“I’m Venugopal, from Tidel Park”: Remembering Mayilsamy’s iconic roles

Actor Mayilsamy
| Photo Credit: @chiyaan/Twitter

Actor and comedian Mayilsamy passed away in Chennai on February 19. The actor, with a career spanning almost four decades, has starred alongside all the big actors and comedians of Tamil cinema of that time period.

Right from playing Firefighter Raju’s colleague/friend in Kamal Haasan’s Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990), to playing Lalgudi Karupaiah Gandhi’s uncle in the RJ Balaji-starrer LKG (2019), the actor played a variety of roles over the years.

Here are seven memorable, crowd favourite characters of the actor-comedian:

Palayathu Amman (2000)

In this film which is more famous for its comedy scenes than the otherwise good vs evil plot, the late actor-comedian Vivekh plays Kalyanaraman who makes a living by conning. In a scene that spoofs the infamous debate between Yagava Munivar and Siva Shankar Baba, Mayilsamy donned the role of a god-man named Dance Saamiyar who ends up having a heated debate on spirituality with Vivekh, playing a fellow god-man. Mayilsamy getting flabbergasted by Vivekh’s answer to why cows in India go ‘ma’ but the ones in the UK don’t moo as ‘mummy’, followed by Vivek thinking that the UK is a cuss-word, makes for one hilarious sequence.

En Purushan Kuzhandhai Maadhiri (2001)

In this comedy film by Sura-director SP Rajkumar, starring Livingston and Devayani, Vadivelu might be dominating the comedy portions with his trademark humour. But the film is also famous for its scenes involving Mayilsamy who donned the role of Doctor Kuyilsamy. As a medical practitioner with a clinic that isn’t getting the footfall he expects, a troubled Kuyilsamy is even more agitated by his too-friendly female assistant who goes “ adhaan naan irruken la” as the solution to all his problems.

Kanden Seethaiyai (2001)

This Vikram-Soundarya starring Telugu film, originally titled 9 Nelalu, despite becoming a box office flop, was dubbed and released in Tamil as Kanden Seethaiyai with an additional comedy track that had Vivekh coming up with his version of several famous TV shows. In one sketch, spoofing Amitabh Bachchan’s famous Kaun Banega Crorepati, Indrajith (Vivek) selects Guduvancheri Govindasamy (Mayilsamy) by asking a common question: how many legs does an eight-legged spider have? The track then takes a dig at several of the show’s iconic aspects, such as the tall chair, the lifelines, and the answers being ‘locked’. The absurd questions that start with whether Padayappa is a Tamil film hit the crescendo when Govindasamy is questioned about his father’s name, only for him to struggle with the answer, despite being given options.

Thavasi (2001)

Mayilsamy, who became famous in the early 2000s for his one-scene appearances, has several noteworthy films with Vadivelu. Probably the most iconic of the lot is the sequence from the Vijayakanth-starrer Thavasi in which Azhagu (Vadivelu), an innocent man, gets defrauded by a fake warlock played by the late actor, who has a snake named Michael Jackson. After swindling money off of the spectators, the conman tries to make a run for it only to be stopped by Azhagu who cannot go back home without the money that he was promised by the warlock. The sequence is famous for its “ naanga yen da nadusamathula sudukatuku poganum” line which has become one of many Tamil comedy dialogues that have eased its way into many of our everyday vocabularies.

Dhool (2003)

Speaking of acing the conman characters, Dhool’s most famous comedy sequences involve the stretches where Kunchacko (Mayilsamy) dupes his boss Narain (Vivek) into believing that the latter’s romantic interest is suffering from ‘Cancer.’ After a series of lies with which he makes a decent sum of money, Kunchacko aims for a bigger amount when he tries to cheat Narain by lying about visiting the Murugan Temple in Singapore, only to be finally caught. The final scene, where Narain recalls how he was scammed into believing that instead of the famous laddoo, Tirupati Devasthanam has now begun distributing jalebis, makes for a hilarious sequence.

Thalai Nagaram (2006)

One of Vadivelu’s most legendary characters is Naai Sekar from Thalai Nagaram and his role would have been incomplete if not for his assistant, played by Mayilsamy. The comedy sequence starts with the late actor’s character making a quick buck by promising Sekar a shot in the film industry as an actor, only to later become his right hand when Sekar becomes a “rowdy”. Their comical dialogue exchanges have become so famous that one of their dialogues has even made way for a film titled Trisha Illana Nayanthara.

Thiruvilaiyaadal Aarambam (2006)

Mayilsamy’s cameo in Dhanush’s Thiruvilaiyaadal Aarambam can be arguably called the late actor’s most celebrated role. When Thirukumaran (Dhanush) laments about his miserable life to his friends in a bar, Mayilsamy posters Thiru and his friends for a free cigarette and drinks. Despite being apprehensive initially, the folks offer him what he wants after believing him to be an IT employee, given how he introduces himself as “Venugopal from Tidel Park”. He gets into trouble when he finally requests money to go home, only for the gang to realise that he isn’t a techie and Tidel Park refers to him getting ‘tight’ and crashing at parks.