(This article is authored by Alar)

Sethupathi, the versatile actor who has impressed audiences with his diverse roles, has decided to bid farewell to two types of roles that he has been frequently offered: guest and villain roles. The actor, who is currently promoting his upcoming movie Merry Christmas, opened up about his reasons for rejecting these roles in a recent interview.

He said that he initially agreed to do guest roles as a way of helping out other films, but soon realized that it was affecting his own films as a lead actor. “I have said no to at least 20 requests for guest roles. At first, I had a different perspective on it. If my presence can boost the performance of a film, I thought why can’t I help it? But, later everyone started to approach me, from newcomers to seasoned filmmakers. And this began to affect the business of films, where I played the lead. So I stopped doing guest roles,” he revealed.

He also said that he will not do any more villain roles, as he was getting bored of the typical villain characters that he was offered. He said that he did not have the time or the interest to listen to the scripts that were pitched to him for villain roles.

“More and more people started asking me to play villain roles. And I was getting typical villain roles. Even when I say no, they ask me to listen to the script before making a decision. But, I am not able to allot time for such narrations. That’s the reason I announced that I will no longer do villain roles,” said Sethupathi.

Sethupathi has played some memorable villain roles in the past, such as in Master opposite Thalapathy Vijay, Vikram opposite Kamal Haasan, Uppena, Pettai, and Jawan opposite Shah Rukh Khan. He has also done some cameo appearances in films like Super Deluxe, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, and Oh My Kadavule.

The actor said that he wants to focus on his lead roles and experiment with different genres and characters. He said that he is looking forward to the release of Merry Christmas, a comedy-drama directed by Rathna Kumar, in which he plays a Santa Claus. He also has some other interesting projects lined up, such as Kaathu Vaakula Rendu Kaadhal, Laabam, and 19(1)(a).