Titbits from the dream world

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.