After sending chills down one’s spine as the dreaded don Abbasi in Billa 2 , the handsome Sudhanshu Pandey is back in two Tamil films — Meagamann and Indrajith . The actor says he’s delighted to be working in Tamil again. “I’ve always said that the films made here and the people making them are fantastic. I’m working with people who are extraordinarily humble, despite their status. It’s like a lesson in humility every single day,” says Sudhanshu, a deeply spiritual person in real life.
“Spirituality, religion, karma, God and good people. These are what motivate and inspire me to do better. This is why working in the South is a fascinating experience,” he adds.
In Magizh Thirumeni’s Meagamann and Kalaprabhu’s Indrajith , Sudhanshu dons roles that are off the beaten track. In Magizh’s film, he is a hard-core evil guy. “I’ve used prosthetics for the very first time in my films. It took two hours to put on the make-up. It’s been taxing, but these 15 days in my life have also been very challenging,” he says.
Indrajith , touted to be a fantasy-adventure, has Sudhanshu playing his normal suave and sophisticated self. “I play the director of ASI, who is perceived as grey,” is all he’ll say about it.
How easy is it for a god-fearing and good guy like him to play dark characters? “I think it is vital to understand good to play bad well. Thanks to my roles, I get to explore the limits of negativity, despite being a positive person,” he smiles. “But yes, it’s a terribly draining exercise. Strong emotions such as evil do not come naturally. It takes a lot of effort. For instance, my very first scene in Meagamann had me killing someone. It takes a toll on you.”
As for his fellow actors, Sudhanshu says that Gautam Karthik (Indrajith) is a “fantastic guy, untouched as of now by glamour. He’s a real chap, with no façade.” Arya, says the actor, “is fun to be with. Very cool and relaxed.”
Has not knowing the language posed a problem? “No. I think I’m very lucky. I can mouth dialogues with about 85 per cent pronunciation accuracy. In fact, I’m dubbing for Indrajith myself. But, what’s most important is getting the expressions right. I sit with the director and get the scene’s concept right.”
Considering he started his career in Hindi and with television, Sudhanshu is working on a few ideas, and is looking at reinventing himself there. He’s also shot for the first season of a television series for a soon-to-be-launched channel. “It’s based on The Twentieth Wife , a work by Indu Sundaresan,” he says, going on to emphasise that television will always remain his first love. “I worked with the stars there — Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Basu…. We were young, idealistic, full of ideas…it was fun. I’ve been spoilt thanks to that lovely first stint. Why settle for something less? Unless the content is stunning or the money so tempting that it forces me to ignore content, I’d be foolish to give up what I have.”
