Gopishantha Manorama reigned over Tamil Cinema like no other in a career that spanned over six decades which saw her featuring in over 5000 stage appearances and acting in more than 1500 movies. She was featured in the Guinness Book of World records in the mid 80's when she crossed the 1000 movie mark. She has paired/acted with comic actors across three generations which is no mean achievement considering the fact that in a male dominated movie industry very few actresses tend to last and be active for just a few years during their entire career! Having acted with the likes of Anna, Karunanidhi and SSR during her stint as a very successful stage artist known for her playback singing and emphatic dialogue delivery she went on to pair with comedy actors across generations starting from MR Radha, KA Thangavelu, VK Ramasami to Chandrababu, Nagesh, Cho to Suruli Rajan, Thengai Srinivasan to the likes of Kishmu Gowndamani and Kumari Muthu during the 80's and 90's. Known fondly as 'Achi' amongst her fans she is rated very high by her contemporaries and co-stars. Nagesh wit whom she has paired in more than 50 films had mentioned in an awards ceremony that he considered Manorama as a female version of Sivaji. The same feeling has been echoed by Jayalalitha, Cho, Sivakumar and several other Co-stars of hers. She also sang playback for herself in several movies under various music directors. This is one such song from the movie Thillaanaa Mohanaambaal in which she has acted and sung playback for herself under the music direction of K V Mahadevan. The movie is a classic super hit and you can read more about this movie in an earlier post here.
Showing posts with label Comedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comedy. Show all posts
Comedian with a Conscience! Most Respected Comic Actor of Tamil Cinema
There is one comic track that is more popular than the phenomenal mega hit movie of which it is part of - Thangavelu's Comedy Track in the super hit movie Kalyana Parisu. The comedy sequence in this movie featuring K A Thangavelu, Gemini and M Saroja (Thangavelu's wife) is an integral part of the legend and history of Tamil Cinema. Thangavelu was a seasoned Stage artist with his own very successful drama troupe and in a way was one of the pioneers of Comedy Drama in Tamil Nadu. Apart from having created a name for himself as a Comedian with supreme comic timing he also earned a name for himself as a Comedian with a conscience since his comic performances were always for the whole family. His comic sequence with Kamal Hassan (as a child artiste) in Paarthaal Pasi Theerum is hilarious and a timeless classic. He had excelled in negative roles during the early stages of his acting career. He was comfortable and partnered with all the leading actors of the 50s, 60s and 70s with equal aplomb and had the ability to cut across age groups, liked by all sections of the audience. Tamil Cinema has seen some of the greatest comic geniuses of the world. Thangavelu was surely one of the greatest and most respected. Enjoy this song from the movie Alibabavum 40 Thirudarkalum sung by Ghantasala. Lyrics - A Maruthasi and Music - S Dhakshinamoorthi.
Another Comedy Song
This is a comedy song from the movie Thenali starring Kamal Hassan, Jayaram, Jothika, Devyani and others. This song features Kamal dancing with Jothika and Devyani and has been picturized as a dream sequence. The music for the movie was composed by A R Rehman.
Comedy Song - Balachander Hits
This is a comical song from a hilarious movie Edhir Neechal, with a slightly sad undertone that has Nagesh in the lead. The movie was directed by K Balachander and Nagesh had portrayed the character of Maadhu brilliantly in this movie. This particular song features Srikanth and Sowcar Janaki. It is rare to see Sowcar Janaki in a comedy role. This is one of those rare performances by her!
A Comical Song from a Great Comedy Movie
This song is from the K Balachandar movie Bhaamaa Vijayam (1967) starring Nagesh, Muthuraman, Major Sundar Rajan, T S Balaiah, Kanchana, Sowcar Janaki, Rajashree, Jayanthi, Srikanth and others. The movie revolves around the drastic change in the lives of the members of a simple middle income group family when a movie star arrives to stay in the neighboring house. The movie is hilarious to say the least. The movie had been directed by K Balachandar and the music for the movie had been composed by MSV. This particular song had been sung by TMS and LR Easwari. The song had been written by Kannadasan. Sivaji Ganesan had referred to Balaiah as one of his gurus the other one being MR Radha. You can see the genius of Balaiah in action in this song!
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