Evergreen Memories: July 2017

Sunday 30 July 2017

NADIGAR THILAGAM SIVAJI GANESAN

LEGENDARY ACTOR

During my childhood, I was the most fascinated fan of Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan. At my 20 years, I had watched only Sivaji films and watched only very fews MGR films. I was a staunch supporter of Congress Party then, because of Kamarajar and Sivaji. There were many quarrels betweenme and my school mates with this concept. I used to watch most of the Sivaji”s films, which I adore much. Most of our time, we used to review scene by scene of how Sivaji delivered his dialogues, how he acts, how he reacts to the pathos scenes. There can be no doubt that Sivaji Ganesan was one of the finest actors that the country had ever seen. Sivaji Ganesan gained popularity overnight with his first debut Parasakthi released in 1952. The success was due to his acting with his vast experience in the drama field and the dialogue written by Kalaigner Karunanidhi.

UTHAMA PUTHIRAN

In the film "Uthamaputhiran"(1958), he played a dual role. One of the roles had a negative shade and the style that he played in it was incredible. One famous dance scene which is memorable in this film and still no actor had never beaten his style. Sivaji was more concerned with the dance master Hera Lal for the credit.

PASAMALAR

I was thoroughly weeping when I was 10 years old, as I saw the PASAMALAR climax scene. Not just me, most of the audience at the theatre was weeping because of the touching dialogues and acting of Sivaji and Savithiri. The film was released during 1961.

BALE PANDHYA

This film was a tamil comedy film directed by B.R.Pandulu. The film stars were Sivaji, M.R.Radha, Devika and Balaji in lead roles. It released in 1962 and Sivaji played three characters and his co-star M.R.Radha played dual roles. Viswanathan & Ramamoorthy are the music directors. The film was completed in 11 days, which a world record for a film to complete in such a short span and it was shot in three different locations. This film was a milestone film in comedy.

THILLANA MOHANAMBAL

Thillaanaa Mohanambal was a 1968 Tamil-language film directed by A. P. Nagarajan starring Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini in the lead roles. The film was based on the novel written by Kothamangalam Subbu which had published in a popular Tamil Magazine 'Ananda Vikatan' as weekly episodes. Sivaji Ganesan acted as a devoted Nadeswaram player. He met Padmini, who was equally a devoted Bharatha natiyam dancer and they both fell in love with each other. After a series of U turns, they will be united. This was a film of a dance and music. Both the legends were engulfing each other with their acting skills.

VIETNAM VEEDU

Another heartfelt movie at that age was Vietnam veedu, which was a film directed by Sudaram, a famous dramatist. The Vietnam veedu drama staged many times and because of the overwhelming audience support later it was made in to a movie. In this, Sivaji and Padmini, who was another giant actress of Tamil film industry acted and touched the hearts of the millions. This is the story of a upper middle class family.

MUDAL MARIYATHAI

In Mudal Mariyathai the film directed by Bharathiraja in 1985 was with a different theme. The theme was critical. In that film, Sivaji's age was more than fifty, already married, lived with his wife, fell in love with the girl who was in her thirties. In the entire film he never touched heroine. The scenic beauty of the film and the background music by Illayaraja paved the film a grant success.

Donning versatile roles

Sivaji appeared more than 300 films, in most of the films he played the multiple roles, family roles, commercial roles, and the Lord Shiva role. The portrayal of Lord shiva in the movie Thiruvilayaadal won him a lot of honour in and around the film industry. In the movie Navarathiri (1964), Sivaji donned nine different roles with Savithiri, that represented the nine emotional states of a person.
Veerapandia Kattabomman
No one can deny deliberately mentioning Sivaji, without mentioning Veerapandia Kattabomman, or Kattabomman without mentioning Sivaji. The dialogue delivered in the film by Sivaji was is once a national dialogue of Tamilnadu and without delivering the dialogues, no one become an actor or no drama would end without the dialogue of Sivaji Ganesan.

Death
Suffering from respiratory problems and a prolonged heart ailment for about 10 years. He died on July, 21,2001.at the age of 73. His funeral was attended by thousands of viewers, politicians and personalities from the South Indian film fraternity.

Saturday 22 July 2017

MANGALAMPALLI BALAMURALI KRISHNA

Dr Balamurali Krishna

Childhood

He was born in the then unified Andhra Pradesh which was the part of Madras Presidency. He was a born musician. From his six years until his death, he has given over 25000 concerts worldwide. He was a very simple man, got eight doctorates, out of which two are from West Bengal. In Bengal, he was a very popular musician.

His first major concert was in a temple in Vijayawada when he was 6 to 8 years old. His Guruji was the great grand disciple of Thiagaraja. Balamurali Krishna went his Guriji’s house and learn music.

Legendary Musician

When he attained 14 to 16 years old, he composed 72 melakarthi. Traditional ragas were with 5 ragas. But Balamurali Krishna made it with 3 or 4 ragas. He played Viola, as for his observations Viola is the male instrument, while Violine is the female instrument. He was never practiced music in his home. Surprisingly, none of his relatives never saw him, when he had practiced the music. He was a born genius. He never went to school except for a few days, but he studied only with Guriji in his Gurukulam. He was very fond of English hence he had learned English. He knows many languages. He had contributed a big lot in the world of music.

Film Songs

In Tamil cinema, he sang many famous songs china Kannan azhaikiran, Oru naalpodhuma and Thangaratham vanthathu. On one concert of Mr Illayaraja on December 28, 2011, at Nehru Stadium at Chennai, Dr Balamurali Krishna on his eighties sang "china Kannan azhaikiran "with a huge applause from the people. Illayaraja was the original composer of the great song.

Last Moment

Some months before his demise, I saw him in a concert in the Arulmigu Kalpaleewarar Temple, Mylapore. He looked as usual and I heard his concert more than half an hour. He looked as usual and worn his customary clothes. The same voice of the master musician ringing my ears.