Sitting down with Vijay Sethupathi for an interview is the equivalent of being part of a TEDx talk. He’s deeply philosophical about his answers, and more importantly, real. As he sips black coffee, he says, “ Romba kevalama iruku ,” in his inimitable style. When Vijay Sethupathi was offered the role of Shilpa in Super Deluxe , the actor was apprehensive. He wasn’t sure if he would look convincing as a woman. “Right from looks to outfits, we had to change everything for the character. How would I look? Would people write me off as an ‘aarva kolaru’ actor,” he wondered back then,“But I blindly trusted Kumararaja. He’s sincere about his craft and is brutally honest. If something is not working out, he would say, ‘Kevalama iruku’ and make no bones about it. Just because I was on board, he didn’t capitalise on the star image.” Vijay says Kumararaja was careful when he etched out Shilpa, “She is a fictional character and he wanted her to be that way. So, it was important for us to define her character traits in the scripting stage itself. In a sense, we were literally creating a character together. To put it in simpler terms, Shilpa wasn’t lifted from the streets and can be found only in Super Deluxe .”
Usually, once a script takes shape, it’s the actor who takes over the reins from the director. But Vijay opines that Kumararaja was very much part of the process and that he was his “reference book”. He adds, “There’s a skewed perception that actors anchor the film. It’s completely wrong. A lot of factors matter, including what your co-actor brings to the table.” Vijay jokes that he doesn’t know what ‘method-acting’ means. In that case, what was the brief given to the actor? “When I read the dialogues, I got a sense of her world. And of course, the rest was fed by the director. His job was not to just capture my performance, but to ensure that I matched his cinematic sensibilities. He encourages you if things work. If not, he guides you in that direction.” Ask him if Kumararaja corrected his performance, and Vijay retorts, “I’d rather use the word ‘improve’ because it’s a collaborative process. If the director and actor operate on the basis of what’s ‘right and wrong’, then it sets a wrong predicament.”
Describing Shilpa as a thozhi that he never had, Vijay Sethupathi speaks passionately about what he learnt by playing a trans-person. “Firstly, she broke the bubble called life. I wouldn’t say I wasn’t afraid, but I overcame my fear,” he says, elaborating, “I loved the writing, which is why I wanted to play Shilpa. It was like a journey of self-discovery. She taught me a lot of things. She was my thozhi as well as a teacher. She altered my perspective about life. To an extent that I thought: what if I wake up tomorrow to realise that I’m a transgender?” How far does Vijay get into his characters? “The thing that they tell you about internalising the character, it’s all a myth. Once I get my shot okayed, I return to reality... I eat lunch with my friends and head back home.” There’s a certain emotional depth that Vijay Sethupathi brings to his characters. Consider the climax scene of Iraivi or the one in Vikram Vedha . “ Gravity is a visual spectacle. But it’s still driven by emotions,” he explains, adding, “Had the climax scene in Iraivi featured Vijay Sethupathi, he would’ve reacted differently. But it was about Michael and his relationship with Arul. Michael was already dead when he betrayed the latter’s trust. That was the emotion we wanted to communicate through that scene.”
The confusing yet brilliantly-cut trailer for Super Deluxe became a rage on the Internet. The video of Vijay Sethupathi dubbing for the trailer also went viral. Did he change the pitch of his voice for the character? “Shilpa isn’t an amalgamation of transwomen. Not every transwoman has a feminine touch to their voice. The voice-over used in the trailer is mine and not Shilpa’s. I have tried something when I dubbed for her. And my director liked it. Now, it’s left for the audience to decide.” Does it bother him that Super Deluxe is being projected as a Vijay Sethupathi-starrer, despite it having a host of actors? “I guarantee that the audiences will love each character. Once they start liking Shilpa, the screenplay would shift focus to the Fahadh-Samantha story. When this transition happens, people will root for their characters and I’ll be out of the picture. At the end of the day, people will forget all of us and would remember one man: Thiagarajan Kumararaja.” He adds, “If I sound a little boisterous, that’s because I have seen the film,” he winks.
