Actor Bharath has become a staple of every festival season, with even three releases a year. Among the more promising growing talents of Tamil cinema now, the actor opens up about Seval, his latest offering, and more
Sharadha Narayanan
He’s as much Bob Gally as he is Murugesan. Actor Bharath, for long the lone survivor of the Boys clan (until Nakul joined him with kadhalil Vizhundhen) has sure come a long way. With his latest offering, Seval, hailing him as the actor to have joined the big league, Bharath opens up about his roles to come, about playing the rustic hero and about doing the balancing act in commercial and meaningful cinema.
“Seval is director Hari’s ninth film, and it’s a story I think he considers his best. I’m glad my performance has been received well,” stated the actor, who habitually meets scribes after every movie of his hits the theatres. In the movie, he plays Murugesan, a callous youth, whose reformation following his love for Poonam Bajwa transforms him into a responsible man. After a rough patch with Nepaali and Muniyaandi Vilangiyal Moondram Aandu, he has smelt success with this movie, which he thinks was one he put a lot of effort into, be it getting the diction right or emoting. “When I had asked about the homework I had to do, Hari just said we should keep it casual,” he says. “However, as someone with a fair skin tone, my true colour does show in some of the scenes. I couldn’t really get tanned as I was simultaneously working on Aarumugham then,” says the actor.
Besides having movie and character names related to Lord Muruga (which he dismisses as pure coincidence), Bharath says he has observed a pattern in hit movies of his. “They typically end with ‘L’: Kaadhal, Veyyil, Pattiyal and Seval are examples. A movie, obviously, is a hit if the script is good, but I’ve noticed this to be my lucky letter,” he adds.
But consider his hits: Veyyil, Kaadhal and Pazhani, and you wonder if the hero seems more at ease with village flicks. Added to this belief is the argument that his urban movies, like Nepaali, weren’t big hits.
“It’s not fair to typecast me.
While I am doing rural roles like these, I’m also balancing it with smart urban flicks like the remake of Jab We Met, which I will begin work for early next year,” says the actor.
—msharadha@epmltd.com
