The Unknown Tale of Sathayaraj Who Pulled off Iconic Role of Amavasai in Amaidhi Padai

Veteran actor Sathayaraj, who is now famous for portraying Kattappa in the Baahubali franchise is loved by the Tamil audience for his versatility and anti-heroic roles. One such famous role is the portrayal of the character of Amavasai in the blockbuster Tamil-language action film Amaidhi Padai (1994).

Chennai: Sathayaraj's portrayal of the iconic role of Kattappa in the Baahubali franchise earned him heaps of praise. However, little do people know about the slew of other pivotal roles played by the actor over the years. The character of Amavasai played by him in the Tamil-language action film Amaidhi Padai (1994) ran for more than 25 weeks and was declared a blockbuster.

The film is a political satire about an ambitious and unscrupulous man who becomes a major politician using unethical means, but his illegitimate son is posted as a police inspector in his constituency and vows to stop his father's illegal activities.

• The perfect person to play “Ammavasai” https://t.co/dl2YERgSKF

  — Karti P Chidambaram (@KartiPC) May 18, 2024

Post the interval, the movie takes an interesting turn and the audience begins to feel a freshness that can correlate with the storyline. Amavasai is seen to be leading in the election contest when the results are announced.

Slowly and steadily, Amavasai's mannerisms change drastically- from sitting cross-legged while smoking to how he relents and wishes his son happiness in life. A noteworthy fact is that, before this movie, Sathyaraj had been basking in the glory of a hero but he took a calculated risk to experiment with the portrayal of an anti-hero for the first time.

He was impressed with his friend and director Manivannan's narration of the script and said yes to playing a negative role on screen.

People living in other parts of India might be acquainted with Sathyaraj because of his role as Kattappa in Bahubali but for the Tamil audience, he is a versatile actor, who can pull off any character on the big screen. The veteran actor will be playing the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an upcoming biopic and the audience cannot keep their calm!

Grabbing the opportunity, the opposition took a sly dig at the ruling BJP-led NDA, with Congress MP from Sivaganga, Karti P Chidambaram tweeting, posting a photo of Sathayaraj and captioning it: The perfect person to play “Ammavasai”.