Nobody could have expected Guru Somasundaram, who was seen in films like Aaranya Kaandam (2010) and Jigarthanda (2014) as the male lead in the political satire Joker, which was released recently. “But I am not the same in real life. I am a greedy-self-centred-calm individual,” laughs Guru as he talks to City Express. With excitement, he continues the conversation — “You won’t believe if I say this — but many times I have thought if I should change my name. Doing a lead role meant so much to me! Since the film has become a hit, let me retain my original name,” he grins.
A trained artiste from Koothu-p-Pattarai, the city-based Tamil theatre group, Guru attributes his success to whatever he learnt there. “I was with them for a decade. I observed and learnt from the people who came from across the world. I was shy back then. Today, I can adapt myself to any role with ease. For a person with a lot of insecurities, theatre gave me the confidence to break out and connect with people. It was rewarding as an actor,” he says.
Guru will be seen as a baddie in the upcoming Kreshna-starrer Yakkai. “Joker explored a different side of me and Yakkai will show me in a different avatar. Both are contrasting to each other,” he shares.
While most actors would do anything to earn the love of their audience, Guru insists that he’d rather have his audience hate and despise him. “I want to play a menacing larger-than-life villain. Unless they really hate me for what I do in the film, I won’t believe I have done a good job,” he tells us.
He’s simultaneously working on a film titled Idhu Vedhalam Sollum Kadhai, which has Ashwin Kakumanu in the lead. “The story is the contemporarised version of Vedalam-Vikramaditya story. I play Vedalam. This will be a different kind of movie for the audience,” he assures.
An ardent fan of the legendary actors Savithri and Nagesh, Guru also wants to play an upright police officer in his career and he claims it to be one of his dream roles.
The actor doesn’t think much when he signs a role. “I am not an analysis-and-strategy person. I do things with my heart. I have realised that life doesn’t always work according to a plan. It’s best to keep your spontaneity. My films are getting released back-to-back, and I would continue to entertain the audience in my own way. I’d love to do diverse films,” he smiles.