The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : "Devar Magan a turning point in my career"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 10, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

"Devar Magan a turning point in my career"

S.R. Ashok Kumar

"Sivaji Ganesan told me, `Vadivelu, you are not only a comedian. You are a character artist'. It was more than an award for me"

Vadivelu... the busy star.

Vadivelu is easily one of the busiest stars today. Rajnikant, at the film Chandramukhi's 200th day celebrations, revealed that he had asked Sivaji Productions to get Vadivelu's dates before planning the shooting. Vadivelu takes time off to speak about himself and the industry.

I am a straightforward person from a middle class family. My grandfather and father were connoisseurs of art and cinema. I was very much interested in staging dramas even at the age of 12. I used to take my father's dhoti of and use it as a screen and enact plays behind it.

As I grew so did my interest in drama and cinema. I did nearly 10 plays in Madurai and then wanted to try my hand at cinema. I landed in Chennai and met director T. Rajender for an opening in films. He was shooting for his "En Thangai Kalyani". A big crowd was watching the shooting. When I approached him, he asked me to act in a scene. Though it was a small role, for me it was a big one. That was the first time I stood before the camera.

Then after a long gap, Rajkiran spotted me. He gave me a role in "En Rasavin Manasile". But it was director R.V. Udayakumar, who gave me a chance to show my talents in hit films films as "Chinna Gounder" (Vijayakanth), "Singaravelan" (Kamal Haasan), "Rajakumaran" (Prabhu) and "Ponnumani" (Karthik).

I used to converse a lot with Kamal Haasan and he called me to work with him in "Devar Magan". That was a turning point in my career. I will not get another `Isakki' character in my career. For my role, I got the biggest appreciation from two giants of the film industry -- Kamal Haasan and Sivaji Ganesan. The late thespian said, "Vadivelu, you are not only a comedian. You are a character artist". It was more than an award for me.

Today I am doing comedy, character roles as well as song and dance roles. I do not have formal training in singing or dancing. But I can perform to the satisfaction of the director and the viewing public. Now I am doing the dialogues of Kalignar Karunanidhi. I had done it earlier but now I am doing it under the watchful eyes of cameraman and director Amirtham in "Pasakkiligal" produced by director Rama Narayanan.

I always wanted to become an actor. I wanted to be popular. I have got what I wanted. I want to stay in the same position. So I am working towards that ideal.

My best films in my view are "Devar Magan", "Kadalan", "Friends" and "Chandramukhi". Each one of the films speaks volumes about my comedy. I adore K.A. Thangavelu, Chandrababu, Nagesh, Surulirajan, `Venniraadai' Murthy and Manorama.

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