from my CINE DIARY

Thiraichuvai

-MAJORDASAN
Senior Tamil Cinema Reporter &
Cinema P.R.O


Tamil filmdom … they say that film industry is a dream factory …it is true to some extent in the sense that it is translating the dreams of many into reality while at the same time rendering many a dream unfulfilled …! Cinema is the most suitable playfield for talents. But we have no idea about the struggles of great artistes and technicians behind the silver screen. Entry into filmdom is a thing which is almost next to impossible. Only a blessed few are lucky.
M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavadar, the matinee idol of yesteryears drew crowds with his very attractive looks and his melodious voice. His hit number “kaayaatha kaanakathe …” is remembered and hummed even today. T. R. Rajakumari, the voluptuous beautiful heroine was the dream-girl of all the men of the period. Her hit movie Chandralekha, a block-buster owed its incredible success to this beauty queen apart from many other factors. And heroes like P. U. Chinnappa, M. K. Radha and T. R. Mahalingam still live in the hearts of the Tamils. MGR and Sivaji Ganesan remained uncrowned kings of Tamil filmdom. Those behind the screen – producers, directors, lyricists, music directors, playback singers, script-writers and dubbing artistes deserve credit for helping the stars to a great extent in their impeccable success.

In this series, I am going to share with you some fascinating anecdotes in the lives of the great artistes that could be of great interest to you all...
Nadigar thilakam’! He was popular as ‘Simmakuralon’ – having the voice of a lion! He was the model for acting for all his successors. Acting meant everything to him. He acquired his acting skills by working on the stage from his younger days and his debut movie was Parasakthi (1952). He was greatly attached to K. B. Sundarambal. He used to ask the great singer render old songs whenever he was free in between his schedules. During the shooting of the film Thiruvilaiyadal, A. P. Nagarajan, the director of the film was preparing a shot for a song sequence with Sundarambal. At that time, Sivaji Ganesan entered the spot and asked the director whether he was going to shoot the ‘sharbat song’! Nobody present there could understand what Sivaji meant. Then Sivaji came out in a lighter vein that he meant “gnana pazhathai pizhindhu …’ song! To this, KBS ridiculed Sivaji as ‘Netrikanna’ in a lighter vein! Then Sivaji pretended as though pacifying KBS and said that he wanted to see the shooting of that particular song because he was very much impressed when he heard its audio version. KBS was teary with joy at Sivaji’s words.

Kaka' Radhakrishnan continued, "Sivaji Ganesan's father Chinnayya Mandrayar was a great patriot. He took part in the freedom struggle. He plotted with some other men to blow up the train with dynamite that was carrying the British army. But the team was caught by the police and Sivaji's father was also put in jail. Sivaji was born on that particular day, on 1 October 1928. His father, who was released after seven years of imprisonment, took Sivaji, a seven-year old to watch Kattabomman drama. In those days, small boys required for one or two scenes in the drama would be picked up from among the audience, they would not be regular artistes. On that day, Sivaji, who was sitting in the front row, was picked up for stage appearance. He was to stand as part of the British army. Sivaji’s first stage experience was an accident, not planned. But, on returning home, Sivaji’s father beat him severely censuring him for having joined the British army (on stage only, of course)! Sivaji’s mother Rajamani Ammal gave her son fomentation as Sivaji had red patches all over his body due to the beatings.
Radhakrishnan recalled some anecdotes that happened when Sivaji worked with M. R. Radha. “M. R. Radha left our troupe and returned after sometime on his own. Both Radha and Sivaji had a lot of affection for each other. Radha used to comb our hair, clean the rooms and even the bathroom as he was always particular about cleanliness. And he knew to repair electrical goods and automobiles.
Sivaji donned the role of a woman in a drama ‘Pathibhakthi’. Sivaji was required to push down Radha and hit him with his leg in a particular scene. But Sivaji hesitated because he had great respect for Radha and looked upon him as his own father. Radha tackled the situation cleverly by falling down on the floor and shouting ‘iyayyo …iyayo …’, signaling to Sivaji to hit him with leg. After the scene was over, he censured Sivaji with harsh words for having failed to act. Radha was always for competitive performance. During the next staging of the play, Sivaji excelled Radha in that particular scene. Radha inculcated in Sivaji the feeling of identifying oneself with the character he acted.

SIVAJI OPEN TALK

I should thank Major Sundararajan only for my close contact with Sivaji Ganesan. When I interviewed Sivaji for the first time I asked him how it happened that Sivaji acted in the role that was marked for MGR in the ‘Sivaji kanda Indu rajyam’ drama, written by Arignar Anna. 'Madi Oli' Shanmugam tried to defuse the situation by telling Sivaji that I, being very young, didn’t know that I shouldn’t have put that question. But, Shivaji didn’t mind my question. He said, "In the year 1946, Dravidar Kazhagam was making arrangements to hold its 7th Self-respect conference in Madras. The drama was meant for that occasion only. Even the costumes were ready for MGR. But subsequently MGR backed out, I didn’t know the reason. Anna asked me to do the role and gave me the script which contained 72 pages of dialogues. The time left for the staging was only one week. And, Anna came again in the evening. I performed before him delivering the dialogues with suitable modifications in voice. Anna was so impressed and surprised at my performance. The dresses stitched for MGR were altered to suit my measurements. Anna brought Periyaar who used to say that fine arts and artistes were responsible for the degeneration of the society to watch the drama. Periyaar was so pleased and wondered that Anna had conveyed in a single drama what all he had planned to tell at the conference. When Anna introduced me as Ganesan to Periyaar, he told me that I would be Sivaji Ganesan thereafter. I got this title even before I entered cinema."
Director K. Subramaniam, the Godfather of Tamil cinema had introduced many new faces. At one time, Azha. Rama. Azhagappa Chettiar and ‘Lena’ Laksman Chettiar invited Subramaniam to Karaikudi. Azhagappa Chettiar wanted to make a film in Subramaniam’s direction. All the three watched the stage drama ‘Pavalakkodi’ there. Subramaniam was terribly impressed with a very handsome young man doing the role of Arjuna and singing in a melodious voice. He was also impressed with the heroine. He then called for both the hero and the heroine and asked them both whether they were willing to act in the cinema ‘Pavalakkodi’. Thyagaraja Bhagwadhar and S. D. Subbulakshmi were the hero and the heroine. MKT got Rs. 1,000 as his remuneration while Subbulakshmi got Rs. 2,000. The director of the film got just Rs. 700 as his salary!