It was through Thamirabharani, that he got noticed. With Chennai-28, Saroja and Goa, he carved a niche for himself as a talented character artiste in Tamil cinema. Sampath, who debuted in Niranja Manasu, says, “I always wanted to become an actor. I was working in an advertising company and one day, I thought ‘Why not give a shot at cinema instead of merely dreaming about it?’ It was a difficult decision to quit the job and pursue acting. But I knew that the worst that could happen was that I would have to face failure. And I was mentally prepared for it. So, I came down to Chennai from Mumbai and that’s how everything started.”
It was in Niranja Manasu, that Sampath met Venkat Prabhu, who played the role of his younger brother in the film. “Our friendship started four years ago and we realised that we both have common dreams — to make a lot of movies, to flourish in the business of cinema, to earn loads of money and to travel all around the world. All these were possible but we never ever realised that it would happen so soon. We used to discuss millions of scripts,” laughs Sampath and adds, “Prabhu still feels my potential is not entirely tapped.”
After Chennai-28, Sampath’s role in Saroja, directed by Prabhu, was well appreciated. The actor says, “Through Saroja, Prabhu made a point that the villain need not look dirty and ugly. When Prabhu narrated my role in Goa, I immediately associated the gay role with my gay colleague Manish from Mumbai. I have always wanted to play the role of a homosexual. It happened in Goa.”
On his recent release, Katradhu Kalavu, Sampath says, “I play an honest cop role in the film, who investigates a case and subsequently realises the victims have been cheated. It was nice to work with Krishna and Vijayalakshmi.”
He has a number of releases including Varnam and Bhavani IPS in June and July. “I’m eagerly waiting for Aaranya Kaandam. It would definitely be one of the best hundred Tamil films. The film is simply mind-blowing and stylishly made.” Now that the actor is doing different kinds of roles, does he want to become a hero? “Honestly speaking, character roles fascinate me and I always wanted to become a character artist. But, in Aaranya Kaandam the audience would definitely see me as a hero. Age has no bar as I made my debut a bit late. After Saroja, I got hero offers for 13 scripts,” he gushes and adds, “The cinema industry has changed a lot in the last few years. Script is the hero and I’m lucky to be here doing different roles in a time span of four years. I know a lot more people are waiting to do at least half of which I’ve done. I believe in destiny and I feel much more in me is yet to come.” Apart from Tamil films, Sampath is doing a couple of Kannada films and a Malayalam film with Prithviraj. Telugu films are also in the pipeline and for Sampath sky is the limit.
