Veteran comedian Vivek is still among the list of most wanted actors in Tamil cinema even after acting for over 30 years. He has almost played all possible characters through the films that he featured in. Vivek will be seen playing a doctor role in Dharala Prabhu which talks about sperm donation. It is a fun film that is sure to click with the masses. Vivek took some time of his busy schedule to have a discussion with the Galatta team.

Here are some of his witty replies from the interview:

Role of a comedian in Tamil film industry currently, has the importance for comedians come down?

“During the initial stages of my career, the run time of all the films were close to 2 hours 45 minutes, so comedian like me had a screen time of close to 20 to 30 minutes. Even if the film doesn’t perform well, the comedy tracks used to be successful. Now, the audiences are not comfortable watching big films, they get restless for 2 hours long film, they are even against songs these days. So, the space for comedians have been limited in the recent times.”

Why have you not directed any films till date?

“I don’t have the time to direct films, Mani Ratnam sir asked me this question. I need to allot a lot of time for that because direction is a big responsibility. When you do comedy roles, I don’t have to worry about the overall financial outcome of the film, if a film wins, they praise that the comedy helped but when a film fails, the director and hero takes all that pressure. To take that responsibility, to be the captain of the ship, I need to free myself from acting and other commitments. I need to write a script first and be prepared. Even if I direct a film, I need to face a lot of other external issues, it is easy these days to direct a film but not find theatres to release it.”

Can you tell us what you were telling Vijay when this photo was captured?

“This photo was taken during the audio launch of Bigil, I told Vijay that, I am going to the stage and talk about you, is that ok? That’s when this photo was captured.”