It’s 9am and Priya House at Valasarawakkam is bustling with energy. The shooting is in progress for Vilakku Vacha Nerathula, the mega serial aired Monday-Thursday at 7.30pm on Kalaignar TV. Sujitha plays the protagonist, Pavithra, but she has no scenes to shoot. It was the day for Anuradha Krishnamurthi, who plays the protagonist’s mother, Gnanambal; Sathya Sai, who plays the sister, Bhanu; B Narendra, who plays the brother, Santosh; and Bala, who plays Bhanu’s schoolmate.
There’s an interesting part to Bala’s role in the serial. He and his twin brother, Navin, are acting together as friends in the serial. They are so identical that they even play proxy. For instance, if it’s Bala’s scene and he is not able to make it, then Navin plays the same.
Director C Ranganaathan says the serial is currently at a major turning point now. He narrates, “The gist so far is that Pavithra is forced to marry Chelladurai (played by Kaushik), who is mentally unstable. But one day, Chelladurai goes missing and is seemingly never to return. Sanjeev, who plays Pratap, Chelladurai’s brother, marries Pavithra.” All’s well here until Chelladurai returns. But he is mentally sound now. However, seeing Pratap and Pavithra happy in marital bliss, he continues to act insane, says the director.
Chelladurai’s return creates havoc in their lives, as Pratap too starts behaving in such a way that Pavithra develops hatred for him. “Pavithra needs to make a decision. And what will that decision be? That is what the audiences will get to witness in the forthcoming episodes,” says Ranganaathan.
There’s another parallel story running alongside, says the director. Pavithra’s sister is being blackmailed by her schoolmate, Ramesh, who after pouring hot tea on her dress has taken a video of her when she’s changing. “This leads to a lot of changes in Bhanu’s attitude at home. She
tries to steal money and her mother’s chain, all to settle the matter. Meanwhile, Santosh, her brother, smells something fishy and tries to help his sister out,” he says.
Soon, the shot gets ready. Associate director Senthil Kumar explains the artists what they are required to do. Actors are not required to memorise the dialogues because prompting is provided. They were shooting a scene where Bhanu and Santosh sit for lunch and mother Gnanambal serves them. How she needs to enter the scene, how and when must she serve the food, everything is explained precisely.
While Santosh is required to eat well in the scene, Bhanu is not supposed to do so. She is required to portray a troubled look. “A lunch scene does not mean that all the food served is actually required to be eaten,” says Sathya, who plays Bhanu.
Sathya is required to sob and glycerine is put in her eyes. The irritation that it provides makes the tears come out. “The effect lasts for about two days. Glycerine helps clean the eyes but since I have been ‘sobbing’ for the past two days, I have literally caught cold,” she chuckles. “The challenge lies in getting the scene okayed with all this irritation. I have been acting since I was six months old.”
Another thing is that the artistes are required to get their own costumes and accessories. However, at the sets, the artistes are provided lunch and snack, and also dropped home, if required.