NSK's Partner, MGR's Mentor, Sivaji's Senior! Singer, Actor and Super Star of the 1940s and 50s - KRR

Like many of his contemporaries, K R Ramasamy started his life in theatre, joining the Madurai Original Boys Company when he was 11, which had also launched several other actors and Superstars such as P. U. Chinnappa, M. G. Ramachandran and Kali N. Rathinam. It was here that, KRR met Kalaivanar N. S. Krishnan and formed a bond that would last several years. He had travelled to Ceylon with the troupe and played several roles. One memorable one was the title role in the play Menaka — yes, he was the heroine!

He was playing Hemanatha Bhagavathar in Siva Leela in Kumbakonam when he heard that his father was dying. He would attend to his father the whole day and turn up for his role at night. So conscious was he of his professional responsibility that even on the day his father died, he completed the rituals and turned up for the night’s performance of Ramayana, where he was playing Hanuman.

KRR’s first film was Gumasthavin Penn (The Clerk’s Daughter) in 1941, in which he played the role of a troublesome film director called V. P. Var to great acclaim. It was during this time that he became a follower of Periyar and Anna. Anna wrote a review, praising KRR’s performance. The film’s assistant directors, Krishnan and Panju, promised KRR that they would cast him as hero when they directed a film. And in 1944, when they made Poompavai, they cast KRR as Thirugnanasambandar, a role he played to perfection, singing the songs himself.

Around this time, NSK handed over Yedhartham Ponnuswamy’s drama troupe to KRR to run. With the subsequent arrest of NSK, KRR fell out with T.A. Mathuram and S.V. Sahasranamam, left the troupe, and started his own Krishnan Nataka Sabha. He staged Anna’s play Velaikaari in 1946, which ran one full year at Ramanathan Chettiar Hall in Thanjavur. It was made into a film with KRR playing the lead in 1949. It had a court scene where the hero rids society of irrational beliefs and practices, repeated later by Karunanidhi in Parasakthi, Sivaji Ganesan’s launch pad.

KRR continued to act in plays even after he became a popular screen hero. A close follower and confidante of Anna, his plays were great fund-raisers for the fledgling DMK party.

He staged the play Or Iravu, written by Anna, and acted in the film version. He was with Anna and his party right from its inception in 1949. MGR has said that it was KRR who brought him to Periyar and Anna. Sivaji, too, considered KRR, the senior actor and role model when he too entered movies from theatre. In fact, Sivaji had played the female lead when KRR acted as Manohara in a play before entering movies! Read more about him from the original source here.

This song is from the movie Sathaaram starring KRR, Banumathi, Gemini and others. Music by G Ramanathan, Lyrics by Thanjai Ramaiah Dass and sung by KRR himself.

Don't be Lazy! Inspirational Song! Sensational Super Hit Movie Starring, Produced and Directed by MGR!

Naadodi Mannan is a Sensational Super Hit Movie starring M. G. R in the lead role supported by P Bhanumathi, Saroja Devi and others. MGR himself had produced and directed this movie. Commenting on the title Nadodi Mannan, MGR is said to have confessed that if the movie profited, he would be a King (Mannan); if it flopped, he would be a homeless nomad (Nadodi). The movie was in the making for a few years. All dedicated members of MGR’s entourage were put to work night and day on the project. K. Ramnoth was appointed to direct this movie, but upon his sudden demise on 4 October 1956, MGR had taken up the direction responsibilities. The latter portions depicting the happenings in the island were shot in colour. In turn, MGR received help from unexpected parties. B. Nagi Reddy had supported by allowing MGR for grand sets in Vijaya Studios, which was then Asia's biggest film studio. Until then only studio owners could make movies with magnificent sets. Likewise, S. S. Vasan of Gemini Studios had lent his expensive equipment voluntarily so that the miniature shots scenes would come out well. It is believed that it was the only time that any equipment of Gemini Studious was ever permitted to be taken out of the premises. Another person to support the venture was Senior Director K. Subramanyam who had been requested by MGR to oversee his work. K. Subramanyam had attended just one shooting schedule and was so impressed with MGR’s diligent approach that felt that there was no need for anyone to supervise MGR. K. Subramanyam in turn had made all arrangements for many of the outdoor shoots, especially at Munnar and he even flew to Bombay to ensure a fresh supply of color film so that the shooting could continue uninterrupted. (Source: Wikipedia). This particular song is an inspirational song written by the famous lyricist Pattukottai Kalyanasundaram, motivating lazy people. Music for this particular song was composed by S M Subbaiah Naidu and sung by TMS. The film was released in the year 1958. It was a super duper hit and ran for more than 100 days in all major centres. The Film was re-released in 2005 and ran successfully for 100 days yet again 50 years later!

Correlation Between Intelligence and Success, Wealth and Compassion, Love and Marriage, Dreams and Reality - All in Just One Song!

Is there any correlation between intelligence and success? If at all there is a correlation, according to the lyrics of this song of Kannadasan from the movie Annai, there is an inversely proportional correlation rather than a direct relationship! The song goes on to establish a similar inverse proportion between various other aspects of life's realities that we face in our day to day living and societal experiences.  Kannadasan's phenomenal success is due to his gift and ability to present simple and subtle niceties of life on the one end and on the other end of the spectrum the harsh and painful realities of life, with equal clarity using a clever arrangement of tastefully poetic words without compromising the greatness of Tamil Poetry's Classical Grammar! While we are with this song it makes sense to discuss a bit about what success really is. Is success money? Is success good relationships? Is success good health and fitness or as Martin Seligman says is it Good Character? All the above aspects (except health) which we assume to be elements of success are basically components related to physical pleasure and our perceptions of externally oriented societal interactions. The truth is every human being wants to be happy! But none of the above can make you happy. The richest person can be unhappy! A person surrounded by friends and relations can be unhappy. The person with best fitness, health and character can be unhappy. So the most successful person is one who can be truly happy in spite of and irrespective of all these components of life! There is a saying, 'An artist is never poor'. The logic behind this saying is that the constant creative process the artist experiences is so rich that he doesn't need other things to be happy! So live a rich and creative life! Be Happy! Thereby Be Successful! You don't have to prove anything to anyone! It's your life! As Shakespeare says, Live it "As You Like It"! Enjoy this song from the movie Annai, sung by the great Chandrababu (A Deserved Separate Post about Him Will Follow Soon), written by Kannadasan and Composed by R Sudharsanam.

Two Great Legends of Comedy Together in a Comical Song from a Super Hit Movie with Award Winning Performances!

Two great legends of Comedy Chandrababu and Nagesh have featured in this rare appearance together in this comical song from the super hit movie Annai released in the year 1962. The movie was based on a Bengali Play and film which was in turn based on the 1938 Hollywood movie 'The Old Maid' which had been a turning point in the career of one of the most acclaimed actresses of Hollywood, Bette Davis. Both Chandrababu and Nagesh were great legends and had their own rightful place in the history of Tamil Cinema. Both actors had somewhat similar personal lives filled with sorrow due to personal and financial problems. Both were great friends of Sivaji and had acted in several movies with him. Though Chandrababu had acted in a few movies with MGR during the early stages of his career, it was Nagesh who had been MGR's favourite and Nagesh had virtually been part of almost all MGR movies during the 1960s and a few during the 70s. The movie Annai saw Chandrababu and Nagesh working together in this comical song, though Nagesh had just played a small cameo in the movie. Apparently Bhanumathi had been reluctant to play the role initially since the original character in the Bengali Play and the Hollywood movie had had a negative undertone to it. When AV Meiappan and the directors Krishnan Panchu had made suitable changes to the Tamil adaptation, Bhanumathi had accepted to play the role and she eventually ended up receiving the President's award for this movie. Incidentally her co-star S V Rangarao had also received the President's award for his performance in the movie. The music for the movie had been composed by R Sudharsanam and lyrics were written by both Kannadasan and Koththamangalam Subbu. This particular song was written by Koththamangalam Subbu. The song was sung by TMS, A L Raghavan and L R Easwari.

Three Distinctly Different Roles in a Single Movie! Only One Actor Could Have Carried it Off with Such Class and Conviction!

This is a hit song from the movie Deiva Magan starring Sivaji, Jayalalitha, Nagesh, Major and others. This song features Sivaji and Jayalalitha and other supporting actresses. In fact many of these supporting actresses made it big in the silver screen and in the small screen in their own little separate ways. The 'Mala' in this song is the actress Bhanumathi (not to be confused with Bhanumathi Ramakrishna) who acted in several movies in supporting roles and in many TV serials as well. The combination of MSV and TMS has produced yet another hit song. Sivaji's performance as the father and two sons (Triple Role) is one of the most unforgettable performances in the history of Tamil film industry! This song begins with a small clip in which there is a humorous interaction between Sivaji and Nagesh as a prelude to the actual song. Sivaji is supposed to have drawn inspiration from the mannerisms and behavior of the famous direct C V Sridhar for his role in this movie as the youngest son!

Another Great Performance by the Greatest Actor

This is a classical music based song from the movie Ambikaapathi featuring Sivaji, Bhanumathi, Nambiyar, Nagaiyah and others. No better tribute to TMS and Sivaji than this comment on youtube about this song, "TMS's unique performance with his solid voice. Excellent. Thanks for posting this. Of course, Sivaji Ganesan gives the impression that he is the one who has actually sung the song!" by nathenpeter7. The classical music knowledge of some the people who post comments is really amazing. If you go through the comments you can see how these people have pointed out the different raagaas used in this composition in the different parts of this song. P Bhanumathi is supposedly the only actress to have addressed both MGR and Sivaji by their names in those days!