From playing the quintessential ‘bubbly girl’ film after film, we got to see Vedhika like never before in director Bala’s National Award-winning Paradesi (2013). She’s back in Tamil movies with another period flick, Kaaviya Thalaivan, a film that boasts a team of seven National Award winners. “It’s not a conscious effort to appear different, but there is only so much of running around trees one can do. For a lucky few, a great film comes along, which really gets them thinking about their craft and makes the audience talk about their performance. That’s when you realise it’s not just about looking nice anymore but also about pushing the boundaries and trying out new things,” she says.
She has as many as 20 looks in the film, each with a unique set of accessories and make-up. About the challenges of acting in period films, she says, “For contemporary roles, I can draw from my life, for expressions or mannerisms, especially when they’re relatable. But roles such as Angamma in Paradesi and Vadivambal in Kaaviya Thalaivan are so different from who I am in real life that every tiny gesture and body language of my character needs to be planned and improvised.”
Playing a character partly inspired by the legendary stage artist and singer K.B. Sundarambal, Vedhika was required to deliver lines at the top of her voice in the drama sequences of the film. “My role is that of a female theatre artist at a time when women on stage were considered taboo. There are scenes where two entirely different types of acting overlap — the subtle acting of today’s cinema and the loud acting of the 1930s Tamil theatre that was meant to be seen and heard by audiences seated even in the last row of theatres. These are not situations I could have managed without the guidance of director Vasantha Balan.”
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Polishing the Bharatanatayam skills she acquired in school, Vedhika was also lucky to have danced for a song choreographed by the late Raghuram master. “It was for a song titled ‘Thiruppugazh’. To dance under someone who trained the likes of Kamal Haasan and Jayapradha was an incredible experience. The song came out so well that we were to do one more together, but sadly that was not to be,” she says.