No one likes to work and I am no exception: Vijay Antony

Chennai: With thousands of ardent fans packing the venue to see him live, with excitement mounting just a couple of yards away, Vijay Antony sits down for an interview moments before he is scheduled to perform a concert in Trichy. The singer-composer has to wait, while actor Vijay Antony prepares to promote his upcoming film, Romeo.

Some do it for the passion, and some for the wealth and fame, and some just for the thrill of success, and others for all these reasons combined. But, what pushes Vijay Antony? “Responsibility,” he says, “It is not motivation that drives me, for it is fleeting. What drives me is the responsibility I feel towards the commitments I have made.” The actor goes on to reveal how he has no great ambitions or goals and asserts that he has a stoic detachment to his career and the successes it brings him. This is a philosophy he extends to his life well, as he says, “I don’t value my life”

But then the lengths he goes to make sure the interview happens, amidst the chaos of preparing for a concert, seems to belie his supposed indifference to his career. Vijay explains, “That is because I am focused on the moment and I want to give my best for the commitments I have made. There is no calculated strategy behind this.

To be honest, Romeo is director Vinayak Vaithianathan’s dream. It is just another film for me.” Vijay reminds us that Romeo is also the collective dream of so many others as well. “The film is also launching the career of composer Barath Dhanasekar. So I feel a sense of shared responsibility,” he says. On how the project came into fruition, Vijay Antony recollects how he was initially hesitant to take up Romeo, since it was a romantic film at its core, a genre he largely stayed away from.