Very few actors enjoy playing cop roles the way Vijay Raghavendra does. Time and again, he is seen wearing the khaki with ease. Cheekily, he mentions, “Probably in some other birth lifetime, I would have been a cop,” as he gets ready to see himself in a cop avatar in his upcoming film Second Case of Seetharam, releasing on February 20. Interestingly, his web series OTT debut, Rakshasa, which also releases on the same day, sees him yet again as a police officer.
“I have always had this kind of coincidence in my career. People find me very calm and composed, and this is because of incidents, which keep me calm, sometimes chaotic. Amidst all that, what keeps me going is the excitement of work and the kindness people have shown to my craft,” he says.
Ask Vijay what draws filmmakers to repeatedly cast him as a cop, and he is thoughtful, “I have often mentioned this, that usually police officers roles shown in regular mass masala, apart from very few heroes, have not been given much justice. Usually police officers bring in a violent silence. I want to bring that on screen with all respect.”
Produced by Sathwik Hebbar, Second Case of Seetharam is the second instalment of Seetharam Benoy Case No.18, directed by Devi Prasad Shetty. Vijay says he wanted to reunite as a team and take forward the success they achieved earlier. However, he clarifies that the new film can be watched as a standalone or as a continuation. “Seetharam as an officer comes from the 1st part, and not anything as a case,” he explains. The film has music by Navaneeth Sham and cinematography by Hemanth Acharya.
Playing a cop, Vijay says, has helped him understand crime better? “I just take it as a film. It becomes difficult if we take it too deep. The filmmaker takes cinematic liberties. There has been a lot of improvisation with the second instalment in the placement of story and technicalities involved. Otherwise, there is no point in coming back.”