Living the character may be a stock phrase in cinematic vocabulary but when newly-weds Senthil and Sreeja walk into Sheraton Park Hotel and Towers lovingly holding hands, the cliché couldn’t have been truer.
As one of the security guards excitedly calls out “Hello Saravanan sir and Meenatchi madam”, Sreeja coyly smiles to acknowledge the greeting.
The adored lead pair of the 550-episode-long soap, Saravanan Meenatchi, (on Vijay) that peaked TRPs say other than family and close friends nobody refers to them by their real names. Wishes haven’t stopped pouring in since they tied the knot a month ago. Their fans are only too delighted to see the Saravanan Meenatchi story continue.
Before settling down for a chat, Senthil looks at Sreeja who has not been keeping too well through the day. “Do you want to have a lemonade before we begin talking?” he asks with concern. “No, it’s okay I am fine,” says Sreeja, her pale porcelain skin and big, black eyes glowing in the dim light.
The photo-shoot is a breeze as the starry couple strikes a series of romantic poses much to the delight of the photographer.
Though the whole world seems to be talking about their reel relationship turning real, Senthil insists they hardly dated when working together. “There was only a clash of dates and the drama never extended beyond the sets,” laughs the VJ-actor, his quotes peppered with humour.
To make you believe further, he adds, “We shot even the love scenes standing apart. In fact I feared going anywhere near Sreeja because she always appeared cold and aloof.”
At which point the till-now quiet Sreeja decides to defend herself. “I was extremely irritated with his work schedule. He used to come for shoots only during weekends before which they would complete shooting scenes that didn’t require him. Because of him I had to slog through the week and was never able to visit home in Kerala.”
The conversation suddenly turns into a little squabble. “Once the camera began to roll, Sreeja could wonderfully cloak her anger. May be she didn’t shout at me since she didn’t know even the little Tamil she speaks now,” chuckles Senthil.
Incidentally Saravanan Meenatchi is not the couple’s first serial. They worked together in another popular romantic soap Madurai that was also aired on Vijay. “Trust me, we never interacted on or off the sets during the making of that entire serial.”
Next minute he turns serious, looks straight into Sreeja’s eyes and says, “But you know, I look up to her. She’s an experienced and talented actor. She began working in Malayalam serials and films when she was only in her teens. I have learnt a lot watching her. I am happy my guru has become a part of my life.”
Senthil’s parents were dead against him getting into acting. After his debut film, Thavamai Thavamirundhu , they insisted that it should be his last (ironically he awaits the release of his seventh film Vennila Veedu ). So when the Saravanan Meenatchi offer came his way, he just shot for the pilot episodes, said ‘no’ to his producers and went back to veejaying. After a few months, the project came back to him and the makers somehow managed to convince his family and Senthil into doing it.
By now the story sounds like a Yash Chopra film script. A blushing Sreeja recounts how her uncle, who accompanied her to shoots, was so fond of Senthil that he would keep telling her he would make a good life partner. “I found it too annoying and dismissed it.”
Like Senthil, Sreeja was also not very keen initially to do the serial as she had been shooting back to back. “I like to space out my work. It was supposed to be a 50-episode serial, so I agreed. And then there was literally no looking back. Months became years…And when it finally ended, we wrapped up and went our ways.”
Back home, their respective families began discussing marriage. “When I kept rejecting every proposal, my family came up with the idea of getting me married to Sreeja. I too realised that it would be the best thing for me since I knew her well as a person and as an artiste,” says Senthil, whose sister then went to meet Sreeja’s family.
As for her family, they were only too happy that she finally found a man with a moustache. “I had told them clearly ‘no moustache, no marriage’,” she says impishly as Senthil draws her close to strike yet another pose.
