Happy Birthday Silambarasan: A look at the evolution from Manmadhan to Atman

Before Manmadhan, Simbu did have a couple of hits like Kovil and Kuthu, but the adult film gave him an identity — an image of a ‘playboy’ in K-Town. Over the years, Simbu became synonymous with the word controversy. From leaked private pictures to “Beep Song” to broken relationships to tiffs with directors, things about Simbu were never on the rosy side of things. His films like Silambattam and Vallavan, which were again banking on his playboy image, didn’t help his off-screen persona either. Then came Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya!

It was a conscious decision by the actor to do a romantic film that had a powerful female lead, because in his own words “there was very little female fan following” for the actor. When Gautham Menon pitched the film to Simbu, it was titled Jessie. Yet, Simbu took the chance and he redeemed himself and became this ‘Chocolate boy’. Post the success of the romantic drama, a new problem surfaced for the actor, which would haunt him for a decade. Reports of Simbu being late and being irregular to film shoots started making the rounds in Kodambakkam, and things hit rock bottom when rumours like Simbu dubbing for Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangadhavan from his restroom started spreading like wildfire.

On top of that, there was another problem that started taking toll on his opportunities, which was his fitness. This was perhaps the lowest phase of Simbu, where he had to deal with a lot of problems at the same time. The wake-up call came while he was acting in Mani Ratnam’s Chekka Chivantha Vaanam. Simbu said that he felt terrible when he realised he couldn’t even run for a scene in the film. That’s when the journey to redemption started for the star, and the pandemic helped him to become a better version of himself, which he now calls ‘Atman’.

After losing oodles of weight, Simbu has the physique that he had during his initial phase of his career. But he claims the change is not just external, but also internal. According to Hinduism, Atman is the individual soul, which is distinguished with the existence Brahman. While Brahman is the eternal and unchanging universe, Atman is transient and provisional. Simbu is yet to clearly define what his alter-ego actually means, but it is definitely better than the guy who was mouthing lines like “Naan viralaatravan illada virala vittu aatravan”.