Apart from heroes and heroines, Cinema in general is capable of portraying humanity at large, through a broad panorama of roles such as comedians,villains and greatly valued supporting individuals popularly known as character actors.Tamil movies have proudly celebrated the distinguished performance of exclusive character actors like V. Nagaiah, S. V. Sahasranamam, S. V. Rengarao,T. S. Balaiah,V. K. Ramasamy V. S. Raghavan and Major Sundarajan. These character actors would have taken up villain roles once a way.The number of villain roles would have been more in the case of Balaiah,V.K.R and Major.But Balaiah and V.K.R excelled in comedy roles also.Both these actors shared great screen space with the never tiring comedian Nagesh.
Similarly starting from the pioneering comedian N.S.K, character roles have been confidently vested with most comedians like K. A. Thangavelu,Nagesh,Thengai Srinivasan and of late,Vivek.In this list, we now have a prominently notable character actor and comedian, whose rise on the big screen has been gradual and significantly steady.It is Thambi Ramaiah,the rising character actor of Tamil films.
Thambi Ramaiah would have acted in more than twenty films before his remarkable and award winning performance in Prabu Solomon's highly acclaimed film Mynaa.In fact,Ramaiah had equally shown keen interest, in direction and lyrics composition.He was an assistant for Director P.Vasu for some time and independently directed films like Manu Needhi and Indhiralokathil Na.Azhagappan. Besides acting in P.Vasu's Malabar Police and Thottaal Poo Malarum,his other earlier roles were for the popular films Aaru,Kovai Brothers, Imsai Arasan Irubathumoonraam Pulikesi and Vaathiyaar.But after his stellar performance in Myna,Ramaiah became an indispensable comedian cum character actor. Prabu Solomon again inducted him for a meaty role in Kumki.
Resembling Radha Ravi and delivering roles with a body language similar to that of the dynamic heir of M.R.Radha to a great extent,Thambi Ramaiah has slowly carved a distinct place for himself in Tamil Cinema.Some of the uniquely memorable performances of this vibrant actor have been for films like Parthiban's Thiraikkadhai Vasanam Iyakkam,Vijay's Puli,Jilla and Bhairava,Ajith's Veeram and Vedhaalam, Vikram's Raajapaattai and Thaandavam{in a brief memorable role as Thappaache Mama},Samuthrakani's Saattai and Appa and the most recent Velaikaran and Thaanaa Serndha Koottam of Sivakarthikeyan and Surya respectively,His other outstanding performance was for M.Raja's Thani Oruvan, as the puppet father of Arvindsamy.
In negative roles,as an erring school teacher in Saattai and as the vulnerably mischievous younger brother of Nassar in Veeram,Thambi Ramaiah asserted his position as an actor capable of adequately reflecting villainy and crookedness.As the blind father of Laksnmi Menon falling into the hands of ruthless thugs,he could evoke a deep sense of pathos by his effective role performance in Ajith's Vedhaalam.
There is a quantum of energy and vibration in Ramiah's dialogue delivery that always stands to his credit.In gullible roles he can stamp his mark as an exceptional actor.Beyond his wonderful performance in films like Mynaa,Kumki, Saattai and Kadhai Thiraikkadhai Vasanam Iyakkam,the two roles of this great actor that I would cherish in my memory are from Komban and Thani Oruvan.It has not been a meteoric rise for this vigorous actor, but a stable and steadfast one, that would keep him in the right place at all right times.
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