In the last decade, between 2009 and 2019, Tamil cinema’s most loved comedian Vadivelu appeared in about 21 films, the last one being Vijay’s Mersal in 2017. Contrast this number with 2005 when he did 24 films in one year! This was the year when he played Murugesan in Rajinikanth’s Chandramukhi, Ayyasamy in Vijay’s Sachein, 'Theeppori' Thirumugam in Sathyaraj’s Englishkaran, Karasingam in Sarath Kumar’s Ayya, Vedimuthu in Prasanth’s London, Pulipandi in Vikram’s Majaa and Sumo in Suriya’s Aaru, to name a few.
Therefore, it is fair to say that the absence of Vadivelu from the Tamil film comedy scene is sharply felt by fans. The recent #PrayForNesamani viral trend was a reminder of just how magical and enjoyable it is to watch the star on screen. But things seem to be picking up with the actor who will soon be joining Kamal Haasan’s Thalaivan Irukkindraan. This news was confirmed during the 'Ungal Naan' event that was held in the city on Sunday.
Thalaivan Irukkindraan is among Kamal’s long-delayed projects. It was first announced over a decade ago in 2008. Pre-production works continued throughout late 2008, with actors such as Rishi Kapoor, Mohanlal and Venkatesh approached for leading roles. But, the project was put on hold citing financial issues.
It was later revived in 2015, and the makers announced that the film will be made in Hindi as well and will be titled Amar Hain. While Kamal will play the antagonist, Saif Ali Khan was supposed to play the main lead in the Hindi version. Kamal was supposed to return to Bollywood with this project after 18 years, and he had planned to write and direct the film himself.
In July this year, Kamal revived this project for the second time, tweeting that AR Rahman was now on board the film.
On Sunday, during Kamal Haasan’s 'Ungal Naan', a grand event organised to celebrate his 60 years in cinema, Vadivelu’s entry was one among the best surprises of the evening. The 10 minutes that he was onstage was a laugh riot for the audience.
Vadivelu shared his earliest memories of working with Kamal, having made his first appearance alongside the actor in Singaravelan in the year 1992. Vadivelu was just five films old at that time.
Vadivelu’s role in the film remains memorable, sporting as he did a funky wig and a nose ring. His delivery of “Wow”, “Karvad” and “Satta mela evlo button” are fan favourites.
Vadivelu, who was already starstruck with Kamal while working on this film, was overjoyed to be offered a chance to work in his next - Thevar Magan. “He had asked me to go to his Raaj Kamal office in the morning and collect an advance cheque for working in his next. How can I wait until then? I went there that evening. I told them that the day had already dawned for me,” he said, adding, “I think the day has dawned once again. There’s no looking back.”
This advance amount of Rs 5000 would be for his Esaki role in the Kamal-Sivaji Ganesan film. Speaking about working with two giants, Vadivelu shared an anecdote from the sets of Thevar Magan that had the audience in splits.
Since quoting Vadivelu in English would be a gross injustice to his comedy, we will summarise the memory he shared on stage: The scene is that of Periya Thevar’s (Sivaji) death, when Sakthivel (Kamal) comes running from one room in slow motion and is then shown wailing over his father’s body. When this scene was first shot, Kamal had apparently told Vadivelu to cry as best as he can.
Vadivelu shares that he had an unspoken ‘who-would-mourn-the-best’ competition with co star Esakki Muthu, wherein the two would bellow and lament just to outdo each other.
Eventually annoyed, Sivaji, who had to lie still for that shot, got up and rebuked the two. He then made the two stuff their mouths with cloth - towel for Vadivelu and veshti for Essaki Muthu - so that they would not steal Kamal and Shivaji’s thunder from the scene. “Kamal is my son, the two of you are acting as if you are my twin sons,” he had reportedly said.
But, Vadivelu told the audience, he was quite surprised while watching the film in theatres, to find that the two of them had been entirely cut out from the shot. “Apparently, he (Sivaji) had told PC sir (PC Sriram was the cinematographer) to cut us out from the scene,” said Vadivelu, evoking laughter from the crowd.
Vadivelu, who briefly addressed his absence from cinema, said, “Even for someone like me, they had landmines, Kamal may have had missiles aimed at him.” This was a clear reference to his brief but unpleasant political stint in 2011. He also said Kamal’s entry into politics was a “compulsion of time” and stayed away from commenting further on it.