Dreaded don to dear grandfather: Actor Bharathiraja’s many faces

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Filmmakers make for some of the best performers on screen. Tamil cinema has had a long list of filmmakers who made a stellar turn to acting. One of the most enigmatic entrances to the list was Bharathiraja, the ‘Iyakkunar Imayam’ who breathed his last in Chennai on Wednesday.

While enthralling audiences with countless iconic films that Tamil cinema audiences still fondly remember, Bharathiraja made a turn to acting in PS Nivas’ 1980 film Kallukkul Eeram. However, it was only in 2004 that the actor in Bharathiraja would find recognition, thanks to Mani Ratnam’s political actioner Aayutha Ezhuthu. While he did not have a great record as a filmmaker post 2000, the actor in him found umpteen opportunities to shine, so much so that in the late 2010s and early 2020s, the actor had become a much sought-after character artiste in Tamil cinema — and inarguably the best amongst filmmakers. An innings that began with 2017’s Kurangu Bommai grew strong, as many filmmakers saw in him an actor who could stun your heart as a grandfather in despair, as well as scare you as a menacing villain.

Here are a few performances of the ‘actor’ Bharathiraja that reintroduced him to modern audiences:

Tamil cinema is truly indebted to director Nithilan Saminathan for bringing out a unique shade of the actor in Bharathiraja. Nithilan’s debut film, the dark thriller Kurangu Bommai, told the story of a desperate father and son who get entangled in a dangerous hunt for a hidden bag of money. Several intricate equations trigger a chain of betrayals, greed, and violence in the film, and Bharathiraja features as a vulnerable old-timer who suffers unspeakable trials due to his friendship with a local don. If there is a showreel of great Bharathiraja performances, it is sure to feature the gut-wrenching scene in which his character breaks down to actor Kumaravel’s character right before he is killed off — the voice crack is enough to make you tremble. Kurangu Bommai is not a film for the faint-hearted, and Bharath