Abhirami dismisses ‘unnecessary’ controversy around her kiss with Kamal Haasan in Thug Life: ‘Any press is good press’

She is one of the few female actors who has worked with cinema legend Kamal Haasan several times throughout her career, both as an actor and dubbing artist. Abhirami was first seen in Virumaandi in 2014, and now she is back on screen with the Ulaganayagan in 2025 in director Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus Thug Life. In an exclusive chat with Hindustan Times, Abhirami, who changed her name from Divya after being impacted by Kamal Haasan’s Guna, talks about working with the Nayakan director and the legend she considers her mentor in cinema. (Also read: Kamal Haasan’s kiss with Abhirami, romantic scene with Trisha in Thug Life irks Reddit)

Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan are joining hands after 37 years, and you are part of the project. How did you feel when you got the call for Thug Life?

I think Kamal Haasan is somebody that I look up to, and the world knows what a big fan I am of him. I feel like there are few people with whom your sensibilities match. And when you work with people who have an open-door policy where they give you the liberty to voice your opinions and ideas, it’s amazing. They encourage you to think out of the box and be your own person. That’s a very conducive space for growth. As an actor, I never formally learnt the craft. I’ve learnt on the job, so I’m very selfishly looking for teachers who are willing to teach, and I got the best of the teachers. I learn a lot from him, no matter what capacity I work with him, whether as a dubbing artist or co-actor.

What excited you about Thug Life?

Apart from the fact that two giants were coming together after 37 years and AR Rahman was joining in for the first time, making it the holy trifecta, it’s a huge honour just to be part of that big canvas. The icing on the cake is the character that Mani sir offered me – it’s a very strong, confident, beautiful, sweet character he has given me. It was so easy for me to say yes.

A controversy erupted about the kissing scene seen in the Thug Life trailer. Should it have been a controversy at all given this is common in Indian cinema now?

See, anything is going to become a controversy these days, I don’t think you can escape that at all. I’m not in a position to judge Mani sir’s logic and about casting me in a certain role. Whatever his logic is, I’m agreeable with that. And the kissing scene is a three-second kiss! The fact that only that was shown in the trailer is a little misleading. When you watch the movie and the scene and what leads up to the kiss, you won’t even flinch – it sticks so well to the scene. The fact that it’s being talked about this much I feel it is a little unnecessary. The marketing people are going to do whatever is beneficial for the film. I understand that aspect as well. Any press is good press, as they say. But I would urge people to watch the film before jumping to conclusions.

But why do you think people reacted so strongly to Kamal Haasan kissing a younger woman?

I honestly don’t know. I think maybe because Kamal sir has had a track record of being bold enough to venture into those spaces before. Like in Hey Ram, how beautifully he shot the intimacy between both his partners, Rani Mukherjee and Vasudhara Das. He’s been a very bold storyteller, and whenever he ventures into that space, people always have something to say about it. It’s not that no other actor or actress kisses on screen. When somebody at the top does it, people talk about it because it gives them mileage as well. As you rightly said, it’s so commonplace now; I think the audience will also mature in due time.

Having worked with him for over a decade, did you find any difference in the way Kamal Haasan approaches cinema?

I think Kamal sir’s process has stayed the same but the tools that he arms himself with have changed. When he approaches a scene or discusses it with Mani sir – those conversations have changed because now you can dream bigger, use a lot more technology and newer ways of storytelling. So, I think the storytelling aspect has changed but his philosophy towards acting and how true he stays to the core emotion of it, has not changed.

Recently, Mani Ratnam spoke about how he threatened to throw actors off the set. Did that happen to you?

(Laughs) Thankfully, no, he didn’t threaten to throw me off the set. God, I wouldn’t know what to do if he said something like that. I’d probably go cry in a corner. But thankfully, with me, he’s always walked up to me and told me what he’s looking for. When he doesn’t get what he wants from you, he does get angry. The brunt of it is faced by the ADs, though. But his anger is short-lived, and he’s also a man of few words. When he gets what he wants, his joy surpasses the anger you saw three minutes ago. It’s very, very adorable to watch him on set, like how passionate he can get about one shot. I think he’s mellowed over the years as well.

What’s the biggest takeaway for you from Thug Life?

I never know how to answer that. I just want to be present in this moment and enjoy it as much as I can. The takeaway, we’ll worry about it later. And I’m sure those lessons will become clearer when I’m working with another director in the future. These are seeds that are planted in your brain when you work with people of this calibre, and you never know when those plants will sprout from those seeds.