Over the years, Pasupathy has come up with stellar performance after performance, breathing life into characters, ensuring the audience is invested in their journey. Be it the Tamil liberation fighter of Kannathil Muthamittal or Kothalathdevar of Virumaandi or Murugesan of Veyyil or Nedumaaran of Raman Thediya Seethai.
But, commercial or mass success has always eluded Pasupathy. He was always the classy actor that people who loved cult classics admired and respected. But, Pa Ranjith’s Sarpatta Parambarai has changed that, and how! Suddenly, lists of ‘Top 10 Pasupathy performances’ and ‘10 films starring Pasupathy one must not miss’ are being drawn up.
But Pasupathy, as always, is unaffected by praise. He’s always believed it comes in the way of perfection. “You have to explore, become a master someday. If you allow yourself to think that you’ve done a great job, you will stagnate,” he told this reporter seven years ago. He still maintains that position. “That will never change… maarave maaradhu. I only attempt to do my best. I don’t want to develop an opinion as there can only be one director on the sets,” says Pasupathy.
Even though Sarpatta has received amazing reviews, and its cast, especially Pasupathy as Rangan Vaadhiyar has come in for much praise, the actor stops with saying he’s happy and satisfied with his work. “I still think I could have done some scenes better. But I won’t call this the peak of my happiness. Then, there’s only stagnation. Yes, the fear has increased. I have to do better.”
While Pasupathy has always approached life differently, living in the moment while working in an industry that thrives on the ephemeral and fleeting, moving to life by the countryside has brought about a massive change in him, the actor says. “I walk, I cycle. I watch birds and insects. There’s some work or the other on a farm,” says the actor who shifted to Periyapalayam in Thiruvallur district, about a 90-minute drive from Tamil Nadu’s state capital and the Tamil film industry’s heart of Chennai, about seven years ago.
It began with a desire to eat organic food, and then the search began for farm land. Pasupathy’s wife Surya, an architect, wanted to build an eco-friendly Laurie Baker-style home for the family on the farm. “It was just land with two palm trees and fenced by some trees on one corner. We worked on the soil, planted local native saplings such as mango, fig and Thaandrikkai (Terminalia Belerica), and in less than a decade, we have a mini forest that supports so many birds. You can’t see my home now. We never wanted to go back to the city to live,” says Pasupathy.
This space, where he harvests vegetables and greens — the day of this interview, he’s panting when he picks up the phone at 6 in the evening after a hard day of work at the farm — has also nourished him as a person and performer, says Pasupathy. “I get time to spend with myself. I introspect. This time with oneself, where you think of nothing and be amid everything, is important for a performer. It consumes you and allows you to mould yourself,” he says.
At the farm, Pasupathy is a hands-on father, teaching his daughter Silambam, among other things. A recent fascination is history, and besides reading and watching movies, he loves cycling through village roads, taking paths into the countryside and soaking in that experience. “Though I was raised in Chennai, my roots hark back to Thirumangalakottai in Thanjavur. My extended family is there, my sondhangal. That is my happy space,” says Pasupathy.
In a way, it almost appears that Pasupathy’s electrifying screen presence can be traced back to his years of training, yes, but also the complete non-filmi life he leads — it has nothing to do with his screen avatar. And, this seems to be the space that nourishes him and sets him free to do his thing, unmindful of any pressure.
As if proving that, Pasupathy speaks as earnestly about harvesting and cooking vendaikkai (lady’s finger) in a time of 10 minutes as he does about a role he’s played. He speaks of vegetable oils and vegetables, of fruit bearing trees and how they attract birds. He often spots the Golden oriole, barbet, the white and red-bellied paradise flycatcher, and recently sighted the Malkoha...
“This space inspires me to be positive. To live within myself. In the city, we seem to be searching for something. Here, I am able to seek peace in many things. There’s no pollution of the body or mind. That helps. It engages me and prevents me from rushing to do ‘100 or 200 films in so many years’. It teaches me to love life and live it with pleasantness,” says Pasupathy.
Even as a person, Pasupathy’s attitude has always been to accept what he gets and make the best of it. But, there’s a lot of dedication involved, and this dedication is worth an entire lifetime. Which is why shortcuts irk the actor. He speaks of craft and creativity, where craft is the bar that assures a certain standard and creativity is the pole that helps you raise the bar higher. And, this when the performer is the only one who knows what he is aiming for.
In a recent masterclass, the actor showed what a good teacher he could be too, how generous he could be with his craft. “But, there’s a complexity. During my time in Koothu-p-Pattarai, they would not exactly teach us theory or practice. They would just teach, and we would learn without questioning. We surrendered ourselves and allowed ourselves to learn without inhibitions. Once things went in, were absorbed, the questions would begin. Only then would questions begin. When you ask those questions, you begin understanding the theory. It was a gurukulam and that’s how we learnt. We studied from five in the morning to midnight, slept and began work again. When I began teaching in schools, I trained myself to teach. But, after a time, this process of teaching in capsules, of expecting everything in capsule form disturbed me. I don’t subscribe to that school of thought. If you want to learn something professionally, you have to devote that time. But, if you want to turn something that defies time into a capsule, then you’re destroying its form, killing the process. How will you learn? I have a very problem with the mindset that you can learn the craft in three months. And so, I’ve stopped teaching. You need to devote time to learning, it’s like a penance, you should sit, set your mind, get into that character, live that role a 100 percent,” he says.
Pasupathy has always laid stress on the role of the director, about how he or she is the person who knows the way the story and film move ahead. And to ensure his performance is what he wants, Pasupathy follows a couple of ground rules. “The director has to just tell me the design, what this character is supposed to do, the mood. Then, there’s the script reading. Not the narration, but the reading. I then see the shades a director is looking at, the meter expected. You are a trained actor, and you start working on what magic you can work within this meter,” says the actor.
He continues: “I then see what is the plus and minus I bring. This is my figure, my body. And, using this body, my mind has to showcase a character. As the director gives inputs, an actor keeps chiselling within, and what you see is the end result of that work.”
Pasupathy also dislikes too many takes. “I am game for many, many rehearsals, but I think there should just be a take or two. That keeps things fluid and alive. If not, it becomes predictable.”
Even before Sarpatta on Amazon Prime, Pasupathy worked in November Story for Disney+Hotstar. “I think OTT has broken quite a few barriers, and helped creations reach more people the world over. Germans are discussing Sarpatta. For performers, OTT will open up a wealth of opportunity. And, it’s good this is happening at a time when Tamil creators have started making films for a global audience. They don’t restrict themselves to the audience within the state.”
What kept Pasupathy going over the years when everyone kept waiting for him to land better offers? “I waited patiently. The search was there even after 15 years of entering the industry. Waiting is not boring. If that were the case, I would have left the industry. There’s no rush. You cannot compromise on a role. Sometimes, friends come to me with a role. I always tell them that I cannot make compromises for a medium I love and a profession that’s a passion. I can help in any other way, but not in this.”
And then, Pasupathy is off to his rural retreat, the space where more characters like Rangan Vaadhiyars are chiselled and perfected before they light up the screen.