For an actor known for his eccentric standup comedy shows, Abishek Kumar delivers a measured performance with plenty of restraint in his recently released Prime Video series, Thalaivettiyaan Paalayam. He admits that such restraint does not come naturally to him. “A lot of people do not know that I started off doing theatre. I happened to replace one comedian who backed out of a show for personal reasons. So I am an ‘accidental stand-up comic,’” he says. He goes on to add, “I am different on stage from what I played in Thalaivettiyaan Paalayam. It is both challenging and exciting to play a character that is unlike who I am in real life.”
However, the actor did not find it easy to topline the Tamil remake of such a popular show as Panchayat. He says, “I watched Panchayat as a normal viewer and became a fan of the show before I even got the opportunity to act in this show. What I loved about the original is that it has no cliffhangers or turning points. It is pure problems and solutions, and sometimes there are almost only problems. It's a pure, stroll-around-the-park-like family watch with amazing performances. So headlining its Tamil remake came with its own pressures and challenges.”
The first challenge for Abishek was to hold back on his improvisational skills. “Siddharth, the character I play in Thalaivettiyaan Paalayam, does not give many counters or rebuttals. He is straightforward and sincere about his job, although he is not happy about where he is. So, I had to maintain that serious facade throughout. If it were me, I would have made fun of everyone else whom I interacted with in that village and gotten kicked out of there in a week’s time,” he laughs.
Abishek credits his director Naga for keeping him in “the perfect meter,” as he puts it. “Naga sir ensures that you are not overplaying or underplaying the character,” says the actor, as he showers his filmmaker with praise. He also applauds Thalaivettiyaan Paalayam's writer Balakumaran Murugesan for ensuring that he did not have to come up with his own lines. “There might be some scenes where I improvised out of instinct, but full credit goes to my screenwriter Balakumaran. Usually, while doing theatre or any other acting role, I make sure not to follow the script to a tee. But, here, for the first time, I really stuck to the lines in the script.”
Speaking of lines, Abishek says that the characters in Thalaivettiyaan Paalayam are like the ones you would see in the southern parts of Tamil Nadu. “Down south, you meet many people with ‘nakkal’ (sarcasm) in their veins. I used to go to schools in these villages to teach theatre to kids. They are so funny that they will put comedians to shame,” says a candid Abishek. The series draws a lot of its humour from Siddharth's fish-out-of-water experience, being a city-slicker struggling to adapt to the village life. Abishek elaborates on how he realised that his character's frustration with his situation should not come across as being judgemental. “Initially, I was acting like I hated everything around me. Then, my director gave me a crucial piece of feedback that I will never forget. He said, 'You do not hate the people but rather your situation.' This advice contributed to the beautiful arc and the comfortable relationship that I have with every other character,” says Abishek.
However, as Siddharth continues on his journey and becomes closer to the other characters, Abishek faced a different challenge. In one scene, Siddharth has an angry rant to a cop because he starts to feel alienated. Soon after he throws this tantrum, his village office team comes to calm him down with a couple of beers. Abishek says that it took him multiple takes to perfect the reaction his character gives in the said scene. “I smiled a lot in the first take, but the director told me not to and explained that Siddharth’s happiness comes from an emotional place.” Speaking of emotions, Thalaivettiyaan Paalayam has seasoned actors such as Chetan and Devadarsini playing expressive characters. Talking about his experience working with them, Abishek says, “This is my first lead role, but they did not let me feel that pressure. They are experienced but still so grounded. To give you context, they both met and fell in love at the same director’s set, in a show that was shot when I was not even born. My age is their experience on screen.”
Abishek fondly recalls Panchayat director Deepak Kumar Mishra coming all the way from Mumbai to Chennai to attend his show's premiere. “Panchayat director came to our Thalaivettiyaan Paalayam premiere show despite his packed schedule, appreciated our efforts, and flew back that same night.”
Abishek also says that he wants to keep all his “avenues, options, and opportunities open” to “keep entertaining the audience in every way possible.” And, addressing whether there would be a Thalaivettiyaan Paalayam season 2, he signs off by saying, “It is like an exam result; we are still waiting for the result.”