SJ Suryah says he had to mellow his ‘exaggerated’ acting style for his OTT debut Vadhandhi: ‘I had to shed that style’

Actor SJ Suryah, who made his OTT debut with Prime Video’s Tamil web series Vadhandhi recently, delivered one of his career-best performances on the show. He feels the show, which is centered on the hunt for a killer of a young girl, allowed him to get out of his comfort zone and also challenged him to bring out his best. Also read: Vadhandhi review: SJ Suryah-starrer is a riveting small-town investigative thriller

Created and directed by Andrew Louis, Vadhandhi The Fable of Velonie is a riveting show that rarely dips in tension and makes excellent use of the milieu it is set in. It’s a show that feels exhaustive in terms of pacing, but it’s worth the time invested as the pay-off is truly rewarding. On the show, Suryah plays Sub Inspector Vivek, who’s handed over the case of the mysterious killing of a 17-year-old Anglo-Indian girl, Velonie.

After working in Tamil film industry for close to two decades, Suryah finally jumped on the OTT bandwagon with Vadhandhi, and he said it was a highly satisfying experience.

“When you’re working in a film, you’re expected to perform and act a certain way because audiences are used to the style. In my performances in movies, there’s a small element of exaggeration which audiences have enjoyed. But I had to shed that style when I was shooting for Vadhandhi. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience,” Suryah told Hindustan Times.

He added that Andrew was very particular that audiences find his performance very refreshing. “Even when I’d unknowingly perform a scene with little exaggeration, Andrew would stop me and ask me to mellow down. The process really challenged and it pushed me out of my comfort zone,” he said.

Suryah is one of the biggest stars from Tamil cinema to work on a show for OTT platform. Unlike Bollywood, the top stars from Tamil filmdom are still reluctant to take up OTT opportunities. But Suryah feels it’s just a matter of time that it changes. “When I do a movie, it is watched by audiences in just a few countries. When it comes to OTT, the content is consumed by audiences in over 200 countries. Just imagine the kind of viewership your work gets on this platform. When actors realise the wide reach of their work on these platforms, they’ll automatically come forward to sign projects,” he explained.

Suryah will next be seen in Vijay’s Varisu as well Ram Charan’s next with filmmaker Shankar.