BENGALURU: ‘Action Star’ Vijay Kumar’s younger sister Vasanta’s greatest ambition was to become an actor. It wasn’t that she lacked talent or the ability to work hard, but just that her brother hated the idea. He didn’t want her to enter films. It was not because their family had some traditional reservations associated with the movies or that she wouldn’t find a nice boy to be her husband – it was her brilliance in acting that scared the daylights out of him. She had all the makings of a star, and his career, which was just then beginning to brighten up, would inevitably be eclipsed. He tried his best to dissuade her from acting and made up obnoxious stories about the movie world. He told her story after story about casting couch, backbiting, intrigue, and the pressure of the mafia. He even got friends to tell her horror stories from the film world. With such meticulous planning, he had kept her away for good. Or so he thought.
Fate showed up at the appointed time. Vijay was offered to play the hero in Kumaraswamy IPS, a commercial film opposite one of the top heroines in the industry. ‘Jagga’ Jagannath had been signed to direct the film. His previous seventeen films had all been hits. The script had a minor role for the hero’s deaf-mute sister who would get abducted, raped, and eventually killed by the villain. After a futile hunt, the director told Vijay, “I just can’t find anyone to play the role of your sister. You sure have a unique face.” Vijay blushed and the director continued, “I was wondering since it’s a small role, why don’t you ask your own sister to play the role?”
The blood ran out of his face in an instant and he mumbled, “But she doesn’t like to act.”
“I will convince her.”
“No, no… it’s impossible.”
“Come, let me show you what is possible...” said the director and ordered Vijay to take him to meet his sister.
The rest, as they say, is history. Vasanta came up with such a spirited performance that the heroine of the film looked like a lifeless doll in front of her. She then breezed past her first few movies with the aplomb of a veteran, and now we hear that Vijay finds it almost impossible to get an appointment with her.