A scruffy looking man with a matted beard and tangled hair was sitting on a park bench just as dusk was falling in Chennai. Soon he found himself surrounded by law enforcers who asked for the man’s ID card. He gave it to them with a bemused expression on his face. Some murmuring amongst the law enforcers later, they asked the man to accompany them to the police station. It was then that realisation dawned on the man. He explained that he was an actor — Sundar Raj, who was playing a role in the Tamil film Thorati. The policemen refused to believe him till Sundar put them across to his director R. Marimuthu who corroborated the facts. With a shake of their heads, the police let him off.
Days later, the same episode happened, when Sundar, a Malayali, was shooting for the film in Madurai. This time the men in khaki came knocking at the door of his lodge citing reports of a suspicious looking man. Again Sundar went through the same routine and he was let off. By this time many would be wondering about Sundar’s constant run-in with the law. Turns out the policemen had a valid reason for singling him out.
“The film is set in the 1980s and is based on the lives of the nomadic goatherds who graze their large number of goats across villages. I play the role of Santiti— a speech impaired villain who ekes a living by killing and intimidating people and is prone to violent outbursts in Thorati. I was actually training to be in character for a year by growing my beard and hair. Since I play a speech impaired, I met with many such people to learn their mannerisms and body language, even living amongst them. Somewhere my appearance changed drastically, mimicking the character I played. Hence my scruffy appearance and my tangle with the law,” he explains. Physical appearance is a fundamental factor in tinsel town and Sundar has definitely aced his look to perfection. He adds, “The director had a definite vision in mind and did not want to compromise on the perfection at any cost, hence the long training period!”
Incidentally Thorati means a sickle tied to the end of a long stick to help in plucking leaves for the goats and also to defend against animal attacks. The film had its preview recently and Sundar found good words pouring in for the film from actor/ directors Bhagyaraj and Pandiraj.
Sundar had started in Malayalam, with a small role in Vinodayathra. Films have been a life-long passion for him and he says, “I have worked as an assistant behind the camera and interacted with music directors and scriptwriters. Hence I learnt a little bit of everything from everybody.” He accompanied a friend to a studio in Chennai which is when the makers of Thorati spotted him and offered him the role after a screen test.
Sundar has a Malayalam film in hand where he plays a villain yet again — not that he is complaining, “I do not want to play a villain who just receives blows from the hero but want to play a powerful antagonist who stands equal to the hero.” He ends by saying, “In Thorati I do that.”
