If you are a fan of dark comedies, you may have missed his presence, but there’s no way you could have forgotten the screeching voice. What he once imagined to be his weakness has turned out to be Ramachandran’s USP. With sixteen films to his credit, the actor simply known as Rams, is set to move to the next league with his upcoming projects — Rajinikanth’s Petta and Ajith’s Viswasam.
Hailing from Kombai in Theni district, Rams recalls how a chance meeting with director Suseenthiran through a common friend helped him get a foothold in the industry with a role in the filmmaker’s Naan Mahaan Alla. Films like Jigarthanda and Pandiya Naadu quickly followed, and before long, he was playing a meatier role in Sathuranga Vettai, about which he says, “I had to rescue the heroine in the climax!”
Not one to quibble about the screen time afforded to him, Rams says, “The only sensible thing to do is to find a way to leave a mark regardless of how big or small a role is. My voice has helped me immensely in this regard.”
The actor jokes that the best compliment he’s received was from director Balaji Sakthivel. “He said my voice sounds like stones getting ground in a mixie,” he laughs.While he is not at liberty to reveal much about Petta, Rams says that he has a few combination scenes with Superstar in the Karthik Subbaraj-directorial. He is just as thrilled about his experience working with Ajith on Siva’s Viswasam.
But the most memorable moment of his career, he says, came during a chance interaction with a member of the general public. “A lady stopped her two-wheeler to give me a word of praise for my role in Aramm (in which he played the father of two children). Women used to be scared of my appearance and avoid me, so this was a very pleasant surprise. It shows the power of cinema.”