Aal izz well with Vijay!

2011 was a fabulous year for the star as he had two hits and 2012 started with a bang as he scored a hat-trick with Nanban. His step has a bounce ala Pasapugazh and his heart is saying, 'Aal izz well'. Ilayathalapathy Vijay's Pongal was definitely sweet and he's all smiles as he chats about his latest hit.

"I never thought that 3 idiots would be remade in Tamil and I would star in it. I was thrilled to learn that Shankar would be directing it. He gave me the freedom to interpret the scenes myself but I did incorporate some of Aamir's cute mannerisms," he begins.

This movie saw a very different side of Vijay - a movie sans fights, masala, punch dialogues and kuthu songs. The actor has turned from mass to class say the audience and critics. Now that his image has had a makeover, one wonders how he plans to take it forward.

"Yes, it didn't have any of these and I really loved the script. I definitely wanted to do this film. I try and do these type of films as often as I can (like Kaavalan and Friends). In between, I agree I ended up doing a lot of mass films. When I saw myself on screen in this flick, I found it fresh and invigorating."
So, is this him minus the usual heroism? "Rather than my mass films, it's Pasapugazh who shows much more heroism in how he is and what he does for people. I don't think there's any character that was more heroic than him," he explains. His son and daughter were thrilled with his performance and he narrates how his son Sanjay,
dropped his pants like Jiiva and Srikanth and said, "Thalaiva, you're great". "I loved my son's spontaneity and it's the best compliment I have received," he says with pride, adding that his daughter, who's seen the film four times already, hugged him tightly.

So how did he agree to the kissing scene? He replies, "I generally don't do such scenes in my films but because this was crucial to the script I did it. I keep saying that our noses will collide if we kiss but just to prove it wrong, we show this." Out of curiosity, one queries how many retakes there were of this scene and pat comes the reply with laughter, "Just one!"

In 2012, he has A R Murugadoss's Thupakki and Gautham Menon's Yohan. Currently shooting for Thupakki, Vijay says, "Murugadoss's style and presentation are different. The elements of mass and class have been balanced out in this film."

But as of now, his heart is humming Aska Laska... and he continues to take a bouncy step of success!