With his second flick Ivan Vera Mathiri (IVM) releasing this week, actor Vikram Prabhu is both anxious and excited. “A hit like Kumki as a debut film does raise the pressure quotient. After working on IVM for a year, I’m avidly waiting to see the results this week,” the actor says in a chat with CE.

Directed by M Saravanan, IVM will showcase Vikram in an urban set up, as a man of action, quite literally. “I play a viscom student named Gunasekaran,” he discloses. “He applies for a job. The story is about what happens when certain incidents take over his life. As the title suggests, he does things differently,” he says. So did he prepare himself for the role in any way? “Saravanan gave me a bound script, so I broadly knew what he was looking for. I didn’t prepare too much as I wanted to follow his instructions. The role has less dialogues and conveys more with expressions and actions,” he says.

The action scenes have been much talked about during the making. Vikram seems to be experiencing the aftermath, but with a smile. “There are some high-octane stunts between Vamsi and me and we’ve shot in some tough locations. The fights will be talked about. Sakthi’s camera has caught the action beautifully. I did bear injuries all over, only my face escaped with minor scratches! But the risks we take add to the cinematic value of the final product,” he says with a grin. With a torn shoulder muscle and a few bumps and bruises, Vikram is still undergoing physiotherapy.

He says he would try to keep the mood light while shooting scenes with Vamsi so that the pressure of what they were about to undertake would not get to them. “Being jovial helps in refreshing the mind, which in turn has an enhancing effect on your work,” he explains.

The challenge for Vikram lay in keeping the mood of the film intact for a year. He says, “We started the project in October 2012. The toughest part was to maintain the same look physically, despite the injuries. But I enjoyed all of it because I had faith in the final product. Every day on the sets is a pleasure and every movie feels like my first. The sheer magic of the movies is what keeps me going!”