It has been around four decades since he started off as an actor and throughout his career, he chose versatile roles in order to avoid being stereotyped. And now, Mollywood’s own Vijayaraghavan is all set to don the greasepaint for his second film in Kollywood.
The actor, who made his Tamil debut as the antagonist in Fazil’s Arangetra Velai 26 years ago, will play a prominent role in Ilayathalapathy Vijay’s next film directed by Azhagiya Tamil Magan fame Bharathan.
“I got the call just a few months ago. My friend M.A. Venu, who has directed Narain-starrer Panthayakozhi, was the one who suggested my name to the Kollywood associate director who was looking for a Malayalam actor for an important role in the film,” he says.
Quizzed about his role, Vijayaraghavan says, “I cannot talk much about my role without their permission. I act as a Malayali, the father of Kohinoor fame Aparna Vinod’s character. I have already completed one schedule of the shooting in Chennai. The following portions will be filmed within two months and I guess, the shooting will take place in Andhra Pradesh.”
Vijayaraghavan points out that Tamil technicians are keenly following Malayalam projects. “They are well aware of our films and actors and can easily find out apt actors from Malayalam.”
Asked why there was such a huge gap between his two Tamil projects, Vijayaraghavan says, “I have rejected many offers from Tamil because I did not feel those were good projects. Now I have got a call from a star project, which is being produced by a big banner in that industry.”
However, he is still fluent in Tamil. “I don’t feel any trouble while speaking Tamil though it is not my mother tongue. I know many people who speak Tamil and my conversation with them helps me polish my Tamil,” says the actor, who is currently acting in Prithviraj-starrer Ezra as a church priest. The actor says that this role is completely opposite to his well-praised Kaliyarachan in Suresh Gopi-starrer Crime File. “My character has much importance in the story line,” he adds. The actor also plays the role of Kavya Madhavan’s uncle in Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s film Pinneyum.
