Envy. You can’t help but feel a little of it looking at Radikaa Sarathkumar.

At 55, she is, perhaps, the busiest woman in Tamil cinema at the moment. She was in Kochi when I rang her requesting an interview, shooting for the upcoming Mohanlal film Ittymaani: Made in China.

“I’ll be in Chennai for two days,” she tells me, before agreeing to squeeze in a wee bit of time for a conversation at Radaan Mediaworks’ temporary office in Teynampet.

Day one of her Chennai stopover was spent filming the Sivakarthikeyan and Nayanthara-starrer Mr Local. Day two began with dubbing for the portions she’d filmed the day before.

Radikaa Sarathkumar with Sivakarthikeyan and Nayanthara from the sets of Mr. Local   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

As I sat there, worried, watching the number of visitors increase every passing minute, the glass doors swung open, and Radikaa, sporting dark goggles, made a classy entry accompanied by daughter Rayane Mithun.

“I’m so sorry I got late,” she says, walking straight into the chairperson’s cabin. The moment was reminiscent of the many powerful roles she’d played on TV, and it was worth the childhood that was spent watching all of it.

Brush with disaster

A few weeks ago, Radikaa was in Sri Lanka when disaster hit the island nation.

By her own account, she was to spend Easter in Sri Lanka with her brother’s family, but had to leave to start shooting for the aforementioned Mohanlal film.

Her tweet, which said that she had just left the Cinnamon Grand Colombo hotel before the bombings happened, shook people close to her.

Radikaa with husband R Sarathkumar in 2004   | Photo Credit: N SRIDHARAN

“It puts life into perspective, doesn’t it? I was reading about the people who died, and I found that a British lady who was killed, was having her breakfast at the same table I love to sit at in the Cinnamon Grand. It is by the waters,” she says.

From the outpouring of fan concern for her tweet, there was something peculiar. Almost everyone, regardless of gender and age, addressed her as Amma.

One fan tweet read, “Amma pls seekiram veetuku vandhurunga ma. Nenga than engaluku ellame.” (Please come home safe, Amma. You’re everything to us.)

“I’m grateful for all the love and affection I receive. Even if I’m out with Sarath, they walk up to me, you know, both men and women. They all think that they know me so well,” she says, adding, “But I never take [the adulation] for granted because I was not someone who people always adored, even in my days as a heroine.”

Mommy dearest

It is some coincidence then that she has also evolved to being Tamil cinema’s go-to mum for heroes, a role which was previously Saranya Ponvannan’s fiefdom.

Radikaa Sarathkumar with Mohanlal   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

In the last five years, Radikaa has played mum to Vishal, Vijay Sethupathi, Dhanush, Jiiva, and will, going forward, be seen playing that role to Sivakarthikeyan, Atharvaa, Vikram Prabhu, and Bigg Boss fame Arav Nafeez.

But she refuses to be typecast. “Why do you look at it as a mother’s role? I only check if the role is interesting, and if it is a strong one,” says Radikaa, who adds that she chose to enter television because the Tamil film industry tried to “push” her into playing the mom a bit too early.

“I had to reinvent because I didn’t want to get caught in the rut,” she says.

Toxic masculinity

The rut, she refers to, is the unholy practice of Tamil filmmakers asking yesteryear heroines to play the mother to heroes, who they were once paired with, and shook a leg for a romantic number.

“I can’t change the industry’s perspective of women. You know, I kept thinking for so many years that it will change, but nah! It is just how the mindset is. It is a very “man thing”. I can only make sure that they don’t tread on my toes,” she says.

A part of this toxic male attitude is what she called out in March. It was her step-brother, Radha Ravi, who was at the receiving end, for comments about Nayanthara.

“Whatever he said, it was uncalled for. I told him that to his face. He shot his mouth off, and I think he knows that it hasn’t gone down well with people,” she says.

Granny duties

Radikaa is now a grandmother, after Rayane gave birth to a boy in June 2018.

Radikaa with husband R Sarathkumar, and her grandson   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

“He’s going to be one next month!” she exclaims.

For someone who has portrayed a range of emotions on screen, she is quite perplexed when asked to describe what it is like being a grandmother.

“You know, I can’t [describe it]. It is a new emotion. I thought being a mother was the ultimate. Because my whole life changed when I had Rayane. And now, you think you know things, and then a grandchild comes along, you realise that you know nothing. So, I’m starting over,” she says.

It has also been 18 years since she married actor-politician Sarath Kumar.

What’s the secret to being in a long relationship, and does she have any advice for young couples? And Rayane, who is seated behind, smirks. “She is the worst person to ask for advice,” says Rayane.

Radikaa laughs. “My daughter calls me a cynic. If you ask me, there is no happily-ever-after in love. They don’t tell you that in films. The first two years after marriage is going to be miserable because you will be fighting to find your own space. But the secret is to keep growing, finding new things that you’d enjoy doing together, and never stagnate,” she signs off.