Guru Somasundaram on Mark: Stephen is not a run-of-the-mill gangster; he’s the one audiences will want to see more of | Exclusive

Minnal Murali fame Guru Somasundaram is making his mainstream Kannada film debut this Christmas. Guru is one of 4 villains in Kiccha Sudeep’s action-packed cop thriller, Mark, directed by Vijay Kartikeyaa. Guru plays Stephen, a gangster who has a conflict with Sudeep’s SP Ajay Markandayya, as seen in the trailer of the film and the dance number Masth Malaika. “What attracted me to the role was that Stephen’s not a run-of-the-mill gangster. There’s a comical touch to the character, which I liked. Vijay had narrated my character graph, which was quite interesting and that’s why I decided to do the film,” the actor told OTTplay.

Guru Somasundaram: I only focus on good stories

Guru adds that Stephen is a rather colourful character, both in his persona and his styling, but besides the appeal of the role, Mark is also on his filmography now because he’s recently decided to expand his horizons even to languages that he’s not confident with. “For the longest time, I limited myself to Tamil and Malayalam cinema only, because I would not accept films from languages that I do not know. Off late, I have stopped caring about the language and only focus on good stories. I can always learn my lines and deliver,” he said.

The limitation of a movie like Mark, though, is that there are a lot of characters played by actors like Yogi Babu, Naveen Chandra, Vikranth, Gopalkrishna Deshpande, Roshni Prakash, Deepshika, Archana Kottige, among others, in an overall run-time of less than 2-and-a-half hours. Obviously, the central focus is Sudeep’s Ajay Markandayya, so, where is the scope of character development for anyone else? “The pace of the narrative is very fast, so you can’t say one character is more important than the other. Everyone contributes to the story. As far as I am concerned, I am very satisfied with what I got to do. This is a very interesting character; he is not like a routine commercial cinema villain. Stephen has ample weightage in the larger scheme of things,” adds Guru.

Also read: Mark actor Naveen Chandra: People still recognise me by my characters, not as a hero 

The actor’s upcoming filmography is mainly in Tamil and Telugu, which, he’d like to expand to more Kannada also. “In Malayalam, I have stopped doing small roles. I am not averse to character roles, but they have to be significant. I would rather only do protagonist or antagonist roles in Malayalam,” Guru signs off.

Guru Somasundaram FAQs

Q. What is Guru Somasundaram's claim to fame?

A. Guru Somasundaram has been active in cinema since 2011, but his big break came with the Malayalam superhero movie Minnal Murali, in which he was the antagonist, opposite Tovino Thomas.

Q. Which is Guru Somasundaram's Kannada debut film?

A. Guru Somasundaram makes his Kannada film denbut with Mark, led by Kiccha Sudeep. Guru plays a gangster callled Stephen in the film tht relases in theatres on December 25, 2025