After shooting for his final film... Bharathirajaa broke down and said he might win a National Award, reveals Sameer Bharat Ram

While film fans are mourning the passing of Bharathirajaa, fans will still get to see him on screen in the dark satire Pulavar, likely to be his final screen performance. The film’s producer Sameer Bharat Ram speaks to us about the project and the memories attached to collaborating with the legend:‘THERE WAS NOBODY BETTER THAN HIM TO PULL OFF THE ROLE’Pulavar is based on Dostoevsky’s Crime And Punishment . It’s about denial, introspection, and acceptance of crime. It’s a story of a retired police officer who uses his very wacky, different ways to deal with criminals and the accused. We needed somebody with a lot of depth and philosophy to do the role, and I don’t think there was anybody better than him to pull off the role.‘He broke down and said that he might win a National Award for the role’His demise is very emotional for me because, at first, he was not too convinced about whether this could be made as a film. I told him, ‘Uncle, just trust me.’ And he came on board. Then, he said, ‘OK, you guys are doing something interesting.’ On the last day of the shoot, he broke down and was literally in tears as he hugged me and said that he might win a National Award for the role. It emotionally moved him, as it’s a deep film. I’m happy he at least saw the full version of the film, and was satisfied with it.‘I wanted him to recover and be there for the premiere’We finished the shoot and got done with the dubbing before he fell sick. We were waiting to release the film. Because he had lost his son, I was not too comfortable going back to him and was kind of holding on. We were supposed to meet him this week to take blessings. I wanted him to recover and be there for the premiere. I was hoping that it would happen, but sadly… In fact, we premiered at the Norway Tamil Film Festival last month. I probably want to do a tribute and invite whoever likes him and loves his work to the premiere.