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one more tidbit....those who saw the film on kamaraj will recall the episode of a young boy who had to go to england for an eye operation.the person was my cousin.the man who took the matter to kamaraj was my dad....so much for family history.
21st july , the day the statue is coming up is fast approaching.
catch up with you all soon.
Balaji sar,
Thanks for the info on Mr. Sundaram. I think its about time we give due credit. Those films you mentioned are blessed with great camerawork. Yes, the photography for the song Deevane is amazing. I always imagined the song was for indoors and voila! Its smack outside, under bright sun.
Usually bright sunshine is associate with happiness or comedy, but I guess this movie (And Mr. Sundaram) changed all that. Brilliant shot.
Of course, with NT you don't have to put too much hard work.
These days you need heavy camerawork to compensate terrible lack of acting capability. But lets not go into that...
Mohanram sar,
Finally get to hear from you. I read about Kavalai Illatha Manithan in Kannadhasan's own Manavasam. You dad's right. His Kavalai started after that.
As for Ethiroli, I think KB did a great job and he managed to get the most out of NT. I sometimes wonder if KB thought that NT will take the limelight away from the story, hence not working with him much. But that wouldn't be true, as NTs work with Bhim Singh, Banthulu, APN and KSG proved that story came first.
But KB, I believe, has written story and dialogue for some of NTs films. Neelavanam? My memory is bad.
And Balaji sar,
I shall stay away from Lorry Driver RK, even though the initial is same as mine.
from abkhlabhi,
the following interview given by Manorama :
'He had the luck of a king'
Manorama
Manorama revered Sivaji Ganesan as an actor. She loved him like her own brother. And respected him as a senior costar.
Every word of praise from him made her immensely happy and she had no qualms in admitting that she cared a lot for his opinion.
All those who had watched the funeral procession of Sivaji Ganesan saw Manorama standing on the van, near the body, crying inconsolably.
I met her when she was shooting for a Tamil serial, three days after Sivaji’s death, she looked devastated. As she talked, she choked, tears welled up in her eyes and trickled down uncontrollably. At times, she had to pause for a second or so to control her sobs:
It was in 1955 that I first met 'Nadigar Thilakam' Sivaji Ganesan. I was acting in a drama company in Thindivanam, and Sivaji had come to watch a performance of ours.
The play was Neethipathi.
I can’t say how excited all of us were when we came to know that he would be coming to watch the play. We had seen his films like Parasakthi and were great fans of his. On that day, all I could think of was Anna’s visit. I could not even think of what I was going to say on stage.
I had a double role in the play; I was the heroine and also the villain. Anna watched the whole drama intently and then spoke.
Sivaji Ganesan He said, "The girl who played a double role in the drama acted superbly. She enacted both the roles so differently that it is difficult to find that it was the same person. I am amazed. It is not at all easy to do a double role in a drama. I can only compare her acting talent to that of Anjali Devi."
I was in the seventh heaven. Anjali Devi was the topmost heroine those days. When Anna compared me to her, I could not control my tears.
After the function, he came to me and said, “I am certain you will come up in life. You have a great future.”
That was my first meeting with Sivaji Ganesan -- an unforgettable one.
Later, I came to Madras and started acting in Kalaignar Karunanidhi’s dramas.
Anna would watch them and tell others that I acted very well. Not once did he tell me directly that I was good. Even when I gave a good shot, he would say, "It was good but you can do better."
He said so because he wanted me to excel.
But he would tell others, "There is no one who can beat Mano in emoting," and those people would come and tell me.
It was only after I did Thillana Mohanambal with Anna that people started accepting me as an actress. I was very frightened before the shoot began. The very thought of me acting opposite Sivaji made me a nervous wreck.
There was a scene in the film where I had to listen to him play the nadaswaram, and then play the same ragam. We had to compete with each other; it was a memorable experience.
Another scene will be etched in my mind always -- his line was: “We should be brother and sister not only in this birth but in all the other births too.” Then, I was to reply: “Anna, even now, I am your sister and that will never change.”
I can't forget these dialogues and the way he delivered them. You had to be there near him to enjoy his skill. I was one of those fortunate people.
Only once did he tell me that I acted well -- that was on May 26 this year. It was my birthday. And, as usual, I had gone to take blessings from my Anna. He blessed me and gave a Rs 100 note as a gift.
We started talking about various things, and his wife happened to comment about somebody else who made a mess while delivering dialogues in the Madurai dialect.
Immediately, Anna looked at me and said, "Come on, is there anybody else here who can talk in different dialects like Mano? She is the only person and she is an expert."
Those words still resonate in my ear; they transported me to heaven. That was the first time he directly praised me.
I don't want to say how good an actor he was -- everybody knows how good he was. All those who came after became famous because of his dialogues.
Even Kamal Haasan as a little boy got attention in Kalathoor Kannamma by repeating the dialogues that Anna said in Veerapandiya Katta Bomman. Why? Because Anna was the authority in acting.
He was an acting encyclopaedia.
Have you seen his introductory scene in Parasakthi?
Sivaji Ganesan S S Rajendran was trying to wake him up but he was not supposed to. When he did, you should see the way he threw away the sheet and looked at the camera! It was like a lion getting up from his sleep.
The lion which woke up from his sleep, nearly 50 years ago, never slept after that; he was roaring ever since.
Have you heard of any other actor who rose to such heights with one film? There is only one -- Sivaji Ganesan. No one else has such talent, ability and good luck.
God has given him such luck that it never left him till the last moment. I am witness to it.
After the day’s shooting at a casino in Kathmandu, we decided to try our luck out.
Anna put in a 50 paise coin and turned the knob. You should have seen the number of coins that poured out! He put one more coin. Again, there was a flood of coins.
That is why I say he was born with the luck of a king, and he remained a king even after his death.
One of my dreams was to act in a film directed by him. Unfortunately that was never fulfilled.
In real life too, he was my brother. I would enter his house and run upstairs, where he would be resting.
I shared everything, both happiness and sorrow, with Anna. He would console me whenever I was down.
Manorama He was not like my own brother; he was my own brother. When my mother passed away at 5:45 hrs one morning; Anna was at my home in fifteen minutes. He wanted me to inform my brothers and sisters. When I said, I had none, he pacified me by saying, ‘You have me, your Anna’. He immediately took charge just as my own brother would and sat outside till the body was taken to the crematorium.
How could I repay him?
He knew to act only before the camera; he never acted in front of people. He was genuine.
The moment I came to know of his death, I ran to his house and sat there near the body. I didn’t get up till his body was taken out. I refused to even to drink a drop of water.
Later on, I stood in the lorry for three hours and accompanied his body to the crematorium. The others told me to eat; but I refused. I wanted to punish my body and show my gratitude to my Anna. How else could I show my love for my own brother?
In October, he would complete 74. We wanted to have a huge celebration for his 75th birthday, but that was not to be.
I have lost my own brother. My only wish is to be born as his own sister in the next birth.
As told to Shobha Warrier
It is extremely fortunate that shri sundaram, affectinately called "captain" by all those in the camera and lights department is still active and shares his memories of giants he worked with...NT,Raj kapoor,guru dutt to name a few.mr.vijaykanth took the captain title later,p.n.sundaram was and will be the first captain to all the light boys and camera men..he is also extremely active in FEFSI , the film employees federation...a true master of the craft. In fact when we were shooting mr. romeo a prabhu deva starrer...he was the cameraman for all the 'double action' shots. There are not many people around with a mastery of the mitchell camera.....the predecessor to our ARRI cameras of today.Mitchell is still preferred for all trick photography........sorry for digressing, but thought must say a few words about one of the living legends of tamil cinema in a thread that is meant for the greatest of all legends.
one small correction , they were not called vincent sundaram.... mr.vincent was always considered by pns as his "senior" and guru. they were all with even greater people like marcus bartley...sheeesh...maybe this thread will get diverted, so let me stop.
Correct Mr. MohanramQuote:
Originally Posted by mohanraman
For PNS, Vincent was his guru only . I think for Ooti varai uravu also PNS did the camera work .
Jayanan Vincent did well in malayalam movies I think
KB's ethiroli with Shivaji was good but when 2 greats join it's always a problem in doing which way (KB's way or NT's way)
that's why KB refrained from both MGR & Shivaji.
P.N.Sundaram is an amazing Cameraman whose work in Nenjil or aalayam was incredible
Talking abour P.Madhavan, yes he is a great director and got the best out of NT
but still APN & BHIMSINGH are the 2 who brought all shades of NT.
Mohanram sir,
NT in major chandrakanth
Major sundarrajan equally fitted that role very well and did a great job in screen aswell
KB did do one movie with NT called Edhiroli.A classy movie which unfortunately did not do well at the box office.Quote:
Originally Posted by S.Balaji
The movie is about this one man who lives by 10 rules the first of which is 'One should not lie'.He in one instance
he breaks this rule ,it leads him to break rest of the rules and throws his peaceful life into chaos.How he fights back
and brings his life back on track forms the rest of the story.An amazing movie beautifully played out by NT.I think the
heroine is KR vijaya am not sure though.Watch it if you get a chance.
I think the question did not arose as to whose way the film was. It went both ways. NT is always great when playing a conflicted man, and KB manged to squeeze the last acting juice out of NT. Ethiroli has both the echoes (intended) of NT and KB. It's like Thalapathi which looked like both Manirathnam and Rajini movie.Quote:
Originally Posted by rajeshkrv
But seeing that KB never worked with NT again, I feel maybe KB felt it was better to work with lesser actors. I recall that he prefers most performances to be just how he wants it, ie. he acts it out and the others just follow. I think that is why he never worked with Rajini and Kamal the latter day. Exception is made to Kamal when he did Punnagai Mannan and Unnal Mudiyum Thambi when he was at his peak.
Ethiroli, in closer analysis, is just as great of any other great NT films. The character is very three dimensional.
This is where usually NT and KB are SUPPOSED to overlap each other. Both are adept in portraying characters that we normal mortal can relate to. But how unfortunate, both could have gone on forever...
Now that you guys mention it, I'm gonna look for the DVD or VCD of the movie today and have a nice NT filled weekend.
And Balaji sar, you Avatar...is it from Motor Sundram Pillai?