Last Friday's release, Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal, was filled with a number of subtle, stirring performances from the extended cast list. Among them is Rishikanth’s character, the friend of Vijay (played by Ashok Selvan), who gets an important scene to knock some sense into the protagonist’s head.
Rishikanth is delighted with all the appreciation. "Director Vishal Venkat chose me after going through a number of profiles, and when I met him for the first time, he was kind enough to say that my role may not be a career-defining one but make a small, sweet impact," says Rishikanth, who shot for the film for ten days. "Even while shooting, I could see what a good character I was playing. When reading the script, we tend to get connected to the character due to shared attributes; I did the same with my character."
Rishikanth credits the director for creating grounded characters. "He never bombarded artists with too much information. Instead, he let us understand our characters. The first day, after my first shot, I asked him if we could go for a second take. He wanted to know why. I said I could do more. He said the first one was good enough and that he sought the realism in the first shot. That’s when I understood exactly what he was looking for," he says.
Those who follow Rishikanth's work on YouTube know that he's known for funny videos that are quite in contrast to the roles he has done in films like Irumbu Thirai, Hero, K13, Rocky and even SNSM. "Each of us who do videos on YouTube wants something big and different in the world of cinema. I don’t mind doing peripheral characters, as I believe it all boils down to doing a good job regardless of what we are given," says Rishikanth. "I can see that the depth of my roles is increasing, as is the duration allocated for my characters. Thankfully, my roles have been quite different in the films I have done to date.”
Rishikanth is certain that his early, confident steps in the industry is the right way to sustain his career. "Such roles give me the confidence that I can pull off bigger ones. I have to be confident of shouldering a couple of minutes of screen time, and only when I am able to do that, should I seek longer ones," says the actor who has a bunch of releases across the formats of short films, web series, and feature films, including Pallu Padama Paathuka directed by his fellow YouTuber, Vijay Varadharaj.
"There's so much more to Vijay anna than his YouTube videos. If this film had been released when it was initially planned, I am not sure how many would have been able to relate to it. I think all the delay will benefit the film," concludes this young actor.