Life has come a full circle for veteran playwright-actor-director Y Gee Mahendra. It was K Balachander’s Navagraham (1970), adapted for the big screen from the filmmaker’s very own stage play, that marked Y Gee Mahendra’s onscreen debut. 56 years later, he is turning his own stage play, Charukesi, into a film that brings him back as the lead for the first time in decades. Interestingly, Charukesi is helmed by noted filmmaker Suresh Krissna, an erstwhile assistant of K Balachander. “Even as a stage play, there were a lot of cinematic elements in Charukesi. We always wanted to do it as a film, but things didn’t come together. When everything fell into place, I needed a mature director to handle the subject that marries Carnatic music and Alzheimer’s, and who better than Suresh Krissna?” asks Mahendra, who is joined by his daughter and actor-theatre director YG Madhuvanthi, in this interaction ahead of the film’s release on June 12.
Charukesi is hitting the screens at a time when Tamil cinema is inundated with bloody actioners or commercial entertainers with over-the-top gimmicks. “This is a film with strong values, and it won’t be something that will make you squirm in your seats. A family-friendly film should be exactly that, right?” asks Madhuvanthi, who is working with Suresh Krissna for the first time in the film. “I grew up seeing him direct my uncle (Rajinikanth), and it felt easy working with him. He knew where everything had to be, and didn’t waste a single moment on set.”
Since the father-daughter duo has worked extensively together in theatre, with both directing each other in the medium, films were just an extension of their camaraderie. “She has a big advantage in Charukesi. We don’t have any combination scenes,” says Mahendra with a chuckle, and is quickly interjected by Madhuvanthi, who adds, “In theatre, he will constantly work on the character and would improvise till the moment you step on the stage. I have received a lot of scoldings, but make no mistake, if you do well, he will be the first to announce it. He is someone who is very secure about himself, and doesn’t mind the applause going to others as long as the audience is having a good time.”
But Madhuvanthi has a clear grouse against Tamil cinema regarding the kinds of roles her father has been getting over the years. “They have misused him as an actor. In fact, if you look at the variety he has done on stage, you would know where our anger comes from,” she says, and expresses her gratitude to Mysskin for giving Mahendra a stellar role in Yuddham Sei (2011).
Yuddham Sei definitely gave Y Gee Mahendra a makeover of sorts as he was playing a character that had almost no dialogues, and had to let his eyes and body language do all the talking. “It was a big surprise that Mysskin saw that side of me and gave me this role,” points out Mahendra, who clearly loves such challenges that come his way, even if it is not as frequent as he would like. “I do get a lot of standard roles, but that’s okay, I guess. A lot gets left out in the editing table, and interesting roles in films like Koorman and Akhanda 2 didn’t get the required reach.”
The actor also reveals that he got a surprise call from Fahadh Faasil, who wanted to discuss a rather unlikely performance. “I thought he was going to talk about Maanaadu, but he spoke about Mark Antony. He understood the nuances required to pull off that role, and asked how I did it,” says the veteran. Madhuvanthi shares that she is happy that recognition is coming her father’s way from unexpected quarters and unexpected mediums. “See, in the sets of Charukesi, many were surprised that he was such a good actor. But I have seen him from close quarters on the stage, right? He has done much more complex characters with consummate ease. And nowadays, thanks to YouTube, they are rediscovering him, and realising his versatility,” says Madhuvanthi, who believes word-of-mouth is helping people go back in time to know what was the ‘in-thing’ back then, and it also allows people to bask in the nostalgia of the good times. In fact, even before Charukesi, Y Gee Mahendra played a Carnatic singer in the television serial Sahana, which is a spiritual sequel to the National Award-winning 1985 film Sindhu Bhairavi. He has also starred in the detective series Thuppariyum Saambu and cult television serials such as Rudraveenai and Chidambara Ragasiyam. “The problem with serials is that people forget them after their run. It is not always in conversation, right? Movies are always remembered. How will today’s people even know what we did back in the day?” asks the veteran.
Y Gee Mahendra points out that the evolving nature of the audience also contributes to the longevity of a film, but the core of their taste is not that different from what it once was. “We still have space for ‘good’ films that appeal to the goodness in you. Otherwise, would a Meiyazhagan, or a Tourist Family, or even a Karuppu run?” asks the actor, who asserts that a film that appeals to the family will always find success irrespective of the era it is made. But he also points out that filmmakers should realise that jumping on the ‘trend’ bandwagon isn’t the smartest trick in the book, if you are looking at being in the industry for a long time. “See, a random film that may come out of nowhere and become a huge success. It is this success that becomes a template, and the audience is bombarded with such films till they get saturated,” says Mahendra.
However, the veteran understands that the rules of this game have changed, and many ‘narratives’ are being set, especially on social media. “That is a very powerful medium, and competition is intense nowadays. A lot of it boils down to a project’s positioning and projection. We saw a film like Kantara make waves, and we also saw a big-ticket film with huge stars biting the dust.” While Charukesi is undoubtedly relying on the reach of its content and positive word-of-mouth, Madhuvanthi signs off with a positive assurance. “At the end of the day, we are still in a world where it is content that matters the most, and Charukesi will tick that box, for sure.”