Journey of Sasikumar

Not many have the talent to become an all rounder. One should inherit the right mixture of talent, ambition, confidence and determination to bring a change, to do something unique. One should know the art of gliding smoothly from one destination to another; and at the same time maintain one’s cool and simplicity. One such persona is Sasikumar, whose journey from a producer, director, distributor, exhibitor to actor, reflected his fine transcendental qualities.

His recent film, ‘Naadodigal’, proved that a hero need not necessarily have a stunning or Greek god face and a hero can be born as simple guy-next-door, in tune with down-to-earth features. And thus, Sasikumar went on to establish himself in the minds of the people with his impressive acting skills. He created a niche for himself in the film industry by producing movies at a low cost and with fresh faces. According to him, “Tamil cinema is a melting pot and our audiences are always looking for change. I’ve just been experimenting with the content, cast, presentation, publicity and marketing to evolve new ideas.” Sasikumar takes it as a responsibility to showcase something good and innovative through his movies and at the same time he feels scared, as he believes to create a good impression in the film industry.

His first movie, ‘Subramaniampuram’, as a debut director reflected his choice of actors, who were visibly simple, rustic and models of common people. ‘Pasanga’, his second attempt as a producer, also repeated the same essence of being realistic, and gave the main stage to children to carry the whole story. This is another example of low budget movie from his production house and bringing Pandiraj for the first time as a director. And now, ‘Naadodigal’, went on to capture the audience and set a trailblazing impression. Sasikumar, through all his three movies, tried to portray that reality holds the crux of a movie’s success. Real people inspire reel life. Movies are meant to relate oneself to the storyline and that pulls the strings of sensitivity of the masses. He says, “The characters in my films are ordinary people that you will meet in your daily lives. I also feel that casting new actors in a film enriches it.” According to him, a story need not necessarily depend on the hero itself. Equal importance should be given to all the other characters in the movie. Other characters, besides the hero, too can take a story ahead.

Having tasted the success as an actor, one might feel Sasikumar will face the camera more often, now on. But it is not so, for the director in him pulls him back, behind the camera. He has already made plans for his next directorial release with fresh talents in terms of casts. It is also said that for a change he will be shooting the movie here in Chennai altogether with a new genre.