Sathish: Unlike comedians, heroes get to perform a variety of emotions

As anyone who tried to lose weight would attest, even moving an inch out of your comfort zone takes tremendous willpower. Actor Sathish, who is predominantly known for his comic roles, is jumping out of his comfort zone to play a dramatic role in Vithaikkaaran, where he portrays a magician who helps a gang execute a heist. “I know every actor says this but I have also started hitting the gym,” he smiles, “This is not to bulk up though, I just wanted to look better on camera.” When asked the reason behind this sudden drive to change, Sathish says, “First of all, the story was engaging and Vithaikkaaran does have dark humour but my character will not be the one delivering funny lines. And also, this is not a sudden, conscious shift from comedic to dramatic roles but is something I picked up from my theatre play days. I have played both comedic and dramatic roles in Crazy Mohan sir’s troupe. It is all about whether a character is interesting."

So what about his character in Vithaikkaaran is interesting to him? “I like protagonists who use their wit to get what they want,” replies Sathish, "Take the coin fight scene in Kaththi, someone like Vijay Sir could have straight away beat up the bad guys and no one would have complained. But the fight scene is still memorable today because the protagonist outwits the bad guys before actually fighting them.” The actor then goes on to explain how this character quirk is more pronounced in his upcoming film, Sattam En Kayyil. “It is a crime thriller where the protagonist gets trapped inside a police station and he controls everything that goes on from inside. The film keeps you guessing and you start doubting if he is the bad guy.”  

Experiments, especially in the film industry, are often considered risky because if the audiences don’t like it, all the effort goes down the drain. Sathish, however, seems unfazed by the risk attached to his leap out of his comfort zone. “One of the biggest lessons from my drama troupe days is to not be afraid of the audience. On the stage, there are hundreds of people in front of you and to overcome your stage fright and deliver your lines is itself a success, let alone performing it right. So I am prepared to do any kind of role as long as it is interesting.” Apart from his thirst for interesting characters, Sathish has clearly gravitated towards lead roles in recent times, with films like Naai Sekar (2022) and Conjuring Kannappan (2023). On why lead roles are enticing, apart from the obvious reasons, Sathish explains, “I like performing various emotions and unlike comedians, only a hero gets to perform a variety of emotions. But that doesn’t mean this is all I want to do. The story is the hero, so if a good story demands a completely dramatic role or an entirely comedic role, I am up for it.”  

As someone who assisted a veteran like Crazy Mohan with dialogue writing in films like Vasool Raja MBBS (2004), Sathish understands how good writing can make or break an actor’s career. The actor elaborates how writing is even more crucial for an actor like him by recounting a conversation with late comedian, Vivek. “He told me that actors like himself and I need to be careful because we are not someone who could make a crowd laugh by just appearing in front of the camera. We are not like Vadivelu Sir or Yogi Babu sir, so we have to rely on writing alone to make a joke work. That advice stuck with me for years.” Even as Sathish is confident in his ability to judge the strength of writing, the realist in him is also aware of his shortcomings. “You can never judge the audience or how they will react. There was this one scene in Ethir Neechal with me and Sivakarthikeyan, Anirudh also had a cameo in that scene. During the filming, we were in splits and we were sure the audience would love it but in the theatres, there was dead silence,” he laughs. “On the other hand, no one laughed on sets while we filmed Conjuring Kannappan, to the point where we panicked. However, the theatre response exceeded all our expectations.”

As for his search for versatile roles, Sathish explains, “I would love to do what Vijay Sethupathi sir did in Pizza and recently I loved Por Thozhil. These are films that had interesting characters and they worked not on account of the genre but due to strong writing.”