Prithviraj Sukumaran: Stardom, clout, fame exists outside of you

Lucifer was conceived as a three-film franchise from its inception. The success of the first film led to the decision to proceed with the second installment in the series. L2: Empuraan was announced in June 2019, and production, originally planned for mid-2020, faced delays due to the pandemic.

Mumbai: Actor-filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran has shared his two cents on stardom and said one can only aspire to be a good actor or be good at whatever craft within cinema you are handling.

“Nobody becomes a star. You can only aspire to be a good actor or be good at whatever craft within cinema you are handling. Everything else is territory. People give you tags. People think of you as stars. But that exists outside of you.”

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He said that “within yourself, there is no stardom.”

“Within yourself, you are always trying to be better than your version of yesterday. If you go through an extended phase of your career where you don’t feel challenged, maybe even intimidated by the task or by what is demanded of you as an actor or a technician, then you are probably not doing it right,” he said.

Prithviraj added: “So everything else, the stardom, the clout, the fame, everything exists outside of you. When you are within yourself, when you are with yourself, it’s just you, your craft, and how long and how far you can challenge yourself. That’s it.”

Prithviraj’s latest release is “L2: Empuraan”, an action thriller, in which he has acted and directed. The film is the second installment in the Lucifer trilogy and follows the events of its prequel, Lucifer.

The film also stars Mohanlal, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Abhimanyu Singh, Tovino Thomas, Andrea Tivadar, Jerome Flynn, Indrajith Sukumaran, Eriq Ebouaney, and Suraj Venjaramoodu.

Lucifer was conceived as a three-film franchise from its inception. The success of the first film led to the decision to proceed with the second installment in the series. L2: Empuraan was announced in June 2019, and production, originally planned for mid-2020, faced delays due to the pandemic.

The film hit the big screen on March 27.