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.

The First Dance Super Star of Tamil Cinema - Kumari Kamala

Kumari Kamala entered the Tamil Movie Industry in the year 1938 at the age of four as a child artist and dancer in the movie Vaalibar Sangam. Her dancing skills and talent got noticed from the outset and she started doing more films including a few Hindi films. Her first major hit was Jagathalaprathapan which was released in 1944, a movie that featured her famous snake dance performance. She played a double role in the movie Sri Valli in 1945. She learnt Bharatha Naatiyam under the tutelage of Vzhuvoor B Ramaiah Pillai and took that particular form of dancing to great heights even after leaving the movie industry by establishing a famous dance school in Long Island in the US. Legend has it that her dance movements were so swift and flowing, the motion picture cameras of the 1930s and 1940s were unable to capture her movements perfectly! She has starred in more than 100 movies and Tamil and other South Indian Languages. Enjoy her performance in this song from Sivaji's Debut movie Parasakthi. Music by R Sudarsanam and Lyrics by the former CM of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi. 

Tribute to Mahatma Gandhi

This is a hit song from the movie Naam Iruvar (1947), starring T R Mahalingam, T R  Ramachandran, V K Ramasami, T A Jayalakshmi, Baby Kamala and others. This song features Baby Kamala who later went on to become a dancing super star of the Tamil Movie industry in her own right. The plot is as follows. T R Mahalingam plays the part of Sukumar, the son of a black-marketer  who falls in the company of evil friends and invests his money in making a film in accordance with their advice. However, the film never sees the light of the day and leaves Sukumar heavy in debt. He is eventually questioned by financiers and when he fails to pay them, is dragged to court. How he is rescued from his perilous situation forms the climax of the story. At the end of the movie, Sukumar becomes a nationalist and a Gandhian. Nam Iruvar also marked the debut of V. K. Ramasamy who plays the role of an evil old man who desires to marry Sukumar's lady-love Kannamma. The film had a prominent comedy track provided by T. R. Ramachandran of Sabapathy fame. (Courtesy Wikipedia) Music was composed by R Sudarsanam and the song was written by Kothamangalam Subbu. The song was sung by M S Rajeswari. The movie was produced and directed by AVM.