| Santhana Bharathi | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Director, Actor |
| Years active | 1986- present |
Santhana Bharathi is a popular Tamil language film celebrity in Kollywood, the Tamil film industry in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. He has directed several films such as Guna and the National Film Award winner, Mahanadhi. He acts and has played supporting roles in films such as Dasavatharam, and Varalaru.[1]
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Santhana Bharathi started his film career as a director and then switched to acting. He is now a full time actor. Both as director and actor he made a mark for himself.
Basically I come from a movie background. My father, M.R. Santhanam, had acted in the Boys Company. He later became a producer, and made some of Sivaji Ganesan's best films. In fact, he was called the `shadow of Sivaji' as they were seen together often. One of the popular films he produced was `Pasamalar' in which Sivaji Ganesan and Savithri acted. He later produced `Annai Illam', `Paaladai' and `Anbalippu'.
Kavignar Kannadasan's son, Radha Ravi, Junior Balayya...all these people were either my classmates in school or college. After my father's sudden demise, I thought why not get into movies, where I know people. I met Kavignar Kannadasan; he introduced me to Director Sridhar. That's how I got into this field. Also, when I was young, wherever I went, they used to say, this is Mr Santhanam's son. That really inspired me. I wanted to be known like that in future. I wanted people to know who I am. I did not want to be just one among the crowd.
I remember my first day of shooting for `Panneer Pushpangal' in Ootacamund. The lead pair was Suresh and Santhi Krishna. The film was a hit, and it gave me and director P. Vasu a good name.
I entered the industry with the intention of becoming a director. I started out as an assistant director to Sridhar with the recommendation of Kannadasan, and worked first in the film `O Manju'. Then, when director Sridhar was doing `Meenava Nanban', P. Vasu joined our unit.
We became good friends. We used to be seen together all the time. So, when we got an opportunity to direct `Panner Pushpangal' we did it together. That was the first time we saw our name together on the screen as Bharathi Vasu. Today we are good friends and meet as often as possible.
`En Uyir Kannamma' was my first film as an actor under director-actor Siva Chandran. I told him that I am not good at delivering dialogues. But, he compelled me to act. Then, in `Michael Madana Kama Rajan' I recited more dialogues. I remember having a lot of apprehensions about it. Both actor Kamal Haasan and the director, Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, put me at ease. In fact, Kamal Haasan helped me perform to the satisfaction of the director. But, today I can deliver long dialogues without any problems.
Along with P. Vasu I directed five films, and on my own I did eight films. I have acted in about 70 films. As far as I am concerned, no role is big or small...
When it comes to direction, my bests are `Panneer Pushpangal', `Guna', `Mahanadhi', and `Chinna Mappilai'. People often associate me with the film `Karagaatakaran'. As for acting, I like `Michael Madana Kama Rajan'. Another favourite is `Anbe Sivam'. The latest is `Varalaru', directed by K.S. Ravi Kumar. I have also acted in half-a-dozen serials.
I am happy for two things. I was the person who introduced Sathyaraj as a hero in `Kadamai Kanniyam Kattuppadu'. I received the best regional film award from the Central Government for `Mahanadhi'.[2]
If I have to talk about Kamal Haasan, I would say he's an encyclopaedia. He's a self-made person. I have known him from my school days, in fact I have seen the way he has grown, from the time he first came into films. He would take the initiative to learn on his own by reading a lot of books, talking to people and by watching movies. If he speaks about something it wouldn't be out of the hat, his arguments are supported by a lot of reading and learning. Even though he did not have much of a formal education, his knowledge is immmense.
When it comes to movies, he gets totally involved with his character. Whether he has to put on weight, shed weight, go bald, grow a beard or change his complexion he would do it. For Guna, he dieted and lost a lot of weight and throughout the movie we see a darker version of him. For the last scene in Guna where we show him falling down a steep slope, we could have used a rubber dummy, but he insisted that the dummy should look exactly like himself and we moulded a dummy...we went about moulding the dummy part by part, first the hand, then the head, then the neck and so on. For that, he had to sit through for very long hours. You need a lot of patience for all that. He's very helpful and cooperative when it comes to that. That's why Indian was such a great success. Once you put on the make-up, you can't even eat till it's taken off. He wouldn't mind all that, because of the total involvement that he has.
Lots of people ask me...how come he fights with all other directors but not with you. Well the thing is, any product is a result of teamwork. If somebody gives a good suggestion, there is nothing wrong in taking it. Actors like Kamal Haasan will surely bring their inputs to the character and the movie. For them the movie is more important than anything else. You have to take it as teamwork rather than personally, otherwise nothing will get done.[3]