Meet Sanchari Vijay who is gearing up to a play different and challenging role in a bilingual Phirangipura. Vijay, who won a national award for his sterling performance in Kannada film ‘Naanu Avanalla Avalu’, candidly confessed about his nervousness after accepting the offer to act in Phirangipura. However, Vijay does not want to lose this opportunity since it facilitates him to make his debut in Tamil as Phirangipura is being made in Kannada and Tamil. Vijay, in a brief interview with Y Maheswara Reddy, explained how theatre helped him to play a variety of roles with aplomb.

You are known for playing soft character roles, but you are now assigned to play a different role in Phirangipura. How are you preparing to play the role that has three shades?

Yes, I will be seen sporting three different looks – young, middle aged person and old person – in Phirangipura. I know that I have to work hard. I have been doing rehearsals for quite some time. Recently, I had participated in a dance rehearsal. It was a different experience. I am confident of doing justice to this role since director Janardhan is known for hard work and dedication. Regular shooting of this film is expected to begin next month.

You won the national best actor award for your performance in Naanu Avanalla Avalu. It required lot of efforts and commitment to play such a character – transgender – in that film. How did you manage to come out of that hangover?

I did not find any difficulty to come out of the hangover of Naanu Avanalla Avalu. I think my theatre background has helped me a lot. Being a theatre artiste, I played different characters. I had to be prepared to move to the next character as soon as I completed the character I was previously playing. This experience helped me to come out of the hangover of Naanu Avanalla Avalu. I want to recall my discussion with actor Yash who told me that I might be focusing on director’s directive – Lights on, lights off. He told me that an actor should enter into the character when director shouts – lights on. The actor should come out of that character when the director announces – lights off.

Was it easy for you to play the transgender character?

Though I happened to play transgender character during a play, I find it very difficult. I am very grateful to director Lingadevaru and producer R Garani for giving me such an opportunity. I was given the book – Living Smile Vidya. I also watched a few documentaries on transgenders. The other advantage is the film had a few transgenders who helped me a lot. They used to guide me whenever I committed a mistake or my performance was not up to the mark.

Your other film Harivu also won the best regional film award. What was the role you played in Harivu?

I played the character of a farmer from North Karnataka who brings his ailing son to Bengaluru for treatment. The role was very challenging. The farmer would be in a dilemma how to take the mortal remains of his son to his native place. A similar incident in real life took place in Uttar Pradesh where a father had to carry his ailing son on his shoulder due to the non-availability of an ambulance.

Many opine that the state government did not evince interest to felicitate you when the national best actor award was announced. How did you feel in such situation?

I consider N Mangala of Sanachari troupe as my mentor. She advised me to focus on acting and meeting the expectations of the director concerned. She told me not to expect felicitations or other benefits from others. So, I took it easy and have no ill feelings against anyone.

The government allots a BDA site for award winners. Have you got any residential site from the state government?

Many of my well-wishers and friends advised me to apply for a BDA site but I did not apply for it since I did not have the money to purchase a BDA site. I am also not interested to invest money on a residential site in Bengaluru. My objective is to purchase land at my native Panchanahalli in Chikkmagaluru district when I have sufficient money. I have come from a rural area and spent more than 22 years in rural areas. I want to use such land for a good purpose – to promote theatre or help farmers. So, I did not attempt even to get an application to apply for a BDA site.

What are your other films?

I am acting in Krishna Thulasi, a love-oriented film. I am acting as a visually-challenged person in this film. My other film is Varthamana, directed by Umesh Amshi. The philosophy of the lead character in the present is more important than the past or the future. My other film is Taledanda in which I am assigned to play the character of a mentally-retarded person. A few directors have approached me, but I politely refused to accept any other film till I complete these films.

For Phirangipura, you are expected to participate in the shooting in Rajasthan where the normal temperature will be at 45 degree Celsius. How do you manage with such adverse weather since you are expected to have a special make-up?

Director Janardhan is providing us a caravan. We are not supposed to wander outside during the gap between the shots. The shooting is expected to take place for 45 days in Rajasthan. We have to remain in the caravan to protect the make-up. Our make-up session will need three to four hours. During the rehearsal, I reached the studio at 10 am recently. By the time we completed the make-up session, it was 1.30 am. But after a few trials, we reduced the time to get into this look (70-year-old angry person) to around four hours now. The tattoos also play a key role in this film. Most of the artistes, except me and the heroine are six feet tall in this film, since the script of this film demands such people.