Navarasa actors Parvathy Thiruvothu, Gautham Menon, Siddharth weigh in on their complex characters in Netflix Tamil anthology

Netflix’s much-awaited Tamil anthology series Navarasa has been the biggest talking point among all OTT releases from the Tamil film industry in this quarter of the year. The nine-part anthology which is based on the nine different rasas (emotions) drops onto the platform today, with an ensemble set of actors and directors coming together for the mega project, which is jointly presented by auteur Mani Ratnam and Jayendra. Firstpost talks to five of the actors involved in the series, delving deeper into the process and the relationships brought together by this association. Ace filmmaker Gautham Menon has carried out roles of both actor and director in two different films in the anthology, namely Peace by Karthik Subbaraj and Guitar Kambi Mele Nindru - a musical film which he has directed, starring Suriya and Prayaga Martin in the lead roles. Speaking about the latter, Menon said, “Right after I wrote the script, I felt that Suriya would be a perfect fit for the role. Prayaga brought a special essence that felt very right to me, and hence, I had both of my leads in hand. This is a film that largely takes place over a single evening, so the series of events have been set up in such a way. I wanted to carry it out as a musical with a lot of songs, and I think I have got what I wished for. Mani sir watched the film after it was done, and gave me highly positive feedback about it.” [caption id=“attachment_9867711” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Suriya in a still from Navarasa[/caption] On the other hand, Gautham Menon has shared screen space with Bobby Simhaa in Karthik Subbaraj’s segment and said, “I like Karthik’s work, so I didn’t think twice when he asked me. It is an interesting film, which required me to speak in a special kind of Tamil during the dubbing.” Rathindran Prasad’s Inmai is arguably one of the most interesting films of the lot, with the film bringing together the talented combination of Siddharth and Parvathy. Siddharth, who has also produced the film which is based on the emotion of fear, says, “If you would ask me, Inmai means ‘without’. We used it here because we felt it had that extra layer of not being a complete word, and that adds some mystery to our story. As a producer, I wanted to make films that I want to watch. When people from India fly abroad, they should have films about themselves that people abroad have seen. It makes a difference.” [caption id=“attachment_9867731” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] .jpg) Parvathy and Siddharth in a still from Navarasa[/caption] Parvathy, who plays the role of Waheeda in the same film, spoke about her experience. “I was not able to directly meet and speak to Rathindran because of the pandemic, but we did share a lot of whats and hows over Zoom calls. It really helped me that these calls were done with Siddharth, and I had the freedom to ask as many questions as I wanted. It was about being the devil’s advocate for myself and the director-writer. The most interesting part about it was how our discussions went beyond the script, understanding people and their behaviour. The character of Waheeda took me a little time to say yes, and I only gave in when Siddharth spoke about starting to shoot. I think I have never been given such a concentrated version of this emotion in a screenplay before, so I was equally nervous. And one of the best things about working with Rathindran, was how he stressed on two whole days of prep time which was ideally very useful in order to get into the scheme of things.” On her experience with Siddharth, Parvathy calls him an actor who loves his job. “I was actually very happy that my understanding about him turned out to be true, and what was even better was how he was an extremely generous and cooperative actor. He was constantly present as an actor and a producer on set, and that was something I got surprised about. His company as a co-actor was something that inspired and wanted me to create more projects along with him.” Among the nine rasas portrayed, the toughest to be depicted would be the emotion of disgust, which has been taken up for Vasanth Sai’s Payasam, a film starring Delhi Ganesh and Rohini along with Aditi Balan. Aditi, who has worked alongside the two veterans, says, “I must say that I am super honoured. My scenes are mostly with Delhi Ganesh sir, I didn’t have much of my portions with Rohini mam but I did get to interact with her. I am a huge fan of Delhi Ganesh sir, for I have seen his films right from my childhood. For me, just being around them and watch them behave in front of the camera was mind-blowing. They catch the director’s instructions so quickly and deliver it so quickly. And apart from acting too, just listening to their conversations brought me a lot of wow moments. These days, youngsters run back to the caravans after their shot. But to have such a familial feel on set, talk, chat and share experiences - it was completely new to me.” Aditi, after slowing down on picking films post her debut, has completed four films during the lockdown including Navarasa and the recent Malayalam release Cold Case. Not many would know, but Ashok Selvan has played a cameo in Bejoy Nambiar’s Edhiri, which stars Vijay Sethupathi, Revathi and Prakash Raj. The actor plays the role of Revathi’s son in the film, and is said to have an intense scene in the story. “I was actually supposed to play a part in KV Anand sir’s film in Navarasa. I had even spoken to him a couple of times regarding this. However, that was the last time I spoke to him. Anyways, I am glad to still be a part of Navarasa through Bejoy’s film. I went in with no expectations, just wanting a good experience. And I got that. The entire process was so gratifying for me,” says Ashok.