G -Geetha | A-Z Challenge |Actors Series
Geetha debuted as bairavi in M Bhaskar’s Bairavi as Rajnikanth’s sister. Then her role as a receptionist in Ninaithaale Inikkum stood as a proof for her humour sense. It’s often tough to get performing and out of the box roles in more than one language if an artist in working in multiple languages. Geetha is one of the few actors who have great performances in all four south Indian languages. If I had to talk about all four languages then that itself forms a series of its own, so I am going to talk about her Tamil Performances.
Geetha is one of the few performers who were experimenting a lot. She took a lot of challenging roles through out her career. Her choices of roles were great, and sometimes will be stark contrast to a previous role she played. She overcame the biggest problem of typecasting by her versatility yet we fail to recognise her one of the top actors of that time.
First role of Geetha I wish to talk about is her extended cameo in Ninaithale Inikkum. It is a fun role carried with ease. Its something nearly impossible to pull of a comedy scene with Rajnikanth. His excellent comic sense conquers everything else in the screen. As a Tamil speaking receptionist she owns the scene and make it memorable.
The next role of Geetha I wish talk is from the movie Kadamai Kanniyam Kattupaadu. Geetha plays the role of a woman forced into prostitution and later leaves the same. The movie says the story of Balram, an upright cop brilliantly played by Sathyaraj. He is framed in a crime and how he gets out of it forms the interesting tale. The movie directed by Santhana Bharathi is a remake of Avanazhi directed by IV Sasi. The movie is remembered for its fast pace and brilliant acting. Geetha perfectly portrays the vulnerability of the character and the care for a honest person whom she loves wholeheartedly. What makes her role stand out from the rest of the similar sounding roles is its subtle portrayal.
Next role I wish to talk is from the movie Puthu Puthu Arthangal. If the last role I discussed was of a devout wife caring for the well being if her husband, then this role is on the opposite pole. She plays the role of Gowri, wife of a leading singer Bharathi(Rahman). She is an obsessive and possessive wife and a control freak due to her fear of losing her partner. This is one of the best portrayal of a possessive wife on screen. Backed by brilliant writing of K. Balachandar, Geetha’s performance takes the movie to the next level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN-p5fhQdhA
The next movie I wish to talk about is a cameo in Keladi Kanmani. She proves that you don’t need dialogues to essay a loving wife and a mother. Whenever we speak of Keladi Kanmani its the performance of SP Balasubramanyam and Radhika that comes to our mind but just watch the Karpoora Bommai song. You would understand that the heavy lifting for the backstory was carried by Geetha. This is her next movie after Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal.
The next movie I wish talk about is Thalapathi. In this Mani Ratnam classic her role as Selvi is the most under appreciated one. While Rajnikanth and Mammooty steals the scene with fierce performance it’s Geetha’s performance that makes us worry about Mammooty and emphathise him. Her role as a constantly caring wife and despite her fear she supports him at all his endeavours is played to the T.
The final movie I wish to talk about is Kalki. Her character as Chellamma, an excellent singer who is abused by her husband is one of the best performances of Geetha. As a person who has to bear all the abuses, she portrays it perfectly. Also we can see how her passion towards music is her solace and portraying the role of an abused Artist convincingly is really tough.
It is tough to stop with few movies as she has done numerous roles. Her extended cameo in Jeans is something which got lost in the midst of Radhika and Nasser’s performance. In recent times her roles as a strict mother in the movies such as Santhosh Subramaniam, Azhagiya Tamil Magan, Something Something and so on are brilliant. These roles are not your expressive filmy mom, they are the portrayal of your real mom who never says yes to everything you ask, who won’t be pleased by everything you do do but your happiness will be at the back of her mind.
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