V.K. Ramasamy: The actor who made comedy look effortless

Will an aspiring 21-year-old actor, with a successful stage career, settle for a role as a villain in his first film? After all, every debutant wants to be the hero. Wouldn’t a young actor be afraid of typecasting? Not if the actor in question happens to be V.K. Ramasamy or VKR to his fans.

He must have been supremely confident about his strengths as an actor, to agree to play a 60-year-old villain in his first film, Naam Iruvar, released in 1947. In this film, VKR leads dishonest Sarangapani down the garden path, promising that he will get his teenage daughter married to the old man. Eventually, it turns out to be a case of a diamond cutting a diamond, with the clever VKR proving to be more than a match for Sarangapani. You wouldn’t guess this was VKR’s first film. There is just the right mix of mockery and villainy in his portrayal of a stingy, sly old man, as he hoodwinks Sarangapani. In Paar Magale Paar, unable to bear Sivaji’s taunts, he blurts out the truth about Sivaji’s daughters, and the family is torn apart. With his changing expressions — humiliation, rage and remorse — VKR steals the scene.

However, V.K. Ramasamy is best remembered for his comic roles, although he was seldom the main comedian. For instance, in Ooty Varai Uravu, Balaiah has more scenes than Ramasamy. VKR’s character isn’t even needed to stitch various scenes together to lead to the happy ending. And yet, once you have seen Ooty Varai Uravu, you cannot imagine a version of the film without Ramasamy.

In Kanni Thai, when V.K. Ramasamy doesn’t pay for the food in a restaurant, the restaurateur strips him of all his clothes, leaving him with just his dhoti. He feels embarrassed. But he is resourceful, and applies vibhuti all over his chest and steps out like a mendicant. The comic touch lies in the way he takes mincing steps to the tune of ‘Nandavanathil oraandi’.

Perhaps one of the few films in which V.K. Ramasamy was the main comedian was Kasi Yathirai. But here again, there was a galaxy of comedians — Cho, Surulirajan, ‘Thengai’ Srinivasan, M.R.R. Vasu and Manorama. The film centres around Paramasivam Pillai (V.K. Ramasamy), a champion of bachelorhood and an iconoclastic opponent of romance. He is the guardian of his nephew and niece, both of whom have their respective romantic interests. The youngsters trap Ramasamy into writing a compromising letter to an actress (Manorama), which is then used for blackmailing him. VKR shows a tumult of feelings and portrays well the battle between piety and long-suppressed desire. The complexion of the character Paramasivam Pillai keeps changing once he falls for Manorama, and V.K. Ramasamy’s acting keeps pace with the changes.

In Kumara Vijayam Ramasamy is caught in a trap because of an amatory affair years ago. A common enough situation in most Tamil films. But you don’t mind the cliched situations, because you are chortling at VKR’s sharp one liners.

His avuncular attitude, when he regales Kamal’s son with stories (film Japanil Kalyanaraman), is endearing.

V.K. Ramasamy was a comedian with a difference. There was never any physicality to his comedy. He never indulged in horseplay. He didn’t have to try hard to be funny. Just a grimace, or a chuckle, or the characteristic VKR guffaw, and he would have the audience eating out of his hands.

There was a comic edge to the way he rendered his dialogues, sometimes even when he played a villain. Perhaps VKR enjoyed being a comedian Otherwise, he could never have been so natural in comic roles. You often get the feeling that his comic lines were unscripted and came from his innate sense of humour. Comedy was indeed second nature to him.