Actor Suresh Chandra Menon's directorial venture Guru the Mentor is set to be released in theatres later this year. In an exclusive interview with CE, Suresh talked about Guru the Mentor and his experience working in the film industry. He shared, “I have never been a desirable star for people to seek autographs and so forth. Pudhiya Mugam (1993) is a hit film, but no producer offered me an acting chance because of it as I did not have that typical Tamil hero look."
Suresh Chandra Menon directed a film starring Arvind Swamy, titled Paasamalargal (1994), but it turned out to be a commercial flop. Despite his failure as a director, he never felt like being in a race to be a top star. "I never got into the artist race. I did much work on television, such as in Sun TV, Doordarshan, and Vijay TV. Whatever we do on television, we have to do it slightly differently," he said, citing the Doordarshan serial Iravellam Pagal as an example. "In that period, we shot it on film cam. It was way ahead of its time and we lost money on that, but people still remember the shots from that." He added, "For Sun TV, I worked in Chinna Chinna Aasai serial. Actors such as Khushbu, Gautami, Suhasini, Rohini, Archana, and Vikram wrote and directed episodes of it. Then I worked in Boom Boom Shakalaka, it was the first time introducing graphics on television,”
The actor also talked about his first tele film in 1993. He said, "We did the first tele film, Yuththam in Sun TV. When we do something interesting, it has to be of good quality, that will stay with the audience." He continued, "It's been 33 years since the release of Pudhiya Mugam and you can still watch that film. Because it doesn’t look outdated or old, Vineeth's voice was dubbed by Vikram, and my voice was dubbed by Arvind Swamy in Pudhiya Mugam."
The filmmaker spoke about facing criticism for his work on the 1993 film as well.
"We faced criticism regarding the height difference, but as a director, if you watch the film, Vineeth and I are the only two characters. When Vineeth came for the first time in the scene, he looked taller than Radha Ravi because when we were shooting we gave a stool for him to make the height difference. But in the second half, when he stood next to me, he looked short, so the audience will also think that he was short even in the first half, so it’s a perception.”
More recently, Suresh Menon's work includes Thaana Serndha Kootam (2018), Pon Manickavel (2021), and Chandramukhi 2 (2023), Guardian (2024)
