Vatsala Rajagopalan reminisces about her days with Rasika Ranga since 1979

VATSALA RAJAGOPALAN. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives

Hers is a remarkable performance. At 70, Vatsala Rajagopalan takes a bus from her home in Perungalathur and then changes two autos to reach the venue of the show well in time. The journey takes her nearly two hours. She undertakes this with a foot that was badly injured in an accident two years ago. But there is more to follow.

After putting on her make-up and the costume, she is on her feet for two hours or more on the stage, entering into the spirit of the role whether of understanding wife, supportive mother-in-law or whimsical aunt.

Vatsala may be a popular and well-loved face on television today, but her all-consuming love is for the theatre. Recipient of the Nataka Choodamani of the Krishna Gana Sabha this year, the actress has been with Rasika Ranga since 1979.

“I am grateful to her unfailing support over the years,” says Marina. “When actresses are migrating from the stage to television in greater numbers, she is an artiste who will refuse to take up a lucrative assignment on the small screen if she happens to have a stage performance that day.”

When I catch up with her at the Vani Mahal one evening, she is just putting on the finishing touches to her make-up. A stagehand drops in to pay his respects to an artiste who has won regard for her talent and commitment. But Vatsala’s unassuming demeanour tells you that she is unchanged since the days she was a junior accountant at the A.G.’s office. The only press clipping she produces is a review of Kasturi Thilakam in The Hindu some years ago in which she played to perfection the role of the dedicated wife of the apostle of non-violence.