We are not even halfway into 2023, but Varalaxmi Sarathkumar has already starred in six films across languages. She shows no signs of slowing down as Varalaxmi is gearing up for the release of her upcoming cop drama, Maruthi Nagar Police Station, which will stream on Aha Tamil from Friday.
Maruthi Nagar Police Station is helmed by Dayal Padmanabhan, who also directed Varalaxmi’s previous Tamil film, Kondraal Paavam. Sharing that Dayal narrated the story of this film on the last day of Kondraal Paavam’s shoot, Varalaxmi explains why she gave the film a green signal. “Dayal started the narration with a one-liner that went something like, “When we witness a crime, we visit the police station. But, what happens when the crime happens at the station itself?” It was this intriguing one-liner that made me sign the film immediately,” says Varalaxmi, who attributes her comfort with the director and the team as additional factors for accepting the project.
By now, playing a police officer is second nature to Varalaxmi, who previously donned the khaki in a number of films including Nibunan, Danny, and Sathya. Fortunately, there was a refreshing change in Maruthi Nagar Police Station. “This time, I had a good-looking cop pitted against me in the film,” laughs Varalaxmi as she refers to her co-star Arav.
Maruthi Nagar Police Station also stars Kondraal Paavam alumni Santhosh Prathap. While Varalaxmi understands that drawing parallels between both films is par for the course, she asserts that both projects are nothing alike. “Maruthi Nagar Police Station is a straight whodunit. The film will unravel who committed the crime, why, and how.” But Varalaxmi observes that among all the differences, there is one commonality between Maruthi Nagar Police Station and Kondraal Paavam. “Maruthi Nagar Police Station will also keep the audience guessing. Every character in the film will have an unseen alter ego of sorts, and the murderer’s identity will remain a mystery until the end.”
Each film set comes with its own set of challenges, and it was no different on the sets of Maruthi Nagar Police Station. However, the film posed an unsolvable yet comical challenge. Guffawing loudly, she narrates, “The biggest challenge on set was to successfully finish a shot without cracking up. We are all friends, and we would start laughing just looking at each other’s faces. I am pretty sure Dayal might have regretted casting us in the film. As actors, we all improved in terms of how not to laugh in order to get a scene done.”
Coming back to 2023, Varalaxmi has not just headlined films this year but played significant roles in projects like Veera Simha Reddy and Michael. While Varalaxmi is working on ‘big’ films like Hanu Man, she is also starring in ‘small’ films such as Piranthal Parasakthi. It is interesting how she balances both such films and has been doing so throughout her career.
“For me acting is work, and it does not matter if the film is big or small,” asserts Varalaxmi, who adds that she always finds takeaways from every film she parts of. “For example, the filming of both Kondraal Paavam and Maruthi Nagar were completed within 15 to 20 days. From these films, I learnt that a short shoot schedule has nothing to do with the quality of the output. Since I have a takeaway from every film, I’m always the winner,” a confident Varalaxmi signs off.