Chennai, Jun 7 (IANS): Debutant director Rajkumar Periasamy says audiences will see a never seen before dimension of actor Gautham Karthik in forthcoming Tamil action-thriller "Rangoon", which hits the screens on Friday.

"The role required Gautham to portray the kind of life he has not seen. This brought forth a different side of him which will be very new to the audience. When I pitched the story, he even asked me, 'Will I able to pull off the character?'. It was only after I handed over the script book, did he believe in himself," Periasamy told IANS.

In "Rangoon", Gautham plays a Tamil guy born in Burma, who finds livelihood in Chennai.

Talking about why he roped in Gautham, the director said: "When I wrote the script, I wanted an actor in his early 20s and someone energetic and street smart. I saw these qualities in Gautham, and I also felt he hadn't played anything close to this character."

Irrespective of the film's result at the box-office, Periasamy is confident that "Rangoon" will go down as a milestone in Gautham's career.

"He worked really hard. He even told me that he was proud to have been part of this project," he added.

Also starring Sana Makbul, the film is jointly produced by A.R. Murugadoss and Fox Star Studios.