Vijay Sethupathi is 'not comfortable with that pan-India statement'

Vijay Sethupathi, who has given several career-defining performances in Tamil cinema, is now making his debut in the Hindi language with Raj and DK’s web series ‘Farzi’. The show, which will stream on ‘Prime Video’ on February 10, also stars Shahid Kapoor and Raashi Khanna in pivotal roles. But Sethupathi doesn’t like being addressed as a ‘pan-India’ star.

In the latest interview, Sethupathi was addressed as a ‘pan-India star’, but he immediately responded, “No sir, I am an actor.” He told a famed entertainment channel, “I am not comfortable with that pan-India statement. Sometimes that gives pressure also. I am just an actor and no need to put a label under it.” He also expressed his wish to do a film in every language, be it Bengali or Gujarati.

Raashii Khanna, who has starred in movies in various languages, also said she doesn’t like the term ‘pan-India’. She opined, “We are all actors first, so why divide? It doesn’t come from us, the actors, wanting to be called ‘pan-India’. It’s probably just the people who are putting it out there.” She added that the term divides the actors even further after being divided into Bollywood, Tollywood and Kollywood.

“Why are you dividing us? We have already been divided into Bollywood, Tollywood and Kollywood. Then there is North and South. There is so much division already and now suddenly on top of it all is ‘pan India’. Why are we categorising everything?”