ON A LEGEND'S FOOTSTEPS

Garnering praises Viswanathan had more than one reason to remember that character that fetched him the Kodai Nataka Vizha award. It was made more special when eminent theatre and cine actor VS Raghavan, who was also the chief guest, said, "Ramesh lived with the character."

- KV VASUDEVAN

WALKING away with the Best Character Artist award in the annual Kartik Fine Arts Kodai Nataka Vizha is not a new feat for Viswanathan Ramesh. This septuagenarian is keen on getting back into his familiar arc after a two-year sabbatical, come April.

Viswanathan credits his theatre journey to his mentor, the late Poornam Viswanathan.

"From the time I joined in 1980, everything has fallen into place as if it had been programmed that way. From an actor to scriptwriter and later, plunging into direction, I learned the art and craft of Tamil theatre from Poornam Sir," he shares.

An integral part of Poornam Theatre before it branched out as Gurukulam Old Boys Company in 1995 under the able hands of his co-theatre artiste MB Moorthy, Viswanathan's height was seen as an advantage by Poornam, thrusting him into author-backed roles in the initial years.

Characters abound

Dwelling on his first important character of Madhivadanam, the rich industrialist in Oonjal, Viswanathan saw its victory in the way the audience started enthusiastically calling him by that name even long after the play was done. "Those were the good old days where the audience remembered every character, which motivated the artistes. Any character was fine with me, as secretly I longed for the ones which stood tall in the characterisation and the longevity in the stage," he says.