CHENNAI: Battered and broken after he campaigned against DMDK chief Vijayakant in the run up to the 2011 Assembly Polls, a debacle his party had not anticipated, comedian Vadivelu said that he hadn't turned the page on his political ambitions.
"I haven't ruled anything out. Honestly, if you ask me now, I don't know what will happen (before the 2016 assembly elections). Maybe I will, maybe I won't. But it's not something that I haven't thought of," said the man who ruled as Kodambakkam's Comic-in-Chief for over a decade, "I've closed that shop (politics) and opened this one again (acting), who knows when that will open again," he trailed off.
Fielding questions for only the second time in four years, Vadivelu was initially apprehensive about talking politics, "Do we have to? You know where it's brought me already," he said to a lot of laughter. People who followed the last assembly elections in the state will remember Vadivelu's highly energizing and extremely comic campaign capers as he traveled the length of the state with the DMK bandwagon.
Owing to an existing altercation with Captain Vijayakant, he was particularly harsh on the actor-turned-politician. Once they were whitewashed, Vadivelu put all his projects on hold and went underground - not working on a film till 2014's Tenaliraman. And now, his next film Eli, is ready to release next week.
The firebrand politicking may be on hold, but that doesn't quite mean that he's staying away from it on celluloid. Vadivelu revealed that in the script that he has selected to act in next, he is planning to essay the role of Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister, "It will be a full length comedy flick, poking fun at the politicians and general state of politics. It is not aimed at anyone. I have selected a director and we'll start soon," he said.
So will it be along the lines of Sathyaraj's Amaidhipadai, a cult political satire film? "Not at all," he says, "This one will be funnier and have even less politics!" he answered dryly.