Udhayanidhi Stalin on ‘Kalaga Thalaivan’: I felt bad missing out on Magizh Thirumeni’s ‘Thadam’

“Shouldn’t you remove the last two years?,” laughs Udhayanidhi Stalin when we remind him of completing 10 years in the industry as an actor this year. He has always been a director’s actor and that hasn’t changed, he says. “Initially, I was acting in rom-coms; of late, I want to explore other genres. Every film teaches you something and it’s been a learning curve,” says Udhayanidhi, as he settles down for an interview with director Magizh Thirumeni, ahead of their Kalaga Thalaivan which releases on November 18.

The success of his debut film Oru Kal Oru Kannadi ( OKOK), a rom-com directed by M Rajesh,  put Udhayanidhi in a tight spot. As someone who has always maintained that he was an ‘accidental actor’, the actor thought this was what audiences wanted from him; that it was his comfort zone. A string of rom-coms followed but none could replicate the success of OKOK, “I was acting in films that followed a pattern: Santhanam as my friend, a heroine with whom I would have two foreign-location songs, and a dappankuthu song in the second half. I thought this was working until Manithan happened.”

Manithan, a remake of the Bollywood courtroom dramaJolly LLB, was the first film for which he was unanimously appreciated for his performance. “We [along with director I Ahmed] were supposed to work on a rom-com titled Idhayam Murali. But it didn’t happen and all credit goes to Ahmed, he brought out the ‘actor’ in me.”

The film’s critical acclaim gave Udhayanidhi the much-needed confidence as an actor. From then on, he started looking at scripts that had substance for him. “What’s there for me? I started asking this question.”

Among the scripts that had meat for Udhayanidhi was director Magizh Thirumeni’s Thadam, which eventually went to Arun Vijay and became a smash hit. Udhayanidhi says he was trying to get Thadam made. “I sent Thadam’s script and another one to a producer. He didn’t back Magizh’s film. Later when I watched Thadam, I felt bad missing out on a wonderful opportunity. It’s not everyday you get a dual role subject,” he adds.

Udhayanidhi deems Magizh’s quality to write gripping screenplays as his strength. “He [Magizh] was able to translate what he told me during the narration, on screen.” The actor, often known for his soft-spoken nature during film interviews, and playing relatable characters on screen, had to face a challenge while doing action scenes in Kalaga Thalaivan. Udhayanidhi was pitted against Aarav, whom he says looks like a “mountain” in front of him. “I had to fight him out and I would constantly tell the director, ‘Magizh, I hope the audience won’t laugh at this’,” he laughs, adding, “But it’s a film about brain and brawn.” 

Udhayanidhi Stalin with Magizh Thirumeni on the set of ‘Kalaga Thalaivan’
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Is the politician conscious of the way he projects himself on screen nowadays? “No,” he says. “I’m only conscious about the directors I work with, the kind of stories I do. There are no double-meaning dialogues in my films, no space for vulgarity or item songs. I want to watch my films with my family. These are some of the things I have been conscious of in the last three-four years.”

There are no big plans for the actor-politician in the next 10 years. Udhayanidhi hinted at bidding goodbye to cinema, given the additional responsibility he now bears as an MLA of Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituency. He thought Maamannan, his upcoming film with Mari Selvaraj, was going to be his farewell until he got a call from Kamal Haasan.

“Kamal sir told me about a script and I said, ‘Super sir, I’ll produce it.’ And then he said he wanted me to play the lead and he would produce it. It was a script I couldn’t say no to.”