IT’s three in the afternoon, and Chennai’s blazing sun is out. We park outside a nondescript independent house in Valasaravakkam, home to many people from the film industry. Inside, there’s a frisson of excitement in Vijay Sethupathi’s sparsely-done up office where a photo of the late director SP Jananathan looms large on a wall and another is filled with framed posters of his films. The Maharaja star suddenly walks in. There’s a quick hello to the band of boys waiting for him, before he calls for some hot water and lemon. “You need half-an-hour, ma? Will I have anything to speak (about) for so long?” he asks, before we walk into a tidy office space where the wall is choc-a-block with art.
Once the conversation begins, Vijay takes his time to ponder before replying. He makes himself some hot lemon water using very precise movements, almost like the musical metre he uses for dialogue delivery.
That famed rhythm of his, well known to his loyal Tamil base, was very evident to Hindi audiences in Sriram Raghavan’s delightful Merry Christmas, co-starring Katrina Kaif. There is a certain softness, tenderness and vulnerability to his Albert Arogyasamy despite his character hovering around the hues of grey. And Vijay brought to the table a certain delectable casualness. This, the much-feted actor, fondly called Makkal Selvan in his home state of Tamil Nadu, says is because of the off-screen camaraderie among the team that made the film.
“I spent about 30-35 days before the shoot with Sriram Raghavan. We interacted, discussed, spent quality time, spent time not really doing anything useful — I call this ‘stupid’ time. All this is needed to understand the person who is going to direct you. So that, when you go to the set, it becomes easier to improvise, he understands you better, you understand his thought process and his visualisation better. There are 10-15 layers between an actor and director and this time helps you cross them easily and reach the other side.”
This vetti time (loosely translated from Tamil as jobless, free time) as Vijay calls it, helps. “In the eight hours we spent together a day, we might have worked for an hour, spoken about random things for some hours, listened to songs, discussed movies, or just sat in silence. That is needed to understand a person. And once that happens, the rest flows. And you don’t have to be conscious around the other. The performance just happens.”
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