Two of Tamil cinema’s most admired actors, Siddharth and Karu Pazhaniappan on Wednesday shared the reasons behind actor Vijay Sethupathi’s popularity and success. Speaking at the audio launch of Vijay Sethupathi’s next film, Sethupathi, Karu Pazhaniappan said, “Vijay Sethupathi has been putting up with comparisons ever since he made his debut. People have this tendency to compare you with others. But ignoring the pressure, he has focussed on his work. I believe that is one reason for his success.”
The actor went on to say, “As Osho said, ‘It is easy to win that which is strong. It is only to the simple ones that we lose’. Scientists who have managed to make rockets are yet to make a fountain pen that does not leak. Winning that which is simple is difficult and Vijay Sethupathi is a person who does that.”
Karu Pazhaniappan added that nowadays actors don’t recall directors. “If you observe carefully, you will find that actors of previous generations chose to keep working with the same directors they had worked with earlier. Actors of this generation, however, don’t do that. But Vijay Sethupathi likes to retain his directors and works with them repeatedly,” added Karu Pazhaniappan and pointed out that after working on the critically acclaimed Pannaiyaarum Padminiyum (2014), director SU Arun Kumar and Vijay Sethupathi had once again joined hands for this film.
Actor Siddharth concurred and said, “I was a fan when I saw Vijay Sethupathy’s Pizza (2012). After that, I watched Pannaiyaarum Padminiyum in a theatre and was delighted that the industry had got a great director in Arun Kumar. I called Arun and asked, ‘Sir, can you please give me an opportunity to act in your next film?’ He replied, ‘No. I am going to do another film with Vijay Sethupathi, the hero of my first film’.”
The actor also recalled a chat he had with director Karthik Subbaraj. “I told Karthik that I enjoyed Jigarthanda (2014) and that we should make another film together. But he said, ‘No. I am doing another film with my first hero, Vijay Sethupathi’.”
“After that, I called Nalan Kumarasamy and said, ‘Soodhu Kavvum (2013) was super. I would like to work with you’. He too had the same response as Karthik,” explained Siddarth. “So, as Karu said, Vijay Sethupathi has extraordinary talent and doesn’t let his directors leave his side,” he said.