Arvind Swamy grew up on a 32-acre farm

Speaking about why he immediately connected with the script, Arvind Swamy recalled spending his childhood on a 32-acre farm in Poonamallee.

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“I grew up on a farm until I was 15. That is where I grew up. I didn’t like city life. I wanted to go back to the farm. It was a 32-acre farm in Poonamallee. From there, I went to Sishya School. That farm was my life — the cows, dogs, plants and everything else.”

Arvind said growing up in that environment created an attachment that stayed with him long after he was forced to leave.

“When you are in such a situation, you develop an attachment to that environment. I had to leave at the age of 15. My dad was a heart patient. Back then, many facilities did not exist, and with my school and his work here, we shifted. But no one in the family was willing to go there and maintain the farm,” he recalled.

The actor said he even hoped that someone could temporarily look after the property so that he could eventually return.

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“In fact, I asked if somebody could look after it for four or five years so I could come back. I couldn’t even imagine my life without it. But it didn’t happen. So they had to sell it to somebody who wanted to take care of it,” he said.

‘I started to cry without being aware of it’

Arvind Swamy admitted that returning to the place years later was emotionally difficult. He said he deliberately stayed away from it for a long time because of how traumatic leaving had been.

“After many years, I wanted to go back to that place. I avoided it because it was so traumatic. This was 10-15 years after my parents passed away. Once I stepped through the gate, I started to cry without being aware of it. I quickly asked for permission and went in,” he said.

That experience became an important point of connection when he read Meiyazhagan.

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The actor said director Prem Kumar gave him a book rather than narrating the story when he was in Hyderabad.

“Prem gave me a book when I was in Hyderabad. He said he wouldn’t narrate the story and asked me to read it. I was reading it and, from the first scene, I was able to connect,” he recalled.

When Arvind met Prem Kumar again, he told the filmmaker that he understood the emotional situation perhaps more deeply than he realised.

“When I met him next, I told him, ‘You don’t understand this situation as much as I do,’” he said.

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The actor admitted that even decades later, the memories remain powerful enough to overwhelm him.

“I will cry even today if I go there. I am a grown man, I am an old person, and it is still there today. The place — I can logically say it is only a place. But I still remember the texture of each tree. I remember which tree I used to climb or hide behind. I remember how many branches it had. That is the impact of the place where you grew up,” he said.

Arvind Swamy was reminded of his childhood during Meiyazhagan promotions

During the film’s promotions, he experienced another unexpected reminder of his childhood. Arvind Swamy recalled travelling to EVP Film City, which is located close to the area where his childhood farm once stood. Usually, the team would take the bypass road, but on that occasion they took the main road through Poonamallee.

“After that, during the promotion of Meiyazhagan, I went to EVP. The farm is close to EVP. We went to the studio for something. We usually take the bypass road, but this time we took the main road. It went through Poonamallee town,” he said.

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As he travelled through the area, familiar memories began returning.

“Automatically, I felt something. I was looking up and thinking, ‘I know this road,’ even though it had been 30 years. I was looking for the Deluxe store where I used to get rubber balls. I used to ride my bicycle outside and do a lot of such things. I used to go to the shop to buy a ball,” he recalled.

He also found himself looking for an old theatre that he remembered from his childhood.

“There used to be a theatre there. I was searching for that. Back then, there used to be bedbugs on the chairs. I was searching for all these landmarks,” Swamy said.

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The memories became so overwhelming that he began crying again.

“Automatically, before I went into the studio — I think there was some cooking show, and we went there for promotion — while I was going, I started to cry. This was after 30 years,” he said.