Simplicity is Sethupathi's mantra

The scenes at the Innovative Film City in Bengaluru were testimony to actor Vijay Sethupathi’s reputation as a pan-India star. An event on Monday marked the unveiling of MasterChef Tamil, a weekly show on Sun TV he is going to helm.

Even as the crowd swelled, Sethupathi was patience personified. He posed for photographs, planted kisses on the cheeks of close friends, and spoke to 50-plus reporters.

The actor is set to complete a remarkably successful decade of dominance since his first hit 'Pizza' (2012). Is Sethupathi aware of how big he is? “That’s none of my business,” he tells Showtime, with a smile.

In a season dominated by Malayalam actor Fahadh Faasil, it is important to remember that Sethupathi was the first in the last decade to script a career hailed for its expansive diversity in Tamil cinema.

“You cannot plan stardom. I just love my profession and do my work diligently. The rest will take care of itself,” he says.

Sethupathi was showered with accolades from across the country for films such as ‘Pizza’ (2012), ‘Vikram Vedha’ (2017), ‘96’ (2018), and ‘Super Deluxe’ (2019).

“If I walk into the sets thinking I am a star, then I can’t do justice to my roles. I have to be with my character throughout the film. I have to interact and take inputs from the people who created the character,” he says.

This is how he pulled off the difficult role of Shilpa in ‘Super Deluxe’. It is arguably one of the defining roles of his cinematic journey. “I worked hard to understand the soul of the character. I realised what it was to be a transgender person. That’s what you saw on screen,” he explains.

What sets him apart from his contemporaries is his consistent success with unusual roles. If he played characters beyond his age in ‘Orange Mittai’ (2015) and ‘Seethakathi’ (2018), Sethupathi was terrific in the complex role of a dejected lover in ‘96’. "In these films, I constructed the life experiences of the characters in my mind and then performed them," he offers.

In several quirky dramas like ‘Soodhu Kavvum’ (2013), ‘Naanum Rowdy Dhaan’ (2015), and ‘Kadhalum Kadanthu Pogum’ (2016), his humour wins. The acting appeared extremely simple. “That’s the trick. In some films, you just need to be yourself. I love being simple and that’s why maybe you felt I was effortless,” he says.

If he trusts his instincts while working with a newcomer, Sethupathi is never afraid to play the antagonist in films with senior marquee stars like Madhavan (‘Vikram Vedha’), Rajinikanth (‘Petta’), and Vijay (‘Master’). “My focus was always on the script and I was unaffected by the hype,” he says.

In recent times, Sethupathi hasn’t struck gold with all his projects. Films like ‘Karuppan’, ‘Oru Nalla Naal Pathu Solren’, ‘Junga’, ‘Sindhubaadh’, and ‘Sangathamizhan’ have been duds at the box office. Despite this, he isn’t shrinking into the background because of the sheer volume of films he takes up. “I reflect on my flops. I agree that my calculations can go wrong. Some projects fail due to politics, which I can’t reveal in public,” he says.

Sethupathi says hosting MasterChef Tamil is yet another way of being accessible to people. “People easily connect with food. It’s an emotion for all of us,” he says.

He has signed Lokesh Kanagaraj’s ‘Vikram’, which also has Kamal Haasan and Fahadh, promising a big start to the decade. He is awaiting his maiden Hindi web series ‘Mumbaikar’. Does he have specific goals to maintain his consistency? “Nothing,” he says with a wider grin. He further offers a trademark philosophical remark. “I was a nobody 15 years ago. Everything happened because of the art form. So I will just continue to love and respect it,” he signs off.