Potpourri of titbits about Tamil cinema - P.S.Seethalakshmi
In one of scenes in the film Andavan Kattalai I was to slap Sivaji Ganesan. Understanding my reluctance, Sivaji reminded me about my natural acting in the drama Thenkoodu where I had slapped him on the stage. He encouraged me to slap him and said your natural action in the scene will help me to react properly. I acted emotionally hit him actually by calling him a murderer and completed my acting in one take. Similarly in the film Ratha Thilakam I actually hit Savithri and Rajasri with emotion. I still remember the famous words of Sivaji 'if you want to act originally you must hit originally’.
One day at the end of the drama unable to control my emotions I just touched the feet of Sivaji and kissed it to his shock. I explained to him that I felt emotional because I walk and act over the same stage where Sivaji also walks and I saw the tears of joy in his eyes.
I bought a drama Izhantha Kathal staged by the famous M.R.Radha. I engaged only women to act in all the characters of the drama and staged it before Radha. When M.R.Radha saw the drama and spoke on the stage he said 'in the acting of P.S.Seethalakshmi I have seen my acting in the drama Rathak kaneer' and appreciated me. Thangavelu said if all women like Seethalakshmi starts acting on stage in the role of men then we will have no other alternatives to stay at home cooking and appreciated her acting. It surprised us when she told us how she suffered a fear fever on hearing Radha's coming to view the drama and how she took medicine on the advice of the doctor and acted in the drama.
She appreciated the direction ability of MGR and said that MGR always wanted his fans to enjoy every frame of the film including that of fighting, song and dance and sentiment scenes. She recalled the editorial contributions of him in the success of the film. On her marriage life she said 'I was married to Perumal who was editor for all the MGR films in 1956. He died of a heart attack in 1978 and we have no children. She recalled how MGR, Sivaji and SSR have offered her sister-in-law, mother, sister, good and wicked roles in their films. She fondly remembered her villainous character as sister of M.N.Nambiar rebelling MGR in the film Enga Veettu Pillai. Her last film was Seedan with Dhanush as a hero. She also has acted in a number of TV serials. She cited her stage drama experience for her natural acting.
Finally in a louder voice the 80 years young Seethalakshmi expressed her doubt in the current day directors ability in extracting and exploiting her acting potentials. She lamented that most of the time she wasted her time in the sets without much acting scope and conveyed her doubt about continuing her acting such idling situations.
