‘Baththa’: Who is Sai Prithviraj, the boy wonder making waves in Vijay Sethupathi’s latest?

A child cries and expresses all the pain he carries, prompting a hall full of adults to hoot and applaud the boy’s performance.

Director Balaji Tharaneetharan’s latest film, Baththa, starring Vijay Sethupathi, had a little surprise in store for audiences when it hit theatres on October 1. Though the makers consciously promoted the film as a gangster drama, Baththa had a mature story about repression and the masks we wear, told from a child’s perspective.

Child actor Sai Prithviraj, who played the film’s protagonist, Sabari, feels over the moon to see the reception the film has been garnering. He is eager to see what his friends at school would say. “I have been busy with the promotions. So I haven’t called my friends, and neither have they called me yet. But I think they will tell me after one week, when I go to school,” says the nine-year-old who would be displeased if I don’t mention that he would be “9+” in March next year.

Sai developed an interest in acting after his sister, Kayal, an actor who worked in Vijay Antony’s Maargan. “My sister taught me acting, and I started liking it. So when I got the opportunity to do Baththa, I asked her to teach me after school,” says Sai, adding that he also goes to dance classes and football classes. He almost sounds offended when I ask if going to acting classes was in the plan. “No, I have never been to acting classes! It’s all my own.”

Sai Prithviraj in a still from ‘Baththa’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Working in Baththa, he says, was a jolly experience. Sabari might have been a nervous little boy in the film, but not Sai. “No. I was never afraid,” he says, adding there wasn’t even the slightest nervousness during the shoot. That doesn’t mean the process was easy. “While there weren’t any difficult dialogues or scenes, running in a chappal was very difficult; I am used to running barefoot or in shoes, but I didn’t like running in chappals.” And Baththa featured many shots of Sai running amok in a chappal.

Director Balaji, whose films Sai admires, didn’t explain much about the story of Baththa. “He just told me that I need to play Sabari.” However, Sai is grateful for how “slow and steady” Balaji was on set. “I liked how correctly he explained what I had to do,” he says.

One specific scene in the film, in which Sabari stutters and reveals everything that had been going on to an adult, has earned strong applause from the audience. “Balaji sir’s assistant, Navaneeth, helped me a lot to prepare for that scene; he started preparing me a few days before the shoot. He taught me the emotion of the scene.”

Vijay Sethupathi, too, offered his help during the scene, he adds. ”Sethu sir (Vijay Sethupathi) guided me and said, ‘If you have any doubts or difficulties, let me know; I will help you.’” Working with the star was a jolly good experience for Sai. “I gained a lot of experience in acting because of him. He said I performed superbly; he kept repeating that education is important and I should focus on studies as well,” says Sai, while adding that he liked how his fellow co-stars, like Santhy Balachandran, Lijomol Jose, and Hari Krishnan, treated him like a friend.

Sai Prithviraj and Vijay Sethupathi in a still from ‘Baththa’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Up next, Sai, whose acting role model is former actor and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay, will be seen alongside Dhanush in the star’s 56th film, directed by Tamizharasan Pachamuthu of Lubber Pandhu fame. 

For now, Sai will wrap up these post-release promotions and head to school. “I think I will be very tired before school because of all these promotions. I might just go lie down. I am having fun now, but I know I will be tired soon. But I should speak to the people who ask for interviews, no? Nammala interview kekkravangalukku kudukkanum la?” Oh, how we wish the stars of Tamil cinema understood this.