The Boys boy is slowly and steadily carving a niche in Kollywood. Bharath is fortunate to be spotted by ace director Shankar. “I was part of the Swinger’s dance group and in one of our stage shows, Shankar saw me. He was looking for suitable new faces for his trendy movie, Boys. He took me under his wings,” recalls Bharath. Among the four boys Shankar had introduced in the film, it is Bharath who sustained the onslaught of fellow competitors and made a mark for himself.

“Kathal’ did the trick,” he says. The off-beat love story was directed by Balajee Shakthivel for Shankar’s home banner S Pictures. The teen love story brought out the intensity in Bharath as a performer. So much so that when Shankar was producing the avant-garde movie, Veyil directed by Vasantha Balan, he wished Bharath play the hard working but successful younger brother’s character. Balan wanted to cast some one else. Shankar is known to give total freedom to the director in his home productions. For Veyil, however, he made one recommendation - Bharath that the director had to accept. “It proved to be a right choice. He matched every bit with the other protagonist Pasupathy as both won critical acclaim when the film was shown at Cannes,” says Vasantha Balan whose debut film went to many International film festivals besides turning out to be a major hit in Tamil Nadu.

Bharath played the dumb and deaf in Vishnuvardhan’s runaway hit, Pattiyal, a gangster film. Be it the negative role in Chellamae or the lover boy in Chennai Kathal or the emotional guy in En Magan he steadily rose to ascendance in Tamil cinema. And then the turn took to the action genre. When he was dismissed as suited only for the lover boy roles, he sprang a surprise with the commercial success of Pazhani, a film in the action genre. And he had consolidated this image with the recent Nepali.

“I must thank director Perarasu for breaking my earlier screen image with Pazhani. But to put the film only in the action genre is wrong. Perarasu takes care of all the navarasas in his movies. This film has the brother-sister bonding, sentiment, family drama, humour, punch dialogue besides of course action. Nepali is an action film in a different mould. Perhaps after Kakka Kakka one can find such depth and variation. I am happy my work is appreciated.”

Bharath played a Gurkha in Nepali with Meera Jasmine playing his spouse. The intimate scenes between them are the talk of the town. “Look at us as the characters in the story. The story demanded such chemistry. We both were natural actors. We were very careful at the same time (while enacting the scenes). That’s why the rest of the scenes and the poignant climax came out so well,” opines Bharath.

In his next release, Muniyandi Vilangayil…, he plays a college student hailing from a middle class. “This college is situated in a rural area. An incident happens between the hero and heroine leading to a national issue. It has a very interesting screenplay.” But his praise catch is Sevval directed by the much in demand Hari. The director opted for Bharath despite offers from top heroes. And then there is Armugham to be commenced soon. “Action films do give longevity to one’s career, but not the routine kind. I know if I do the same thing all over again people will get bored. I am choosing such stories that have some room for newness.”

Premisthe, the dubbed version of Kathal ran for over 100 days in Telugu creating new records among dubbed films. Flooded with offers from Telugu producers, he has done one film, “Yuvasena which is a remake of his lone Malayalam movie, 4 The People. I am getting offers from these producers. But right now my concentration is only on Tamil cinema. Anyway my films are being dubbed into Telugu and they are received well.”

The most eligible bachelor in town says that right now there is no time for falling in love as he is in the process of building a career. “My family is happy with my growth. They want me to be remembered as the good, hardworking and dedicated actor.”