Young Hero Simbu loves to live life on his own terms

Simbu has been missing from the social circuit for quite a while now. But now, the actor’s back on the sets shooting for his upcoming Vettai Mannan. In a tete-a-tete with TOI, Simbu talks about his recent trip to the US, his upcoming movies and about being controversy’s favourite child.

You went off the radar for the past few months…

I was in the US completing work on my album, Love Anthem. Due to the good response we got after the initial release and based on suggestions, I’ve decided to flesh it out into a full album that will consist of about 6-9 songs. I’ll be composing a few numbers and Yuvan Shankar Raja will compose the rest. I sat in for the meetings with music producers, international artist coordinators and musicians. I spoke with a few international artists as well, but we are yet to formalize a deal.

Did Love Anthem take shape before Why This Kolaveri Di happened?

I wanted to record an international number and was mulling about ideas that unite the entire world. That’s how the Love Anthem came up. We wanted to finish the entire song and then release it, but there were similarly-themed songs by others doing the rounds. For instance, there was Aska Laska… from Nanban, which also had the word ‘love’ in several languages. So, we cut a condensed version and released it. The complete number will be out soon.

You’re controversy’s favourite child…

I do understand that when you’re a star, what you say matters a lot. The media is sometimes nice to me and sometimes not so nice. But I want to be true to myself. I don’t feel the need to be politically correct. I’m open and straightforward most of the time and am vocal about the way I feel. If you think ill about me for that, it’s OK – I’m happy that I’ve been true to myself.

Reports state that some of your films were stalled because you took off to the US…

In the last two months, Kollywood came to a standstill due to a strike. I’ve kept my producers posted about my whereabouts and there were no issues regarding my film shoots during this time.

Podaa Podi, Vettai Mannan and Vada Chennai…

Four songs remain to be shot for Podaa Podi; we’re leaving for Macau in April to commence work on them. Otherwise, the entire talkie portion is complete. As for Vettai Mannan, the second half of the movie has to be shot in Brazil. It’ll be an action-oriented story told in a lighter vein. After these two films, I’ll be doing Vada Chennai.