Readers Write In #799: Ramesh Thilak, Yogi Babu, and the Power of the “Side Character” in Contemporary Tamil Cinema

By Aditi Subramaniam

As I write this, I am sitting in a Mexican restaurant waiting for my lunch to arrive. I must be hungry, because it’s 3 pm and I haven’t eaten anything since an early breakfast, but even the nachos and salsa in front of me, which would have ordinarily been gobbled up as soon as they arrived, remain hardly touched. Instead, I’m on my phone, typing out this article because I just finished watching Tourist Family, and it has seized every functioning corner of my brain, including the lateral hypothalamus (the tiny part responsible for hunger, which is clearly on a break right now).

I know this Tourist Family hangover is going to last a while. WHAT. A. MOVIE. I feel slightly guilty that I’m having to rely on a three word capitalized phrase to encapsulate what the movie made me feel, but oh well. Words fail me, I guess. Or maybe I’m just hungry, and my enchiladas just arrived. I’m going to say the latter is the case, and continue writing after I get back home. Maybe my satiated self will be able to muster up prose worth writing about.

Alright, I’m on the bus back home now, belly full and mind still reeling, but not necessarily from any of the characters from Tourist Family. Nope. I’m thinking about Karunakaran’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo as the bus conductor in Meiyazhagan – a performance that had me grinning like a fool. Because that’s the secret superpower of the so-called “side characters” – they sneak up on you, lodge themselves in your heart, and steal the show when you least expect it.

Speaking of wide smiles, I’m now trying to pinpoint my biggest grin during Tourist Family. Was it when Ramesh Thilak popped up as a policeman with his heart in the right place? (Side note: Is there a more fitting role for Thilak? I think not. But then again, the man can slip into just about any role like he was born for it, so maybe this is a moot point.) Or was it when Yogi Babu was revealed as Simran’s brother, emerging from beneath a tarp like a particularly startled bear? Or perhaps it was the simmering intensity of M.S. Bhaskar, berating his cook for serving Dharmadas and his brother-in-law tea in a disposable cup – a quiet but cutting reminder of the unspoken hierarchies that still haunt our everyday lives.

And what of those actors you’ve never seen before, but whose performance (in a role however “small”), makes you go back home and google them in a feverish hurry? Mithun Jai Shankar and Yogalakshmi – playing the older son and Kural, his downstairs neighbor – left such a mark on my heart that they’ve officially won my award for “Most Impactful Romance in the Fewest Scenes.” The enakkaga kadal thaandi vandhe scene, the intensity of which seemed to take them both by surprise, still gets me misty-eyed just thinking about it.

Of course, this movie had its share of scenes that made me tear up, and how. I was grateful to be watching it in an almost empty theater on a Monday morning, free to ugly-cry like no one was watching (because, blessedly, no one was).

And now, I’m back home, tapping away at my laptop keyboard, thinking about the sister-in-law character in Meiyazhagan, played by Swathi – yet another actor I found myself frantically Googling as soon as the credits rolled. If actors were measured by the sheer impact of their performances rather than the number of lines they deliver (as they should be), Swathi would undoubtedly earn a top spot.

The same goes for Devadarshini Chetan, who deserves an award for practically every role she’s ever taken on – the kind of actor who doesn’t just step into a scene, but owns it, leaving an impression that lingers long after the screen fades to black. Together, they’re perfect examples of performers who don’t need the spotlight to shine.

And here’s a thought – is it just me, or does watching some of these actors on screen together, occupying the same cinematic universe, feel a bit like coming home? There’s something comforting about seeing Ramesh Thilak, Bucks (of Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kanom fame), Karunakaran, Bobby Simha, Devadarshini, Swathi, Yogalakshmi, Bala Saravanan, and of course, Vijay Sethupathi (who, despite his leading-man status, will always have “side character” energy in my heart) sharing the same frame in some combination or other. It’s like a warm hug from an old friend – chaotic, comforting, and a little bit unexpected.

And if Vijay Sethupathi ever reads this, I hope he knows I mean this as the highest compliment. Because if it were up to me, we’d all aspire to have “side character energy” – to make the most of the time we’re given, to steal the spotlight without ever seeking it, and to leave a mark so deep, the audience can’t help but Google us in a feverish hurry.

And if you ever need a reminder of why side characters are the real stars, just rewatch Tourist Family. I promise you’ll find your people.