The success of Super Deluxe popularised its villain, played by Bagavathi Perumal, to other film industries. Bagavathi, known as Bucks, attributes his turn as a villain in Thiagaraja Kumararaja’s sophomore film to getting his Bollywood break in Monica, O My Darling. “I got to do an ad with Vasan Bala sir (director of Monica, O My Darling), who is a Tamilian, raised in Mumbai. He mentioned then that I was in his bucket-list of actors to work with,” says Bucks, who was still surprised to get a call from the casting company for Monica, O My Darling. “I agreed without even listening to the story. A day before the script reading, I got the chance to know the story and I was fascinated by how it had Hitchcockian elements. When I asked him about it, he said the beginning of his scenes were influenced by Hitchcock, and their end by Woody Allen.”
Vasan Bala’s reference for Bucks’ character, Arvind, was apparently the late comedian Nagesh. “Nagesh sir’s improv skills were legendary,” says a smiling Bucks, who adds that Vasan is also a fan of director Singeetam Srinivasa Rao. “There’s a scene in the director’s Apoorva Sagodharargal in which two characters get confused about their hand gestures, and this influenced a scene between me and Rajkummar Rao’s character. I was pleasantly surprised by how the references given to me weren’t from Hindi or English cinema, but Tamil ones I grew up on. When our scene ended, Rajkummar pointed at me and told Vasan sir, ‘He’s brilliant sir’. What more can I ask from my debut Bollywood film?”
Bucks was relieved when told that his character is of Tamil origin. “They wanted me to be a Tamil-speaking character but as it’s a person who has been in the city for 10-15 years, I recommended that it could be a character who speaks in Tamil with his family but tries to manage with English and Hindi with others,” says Bucks, who got Hindi training from a language expert.
Vasan, he says, was keen to avoid repeating familiar mistakes in such portrayal. “For instance, in that scene where my character comes to pick up the dead body, I asked him whether I could wear a woman’s clothes and heels to disguise my character. He liked the idea but asked me to just stick to using a dupatta to cover my face. He was careful never to cross the line of humour and make it crass, especially given that it’s a Tamil character. This reminded me of Sathyaraj sir’s clause in his contract for Chennai Express that mentioned that the film can say anything about characters but not a single line must generalise anything to Tamil.”
On his style of humour, Bucks believes in his character fitting into the grand scheme of the film. “Both my characters from Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom (2014) and Monica, O My Darling deal with shocking scenarios, but the background is different. I take more from the character rather than from myself,” says Bucks, who shares that he often settles for characters with lesser screen-time when they turn out to be interesting. “In Naalu Policeum Nalla Irundha Oorum (2015), I was offered the role of a cop but was intrigued by the crook’s character which Yogi Babu played. Filmmakers prefer to play it safe sometimes, and their say is final. I have millions of roles I haven’t played before, and so, I want to make sure that the roles I play are intriguing.”
That’s why Bagavathi finds
it interesting that he has not been approached with any negative roles, despite the success of his character, Berlin, in Super Deluxe. “Perhaps they think it might be too similar to what I did in Super Deluxe. I don’t feel bad for not being offered such roles because the ones I get are from those who appreciate my style,” says Bucks, who laments that supporting actors rarely have the financial security to reject average films. “Supporting actors are often first-generation artists. Constant work affirms their survival. My friends often tell me to take up roles even when I don’t like them because they believe that the responsibility of a film’s success does not lie with a supporting artist. ‘Veetla irrundha sambalam kedaikuma?’ they ask. That’s correct, but I cannot excite viewers with a character that doesn’t excite me.”