vivekh