Rajinikanth and director KS Ravikumar's 1999 film Padayappa is back again in theatres today, marking the superstar's birthday. One of the most interesting aspects of the film is the intense dynamic between Rajinikanth's titular hero and Ramya Krishnan's antagonist, Neelambari. When Neelambari proposes marriage to Padayappa, the latter rejects her by saying that she does not have the qualities he seeks in a life partner. This moment causes Neelambari to form a lifelong vendetta against Padayappa and acts as the driving force of the narrative.
It is a role that gave Ramya Krishnan plenty of plaudits. However, do you know that she did not really want to do it. Speaking to Behindwoods a long time ago, she said that if given a choice, she would have done Soundarya's role, Padayappa's lover, instead in the film. She explained, "No heroine would agree to do a negative role opposite Rajinikanth sir." She attributed the aforementioned to the risk involved in becoming the superstar's antagonist in a film. The actor also revealed that some of her co-stars in the film told her not to come to Chennai for a few days after its 1999 release.
Throughout the film, Ramya Krishnan's character goes toe to toe with Rajinikanth's hero, and there are many scenes where the former makes comments tarnishing the latter's image. According to Ramya, this did not go down well with a section of the audience during its initial release, making them destroy the screens of theatres playing the film for the first few days after its release. "It was quite scary," Ramya said. The actor said that the fact that the film stayed the same, despite the initial backlash from some fans, signified Rajinikanth's magnanimity. "That is his greatness," the actor said.
