Radikaa Sarathkumar pulls off ₹75-crore ‘Thaai Kizhavi’ power move

Thaai Kizhavi, revolving astir the aged Pavunuthaayi (essayed effortlessly by Radikaa Sarathkumar), has gone connected to mint much than ₹75 crore worldwide astatine the container office, powered by women and household audiences. Released past month, the movie directed by Sivakumar Murugesan and produced by histrion Sivakarthikeyan drops connected JioHotstar connected March 26.

What is being seen arsenic a bigger powerfulness determination is that Radikaa, arsenic portion of her contract, has received a stock successful the film’s profit, thus becoming the archetypal actress in the past of Tamil cinema to bash so. “I said I wanted to beryllium paid more, due to the fact that I merit it. And, we decided connected nett sharing. I deliberation each actors should travel this. So galore younger actresses person called to accidental this gives them immense confidence. All I archer them is to physique your space, and clasp connected to it,” says the actress.

Radikaa knows the value of the abstraction she is speaking about. The actress, who has made a people crossed movie industries successful India (primarily Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada) and ruled determination tv for galore years, opening with the serial Chithi, has travel a agelong mode from her debut arsenic Paanjali successful Bharathiraja’s 1978 Tamil hit Kizhakke Pogum Rail. Hindi-film watchers volition callback her arsenic Rishi Kapoor’s naive village-wife with an upturned plait from Naseeb Apna Apna (1986). In the 48 years since her debut, she’s been exploring caller frontiers and paving paths. She besides won a National Award successful 1985 for producing the poignant Meendum Oru Kaadhal Kadhai. And, with Thaai Kizhavi, she proved that a progressive film headlined by a 63-year-old pistillate tin rake successful the moolah, too.

Pavunuthaayi speaks of wherefore women indispensable beryllium educated, prudent and bully with finances, and also bask their life. An absorbing montage shows this matriarch of Usilampatti watching movies, blowing bubbles during her outings to the city. Radikaa says she had astir rejected the movie astatine first. “After speechmaking the script, I was definite I’d beryllium typecast. But Sivakumar showed up astatine my bureau for a year-and-a-half, hoping to transportation me. I agreed connected the information that the prosthetics beryllium good. The extent of my relation — thing truthful empowering — mattered much to maine than the surface time. I was capable to ain my character’s identity. And, radical saw her truth. It is imaginable to marque a prime without being boxed.”

Age is conscionable a number

Radikaa, whose societal media pages observe each facet of her life, including grandmotherhood, says “I don’t deliberation I go little absorbing with age. I look astatine things differently. I don’t privation to beryllium the youngest successful the frame, but I privation my beingness to bring much spot to the frame.”

A Radikaa-starrer doing good astatine the container bureau is important due to the fact that films are not precise benignant to ageing heroines. “It usually meant disappearance, a quiescent exit into oblivion. Strong roles were written for women. But idiosyncratic was deciding what women request to bash successful movies. Which is wherefore I decided I would beryllium successful control, and started my ain accumulation institution aft my mentor Bharathiraja’s Kizhakku Cheemayile (1993), which gave maine a caller lease successful films. The tv serial Chithi transformed however radical saw me,” she says.

The past 2 years person been benignant to aged pistillate characters. 2024 saw Urvashi radiance successful J Baby, and Geetha Kailasam successful the much-celebrated Angammal. And 2026 has Thaai Kizhavi.

The histrion says she was fortunate to enactment successful the ’80s, erstwhile “we were allowed to marque mistakes and learn”. Even today, she remains a pupil of cinema. “I look guardant to going connected set. I prepare. I don’t adjacent spot the monitor. I look astatine the director’s face. That tells maine what I request to know.” That is why, she decided astatine 10.30 p.m. 1 nighttime to redub for Thaai Kizhavi. “I could past spot the joyousness connected Sivakumar’s face.”

Among friends, Radikaa is known for her consciousness of humour. However, connected surface and disconnected it, she is regarded as a strict teacher. “In the nationalist space, erstwhile idiosyncratic crosses a enactment with maine oregon anyone else, I enactment them successful place. That’s my right. Many yesteryear heroines person told maine they consciousness protected erstwhile I americium with them. As celebrities, our enactment is owned by people, but nary 1 owns us.”

Speaking frankly

When Radikaa, who besides grew up successful London, entered the movie industry, her Tamizh was acold from perfect. Over the years, with countless roles acceptable successful the hinterland, she came to beryllium identified arsenic a coagulated performer. Her stint successful Telugu helped hone her craft. Among her memorable films are Chiranjeevi-starrer Nyayam Kavali (1981) and Kamal Haasan-starrer romanticist drama Swathi Muthyam (1986). If she ‘performed’ successful ‘serious’ movies, she played herself in films wherever she was the ‘modern girl’ — her Radha of the Tamil film Rettai Vaal Kuruvi (1987) is 1 for the ages. Her manner consciousness shone through. “I spot manner differently, influenced by the years I grew up abroad. In films, the archetypal large hurdle was warring implicit the apparel I’d wear. Eventually, I took ownership — I would beryllium with fabric, telling costumers however to chopped pants and benignant an ensemble,” she smiles.

As a seasoned actress, Radikaa makes usage of the goodwill she’s garnered implicit the years to indulge in plain-speaking. “Every clip I’ve heard oregon seen idiosyncratic behave severely with anyone, I’ve raised my voice. Now, radical cognize that with me, they’ll lone get an honorable opinion. However, astatine times, I americium diplomatic too,” says Radikaa, who contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Virudhunagar arsenic a BJP candidate.

Being a ‘thinking actress’ is hard adjacent today, Radikaa concurs. “Most men successful cinema are intimidated by me. In immoderate gathering, there’s this 1 pistillate who laughs retired loud, who jokes, but you cannot transverse a enactment with her. I deliberation that is the lone deterrent that works. That said, today’s heroines are overmuch smarter than we were.”

Modern family

She has charmed Gen Z, too, with her progressive instrumentality connected family. Radikaa gets on precise good with her actor-turned-politician hubby R. Sarathkumar’s erstwhile woman Chaya Devi and daughters Varalaxmi (an actress) and Pooja. “Coming from a breached household and having seen however we were treated, I did not privation anyone to consciousness near out,” says the girl of the precocious legendary histrion and person M.R. Radha and Geetha.

Radikaa insists connected rephrasing the time-tested question of wherefore less roles are written for women. “Ask wherefore radical don’t constitute scripts featuring them. Figure retired however to constitute layered scripts. I kept asking Sivakumar however helium managed to constitute specified a mature publication astatine his property (36). OTT has opened up options for nuanced content. We request to find our abstraction and basal tall,” she says, adding that “Women are trying to propulsion themselves. They’ve trusted their path, breached barriers. They are the change.”

The writer is simply a Mangaluru-based entertainment journalist covering Tamil and Kannada cinema.