Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan

Dear Balaji,

When you mentioned about Mr.Sundaram, I was wondering who that person was? Only when Mohanram Sir mentioed about his initials, it struck me. PNS was a cameraman of great standing. See how initials can differenciate a person. But one correction. For Ooty Varai Uravu, camera was by N.Balakrishnan.

Than again LDRajakannu, NT did not do it for ACT but for AVM Rajan. He was the producer and the movie was a remake of Driver Ramudu, a NTR starrer. Rajan was also the producer for Oorum Uravum, that came along with P.Neramatchu. OU was a better film.

Groucho070,

Balaji's avatar is from Uyarntha Manidhan. Regarding Edhir Oli, if you could watch, NT underplayed that role in a superb manner. As you had mentioned the emotional conflict was beautifully portrayed. But it came at a time (1970) when the Fans had begun to expect a hero oriented stories from NT ( I had mentioned this earlier that in the late 60's and early 70's the fans expected aggressive roles) and it didn't do well. Also I felt that casting of SSR etc gave the film a old look (ie) it looked like a film in the early/middle 60's.

Ramesh,
Vasanthathil Oru Naal was not a bad movie. Remake of Hindi hit Mausam (* ing Sanjeev Kumar & Sharmila Tagore), it gave more scope for the heroine (Sripriya). Again our fans mindset refused to accept that the daughter of the hero is a call girl by profession spelt the doom in the same manner that happened to Kavari Maan (where fans couldn't digest the fact that NT's wife character going astray)

Regards

PS: But Balaji & Ramesh, do you know that LD Rajakannu was a 100 day movie? It ran 100 days in Salem.

Dear Balaji & Groucho070,

The next episode is on its way.Right now I am in the hang over of Aalaya Mani, which was telecast last night by Raj Digital.

Regards

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murali Srinivas

Dear Balaji & Groucho070,

The next episode is on its way.Right now I am in the hang over of Aalaya Mani, which was telecast last night by Raj Digital.

Regards

Haha. How alike we are. I bet you want to write a whole new analysis of that movie. I read somewhere along the thread on split personality element found in this movie. Brilliant. Nowadays you have split personality where the character can automatically grow/straighten/dye hair or lose weight when it goes through that moment.

I expect a hangover after this myself.

I am going to come back from weekend with Ethiroli en kathile etherolittukondu.

Dear Groucho070,

The post on split personality in this thread was put by me. When media/people overdid Anniyan, I felt that I should write about Aalaya Mani. But yesterday, unfortunately the scene I mentioned (Saroja Devi with a Pattu Sari coming out from the room when SSR would gape at her. The change of emotions on NT's face, wow!) in the thread got cut due to Ads.

Regards

Ah, it was you. Am not surprised. Once in a while we need to bring down these people who talakkaalu puriyama nadakkirathu. Bring them back to earth, tell them don't get excited, it has been done before.
Murali sar,

Sad that present day media has no idea about the history.

One of things I want to know was how in the name of Paul Muni did he do the old man make up. It still baffles me. It is 177% times better than Kamal's makeup in Indian.

Take your time. Take it easy. Have a good weekend.

Sorry the make up in Thiruvarutchelvar, I mean. Sorry again.

'I have lost my brother'
S Balaji

The father-in-law of Malayalam superstar, Mohanlal, Balaji has the distinction of producing the maximum number of Sivaji films and acting as Sivaji’s brother in many films.

"With his death, I lost my own brother,” said Balaji, his eyes moist:

I still remember I had to stand in a queue for two days to get a ticket of Sivaji’s first film, Parasakthi. He was amazing in the film. People talked only about him those days. He was a craze in Tamil Nadu.

At the time, I was working as a production assistant at Narasu’s Studio. When I heard that my boss Narasu had booked Sivaji for A S A Swamy's Thulivisham, my happiness knew no bounds. Ever since I saw Parasakthi, I was eager to meet him.

When Sivaji came to the studio, Narasu introduced us. What I liked most about him was that he did not behave like a star. When he came to know I was also interested in acting, he asked the director to give me a role too. That's how I got a small role in the film. It was another matter that only one scene of mine escaped the editor’s scissors.

Even though he had become a major star acting in all the major production companies, Sivaji was extremely friendly with everyone.

Whatever I have achieved in life is thanks to three people: my schoolmaster S S Subbaraman (who made me act in school dramas), Gemini Ganesan (who introduced me to films and is like a godfather to me), and Sivaji Ganesan. Gemini Ganesan had given me a chance to act in Avvayyar in 1950.

In 1952, I was introduced to Sivaji.

He and I were not in touch between 1954 and 1960. In 1960, Gemini was to act as Sivaji’s brother in Padithal Mattum Potuma, but was not very keen on it. So he asked me to step in. When he introduced me to Sivaji after a gap of six years, Sivaji said, "As if I do not know Balaji! I know him very well!"

My role in the film was a major one, and the film became a huge hit in Tamil Nadu. Afterwards, Sivaji started recommending me if there was a second role in any of his films.

That was the beginning of our friendship. It strengthened further when I started producing my own films.

I made my first film in 1965 with Gemini Ganesan. It was my way of thanking him and showing my gratitude.

My second film was Thangai with Sivaji. Do you know how I signed him? One day I met him at Gemini studios and said, "Annai, I am producing a film and you should act in it."

Immediately, he brushed me aside, saying, "Poda, you a producer? You must be joking!"

He did not believe me. But when he realised that I was serious about making a film, without even batting his eyes, he said, “Get a good story and a director, and I'm in!"

The funniest thing was that Thangai was an action film. Sivaji was known as an emotional hero. It was M G Ramachandran who did all the fights in his films.

Sivaji was very sceptical about the action scenes. But I assured him the film would give him a new image. He agreed reluctantly. He was so sure that people would not accept him as a fighting hero.

Fortunately, the film was ame a big success! Till then, only MGR was applauded when he fought, but with Thangai, Sivaji also started getting credit for his fight scenes. After that, every film of his had at least one fight!

As an actor, he was phenomenal. He would ask me whether he had performed well after each shot. Was it necessary for a person of his stature to ask me that question? Still, he wanted assurance from the producer.

Sometimes I used to say, "No, that was not good. We will have one more take."

Immediately, he would say, “Balaji didn’t like the shot. Let me do it again." He wanted everything to be perfect.

I am also a perfectionist. That was why he liked me as a producer. All the 16 films that we made together were successes. He used to do two films a year for me, while other producers had to wait for years to get his dates. That was not because he considered me his friend or a brother; it was only because I am a disciplined and meticulous filmmaker.

Later, I made films with Kamal Haasan and Rajnikanth. That did not affect our friendship. He knew I am a producer and I had to make films. He was very understanding and open-hearted. Soon, I stopped production because of ill health. He, too, stopped acting.

The beauty of our relationship is that it went beyond films and production. Whenever he passed my house, he would drop in. The truth was he just couldn’t pass by without coming home. I would also visit him regularly.

We are on poda-vada (informal) terms! He was a very reserved person, and friendly, too. He was one of my closest friends. We were always there for each other. He was by my side when my wife passed away. He took control of the situation and saw to it that everything was done properly.

Whenever he introduced me to some overseas dignitary, he would say, "Meet Balaji, my boss." The moment they left, he would tell me, “Now, don’t think too much of yourself just because I called you my boss."

I never thought that he would leave this world so soon.

Just two days before his death, I met him at the hospital. He was reluctant to get up. Then his wife said, “Your friend has come. Won’t you get up?”

He just looked at me and said, “I can’t, my friend.” I felt very bad. To cheer him, I said, "Annai, you are okay and you are getting up and talking to me."

He asked the nurse to prop the bed, and the first thing he asked me was, “Did you drive?” He knew I always drove my vehicle, and he objected to me driving after my two kidney transplants. That day, we talked for a very long time about the good old days.

I used to pick him up every day when he was shooting for my films -- I enjoy driving and he enjoyed sitting in the car when I drove!

I still remember once we were going to shoot the film Neethi in Mysore. We flew from Madras to Mysore and my car was waiting for us at the airport. As usual, I drove. Sivaji's wife was also there.

Suddenly one of the tyres got punctured. I was really worried. It was 2000 hrs, not a soul visible anywhere. In the car was one of the top actors and it was dark everywhere but Sivaji was calmness personified.

He got out and took the stepney and changed the tyre himself. Imagine Sivaji Ganesan changing a car tyre. Later, I used to tease him about it.

Of late, we used to talk only about the old times. During rainy days, he would call me for a drive and we would drive to the beach. We loved drinking gin mixed with tender coconut water when it rained.

Two months back ago, he called me and said it's been a long time we enjoyed the rain together.

What more can I say, with his passing away, I have lost my brother.

As told to Shobha Warrier

'He always called me maplai'
Mohanlal

Malayalam superstar Mohanlal worked with Sivaji Ganesan in Prathap Pothen's Yatra Mozhi. He reminisces about the legendary actor, with whom he shared a deeply personal relationship:

I'd seen a lot of Sivajisir's films during my childhood days.

But the first time I saw him in person was about 20 years ago when I was shooting for a film at AVM Studios. He was seated at a distance, silently watching the goings-on.

My shot over, when I walked past him, I found him looking at me intently. I hadn't been introduced to him and didn't know whether I should go over and speak to him. I was a newcomer then. So I stayed away.

But he kept looking at me. I could never decide whether he was actually observing me or just lost in thought. I got introduced to him much later.

He was a close friend of my father-in-law (Tamil actor-producer S Balaji). When I got married, Sivajisir attended the function.

My relationship with Sivajisir was not merely professional. It was always much more than that. We were like a family. He would call me maplai (son-in-law).

I also know his son (Tamil actor Prabhu) well. We acted together in Priyadarshan's Kaala Paani.

I was supposed to act with Sivajisir in Rajeev Nair's Swarna Chaamaram but the film did not materialise.

Then we were offered Pratap Pothen's Yatra Mozhi. The story was by Priyadarshan. I played a character wanting to murder Sivajisir, who realises later that this enemy is his father. That's the only time we acted together.

Throughout the shooting, Sivajisir kept telling me that he was doing the film for me. "There's no other reason why I should do this Malayalam film," he said.

He was a totally different type of actor. His style of acting was unique. He would always tell me that an actor's job is to act. And he would want his acting to show. He believed that the audience wanted to see the acting, feel the acting.

So everything he did would stand out. His mannerisms, his walk, his dialogue delivery, everything would change according to the role. He did not believe in repeating his styles. Even if played nine different roles, he would ensure the look and talk of each character would differ. That's why he was held in such high esteem.

For people who grew up watching him, he was not just an actor. He was not merely a film star. I hadn't met him for quite some time. The last time I'd met him, some months ago, he wasn't well. I was in Bombay shooting for Ramgopal Verma's film, Company, when news of his death reached me.

I wanted to go there for his funeral, but could not. I couldn't break my commitments in Bombay...

As told to Anjum Nair

Hi abkhlabhi

Thanks for sharing NT relationship with balaji. They were too close and shivaji acted in balaji production in the later stage also.
I think most of the films were super hit.

Thangai
Raja
En Thambi
Engirthu vanthal
Thirudan

I could not recollect some other movies. They had very good understanding . I think NT maintained very good relationship with most of his associates and we never heard from producer that because of NT shooting got delayed/budget exceeded etc.
He had glorious chapter in acting as well as in personal front.

ramesh

NT’s Political Career – Phase III – 1975 Oct to 1988 Jan Continuation

Before continuing the political saga, let us quickly look in to the movie releases of NT & MGR that happened in between Parliament & Assembly elections of 1977 (i.e.) between March & June. Each had one release. MGR had Indru Pol Endrum Vaazgha and NT had Ilaya Thalaimurai. Both were in May. IPEV was a remake from Manojkumar’s Hindi starrer and it did reasonably well. On the other hand IT was produced by Yogachitra Dharmaraj (he was the person who started producing Unnai Vida Maaten, a film that MGR announced that he will act while continuing to be the CM but which never progressed beyond Pooja and song recording by IR) and it was supposed to release on Deepavali day of 1976 along with Chitra Pournami. But due to financial problems the movie’s release was delayed and finally it hit the screen in May 28th 1977. NT did a role of Professor/ Warden of a college and this was average grosser.

People who are following these phases might wonder why I gave a short narration of happenings for the assembly election of 1977. As for as I know it was the most lackluster election of TN in recent times. There were reasons to it. Parliament elections of 1977 were of high voltage since the stakes were high. Once the results were out, it became significant in the sense that for the first time a non-congress government assumed power in 30 years of Indian Independence. Morarjee Desai became the Prime Minister. The one point agenda of opposition parties (i.e.) removing Indira from power was achieved. Of course it was a heterogeneous combination and the likes of Charan Singh, DeviLal with their own agendas were not good omens for Janata Party. As expected it started proceedings against Indira Gandhi. The Congress had won around 155 seats and Y.B.Chavan became the Leader of Opposition. On the organizational front Brahamananda Reddy became the AICC President replacing Barooah. In TN, Congress stood behind Indira and they fondly hoped that MGR would accommodate them. Congress wanted 90 assembly seats. They had contested 15 Parliament seats and so as 6 assembly seats consisted of 1 Parliament seat, they asked for 90. MGR now knowing fully well that he can win on his own refused to give that much. This was the time Moopanar was made to wait for hours to see MGR and this hurt Moopanar and this made him anti ADMK and being the Tanjore man he had a better understanding with MuKa. Congress (O) now rechristened as Janata in TN also decided to go it alone. PaaRaa became the Union Minister and he was always uncomfortable with DMK alliance. Now they didn’t require the alliance and decided to go alone. DMK had no friends to turn round to and it also ploughed a lone furrough. So by their own choices and by choices thrust on them, all parties faced the election. The parties know, the people know that AIADMK is going to win and even the voting percentage came down when compared to March elections. As mentioned AIADMK won 126 seats, Congress got 27 and Janata won 10. But DMK contrary to all expectations won 48 seats and the highlight was, its winning of 13 seats out of 14 in Chennai. Isari Velan was the only ADMK man to win in Chennai RK Nagar. MGR assumed power on 30th June.1977.
There was a curiosity factor among most of the people, what MGR is going to do? What will happen to his films? Whether he will continue as CM or whether he will make way for someone else in the party after some time? In fact Kumudam spoke to the producers of MGR films, which were on floors at that time (Anna Nee En Deivam, Puratchi Pithan, Makkal En Pakkam, Amaithi [MGR’s own production]) and they said that he had asked them to come after 6 months. There was a talk that having achieved what he wanted, MGR was thinking of making Nanjil Manoharan as CM after 6 months. The heavy defeat that had rocked DMK led to fissures and even before Assembly elections Nedunchezhiyan and co had revolted against MuKa and they were thrown out. Year preceding this, SSR had questioned MuKa’s leadership in the Seyarkuzhu (executive) and he was attacked and literally thrown out of the meeting. Panruti Ramachandran who was minister till the DMK government was dismissed also left DMK and these people along with Madurai Muthu had joined ADMK. Now Nedu came out and started Makkal DMK (ironically it was also called MDMK). He supported MGR in the assembly election. On the day of swearing in, he announced the merger of his party with ADMK and Nedu was made General Secretary of ADMK. DMK became the major opposition party.

If MGR had nursed the idea of quitting power after a brief stint, MuKa and DMK had other ideas. They decided to make life terrible for him. Each and every move of the Government was opposed. All the sections of the society were instigated. One good thing about the Emergency was the strikes, hartals & Bandhs were totally banned. This applied to workers as well as students. For 2 years (75-77) they could not move and now it was free for all. The Government employees who were always pro DMK were the first to start and there was bus strike by workers. Then students started. The college elections had not taken place for 2 years and now they started again. So this naturally led to unrest in the campus. At this point of time MGR renamed Madurai University as Kamaraj University. The students were instigated on caste lines against this and there were protests. MGR to appease both the factions renamed the university as Madurai Kamaraj University. The students objected to the semester system that had been successfully introduced in the previous years. If students from other parts were engaged like this, Madras students were agitating for all route passes for Rs 15/. The situation took a turn for the worst when some students hijacked a bus and took inside their college. I am not sure whether it was Pachaiyappa’s or Law College but do you know who was the prime accused in that case? It was Radha Ravi, the then Law College student. Everyday papers were reporting one agitation or other. Now MGR was convinced that DMK is behind this and he started to openly accuse them. On the personal side, I had joined college in that academic year (1977 July) in American College, Madurai and so I was a first hand witness to all happenings. Our College, one of the best in TN was always considered as a no trouble zone but during that period, our College was also caught in the mess. On October 6th 1977, there was a big trouble in Madurai. Trouble started in two colleges. One spot was Madura College and the other was our College. At Madura college students of 4 colleges had assembled to go on a procession. With the police refusing to oblige, the situation went out of control and a war like situation developed there. The students had to face the barrage from both sides in the sense that both police and ADMK workers attacked them. Our college students had blocked the road. The college is situated in Goripalayam. People who are from Madurai or who know the topography of that place will realize any roadblock there will choke Madurai traffic. There again the police started charging and it was helter shelter for all students. Our College topography will be a bit confusing for a new visitor and so the police could arrest only 10 persons from our college, whereas 872 persons were arrested from Madura College campus. It was all there in the front pages of newspapers the next day. Why I am explaining this in detail because the MGR government took it very seriously and Aranganayakam the education minister came to Madurai and alleged interference by political parties. All colleges were closed indefinitely. The parents of students were asked to furnish letters that their wards would behave well in future. Now MGR was convinced that DMK is set to destabilize him.

When the MGR ministry took over, two things were widely expected from Assembly proceedings. One, MuKa with his oratorical skills will dominate and MGR not known for his speech fluency will struggle to answer him. But in reality, more than MuKa it was the trio of Durai Murugan, Rahman Khan & Subbu that really made life difficult for MGR. Again contrary to expectations, MGR proved that he is no novice and he managed to hold fort when it came to replies. In the first Independence Day celebrations of the new government held on Aug 15th 1977, MuKa participated and MGR publically thanked him for getting the right to hoist the national flag. After that relations soured.

On the day before this (i.e.) 14th, Meenava Nanban was released and again curiosity factor (a film starring CM) played a good part in making the film run. NT had a film release on 07.10.1977, Naam Pirantha Mann (widely discussed in last post). The Tamil film world at that point was totally getting a makeup change. Rajini, who had made his debut in 1975, was fast becoming popular and Kamal was also becoming a hero on his own. Bharathi Rajaa made his screen debut with 16 Vayathinile on Sep 15th 1977. During this month the entire Tamil film Industry conducted a big facilitation for MGR and NT paid glowing tributes to MGR and MGR reciprocated his love. This was also the function that people saw the biggest flower garland presented to MGR and Guess who gave it? It was Jai Shankar. 4 people carried the garland itself. It is another strange twist that soon after this MGR and Jai became poles apart. Middle of October heavy rains started to lash TN and soon it became a flood calamity. A severe cyclone also developed in Bay of Bengal and on the last minute on Oct 31st, it changed direction and hit Andhra coast near Ongole and in terms of damage this is considered to be one of the worst cyclones that have ever hit the land.

On the national scene, the rulers were making life difficult for Indira. Though it seemed that both Congress and Janata would cooperate when they choose Sanjeeva Reddy as consensus candidate for the post of President, the cooperation was short lived. A commission of Enquiry was constituted with Justice Shah as its head. Indira Gandhi was arrested on Oct first week of 1977 and there was much drama when the arrest took place. She insisted on being hand cuffed and she was taken to Haryana. She was granted bail. She, who was lying low till then began touring. Her first visit was to Nagpur. Maharastra traditionally has been a Congress strong hold and she received a tremendous reception. Then she planned a trip to TN. The dates were finalized as 29th and 30th of October. TNCC had planned a grand reception.

In the period intervening DMK government’s dismissal and Parliament elections of 1977, in addition to Sarkaria Commission, the Central Government had filed two cases against MuKa. The CBI had filed charge sheets in wheat import scheme and pesticides purchase case. When Janata came to power, the DMK had tried his best to get it withdrawn. But Morarjee, the upright man he was, was willing to withdraw politically motivated cases but not corruption cases. In fact Prabhudas Patwari who had been appointed as Governor of TN had cases against him but they were withdrawn saying it was politically motivated. JP who had a soft corner for MuKa, pleaded with Janata Party leaders but it was of no avail. At this time Indira announced her TN tour and some people of Janata (it was rumoured that it was Charan Singh) had asked MuKa to show Black Flags to Indira and asked DMK men to unleash violence. In return, with drawl of cases would be considered. DMK readily agreed for this.

Indira was scheduled to tour Madurai, Tiruchy and Chennai. MGR announced that Indira would be treated as state guest. When she arrived in Chennai, MGR was there to receive her. Indira arrived at Madurai in the afternoon of 29th October and she was given a grand reception. While coming in to the city, the DMK men were waiting at South Gate (Therku Vaasal), with Black flags and suddenly Indira was attacked. Stones, big sticks were freely used. Nedumaran & NSV Chithan who were with Indira in the open jeep covered her with pillows and stood as walls. In the melee, Nedumaran and Chithan were inflicted with bleeding injuries. The police though initially caught unawares then swung into action and rounded off people. Indira addressed public meetings. She then went to Tiruchy and then the next day to Chennai. The police had thwarted black flag demonstration at Tiruchy and at Chennai all top-level leaders of DMK including MuKa were arrested. Though people expected a law and order problem, the Government quickly put out all protests. MuKa and other leaders were denied bail and they nearly spent 40 days in prison.

Within days of this happening, TN was flooded with rains and hit by cyclone. Deepavali also came up on Nov 10th. NT’s own production Annan Oru Kovil was released. A remake from Kannada, AOK became a Super hit with nice songs. NT again proved that any number of Annan Thangai stories would be safe bet with him.

If the cup of woes were full for MGR, it started overflowing when the college teachers all over TN wanted the Government to implement UGC scales for them. MGR government did not agree and the teachers struck work. At that point of time there were only two Universities in TN, namely Madurai & Madras. So the semester exams that had already been rescheduled due to student unrest were again disturbed and in many colleges students wrote exams without their regular staff members for invigilation and University substituting some temporary employees in their place. Finally it was sorted out and exams were completed by January.

TN had suffered extensive damage due to rains and the film world on the request from MGR decided to conduct star shows and cultural programmes all over TN. NT who was then President of Nadigar Sangam staged his Samrat Asokan stage play. MGR presided over all the shows in different places and he was all praise for NT. For the public the presence of two thilagams together was a big attraction.

Again back to the national scene, Indira had a feeling that a section of Congressmen were now acting against her. She felt Congress under Reddy was not supporting her and they were inclined towards Janata. So again a split became inevitable in Congress and on Jan 1st of 1978, Indira had called for a convention of her followers and most of the Congressmen had attended the meeting barring some leaders like Reddy etc. The Janata party wanted to exploit the situation but the senior leaders who revolted against Indira had little support from the party and public. As for as TN was concerned unlike the earlier time the entire party stood behind Indira. Within a month of all these happenings, elections to Andhra and Karnataka assemblies took place. Both the factions of Congress had put up candidates and this was the time Indira Congress or better known as Congress (I) had chosen the Hand symbol. Congress (I) won both Karnataka and Andhra with the other faction getting routed. Chenna Reddy became the CM of Andhra and Devaraj Urs assumed power in Karnataka. Not only that, in a by election at Azamgargh Parliament constituency in UP, Mohsina Kidwai (who later on became the UPCC President and spokesperson of Congress) of Congress (I) wrested the seat from Janata. Now the winds of changes could be smelt. MuKa cut up with Janata for not acceding to his request, issued a statement saying that Nandri Marantha Janata Nambikaiyai Izhakirathu. For Congressmen in TN, they again started getting hopeful. But the intra party rivalry refused to go away. Right from the beginning, Moopanar and Nedumaran were at loggerheads and many a time it openly came out. But here I must record that contrary to public belief (Balaji, this is for you) NT and Moopanar were very close and NT always supported Moopanar. This will become more clearer in the following paragraphs.

While hot things were happening on the political front, let us briefly take a look at the releases of NT in the first half of 1978. He had 5 releases. They were

a. Andaman Kadhali – 26.01.1978. A Mukta production, this was a Super hit movie that celebrated 100 days all over TN.

b. Thiagam – 04.03.1978. A remake from the Malayalam Itha Oru Manushiyan, this Balajee production was a Super Duper hit which ran for 25 weeks, thus giving NT a hatrick of hits and in our Madurai it covered MGR’s USV collection wise.

c. Ennai Pol Oruvan - 18.03.1978. Produced and directed by TRRamanna, this movie was in the making for a long time, but still when it came out did well at the BO and extended the winning streak of NT. Great songs helped this movie.

d. Punniya Bhoomi – 12.05.1978. A remake of the classic Mother India that had stellar performance from Nargis and Sunil Dutt, this movie produced by NV Ramasamy (who produced Rojavin Raja) had NT and Vanishree in the lead. But the original was in the 50’s and the story set in feudal village backdrop, was alien to TN and so the movie failed here.
e. General Chakravarthy – 16.06.1978. Produced by Chinna Annamalai, this family movie went on to become a hit and crossed 100 days.

We can also record here that the last movie of MGR (i.e.) MMSP hit the screens on 14.01.1978 and it failed to make the cash registers ring. It ran max 75 days in Madurai.

During this time another incident or rather an accident happened to NT. NT had so many friends in the film world and this applies to all languages. His friends in Telugu and Malayalam cine fields would always request him to act in their languages and NT used to oblige when the story and the setup suited him. One such occasion was when he accepted to do Thacholi Ambu along with Prem Nazir. During the course of shooting for this movie, while doing a fight scene, he fell down and fractured his left hand. This happened during the first week of May 1978, and he was brought back to Chennai where a plate was fixed in his hand to set right the fracture and Doctors advised him complete rest and that extended to months. As all of his movies were doing extremely well, he had been flooded with offers and he had committed many. Now this unexpected layoff threw everything out of gear. But since nobody could help, everybody waited.

During this period, trouble was brewing in TN Janata. Kumari Ananthan who steadfastly stood for Congress (O) during Emergency was now feeling let down. He had expected that he would be rewarded but that was not forthcoming from the powers to be. He strongly suspected that PaaRaa is bent upon to deny him his dues. It was a bit shocking because till that time PaaRaa had always come out as a clean person and the talk of he sabotaging Kumari Ananthan’s chances looked a bit cooked up but as we knew strange things have happened in politics. Kumari Ananthan had organized a conference of his followers and well wishers and there he announced the launch of his new party Gandhi Kamaraj Desiya Congress. He announced that his party would be TN centric. Troubles started for Janata.

At this point of time it was brought to the notice of MGR that local body elections were not held in TN after 1969. But MGR announced elections for Madurai Corporation only. He didn’t say anything about other bodies. Again all the parties contested in the same manner as they had done during assembly election. Everybody was going alone and ADMK had the two communist parties for company. MGR, MuKa came and camped at Madurai and did the campaign work. In the ADMK circles, a section of the party was opposed to the candidature of Madurai Muthu. Their main grouse was he had been the Mayor of Madurai and he was tooth and nail opposed to MGR and ADMK cadres while he was in the DMK and now he had crossed over to ADMK and his becoming Mayor will not only deny the legitimate claims of ADMK personnel but make mockery of the sufferings they underwent for the sake of MGR at the hands of Muthu. But MGR didn’t heed their pleadings and Muthu was made a candidate for ward 10 (Anna Nagar). Congress went alone. At this point of time July 1978, Indira made a visit to TN and she also came to Madurai. Congress used her presence for the campaigning. NT who was recuperating from the injury (he had not started shooting) came for the campaigning and Moopanar accompanied him. In all the meetings Moopanar didn’t speak and instead asked NT to speak. The results were declared and again ADMK won an absolute majority on its own by winning 36 wards out of 65. Congress won 9 and DMK 5. As expected MGR declared Muthu would be the Mayor but to smoothen the ruffled feathers of his followers he announced that the term of Mayor will be 6 years and the incumbent Mayor would assume charge on a rotational basis (i.e.) after every 2 years, a new Mayor will assume charge. This to a great extent satisfied the workers. There was another twist when Congress decided to contest the election of Mayor. Though it had only 9 votes it went ahead and before the election it sought the support of DMK. DMK readily agreed and 14 votes were cast in favour of AG Subburaman who was the Congress nominee. That was sort of political coup because only some 9 months back, DMK and Congress had clashed over Black flag demonstration and an attempt to murder charges were there against all DMK leaders and the matter was sub judice. But MuKa ruled out any read between lines.

The groupism in TN Congress had worsened at this point of time and at last the High command (probably for the first time and last time till date) decided to conduct an election for the post of President. Moopanar and Nedumaran were in the fray. Both were busy canvassing. This was July end and NT was still to resume shooting. He had gone to Ooty from Madurai campaigning and was resting there. Nedumaran went all the way to Ooty and personally sought the support of NT. What transpired between them was not known and NT came to Chennai for the elections. An observer from the High command had come for the election and he conducted it. The votes were counted and the observer after the counting was over came to the mike and started like this “ May I request Mr.Nedumaran—“, before he could finish, Nedumaran supporters burst out by clapping when the observer intervened to say “ May I request Mr.Nedumaran to take Mr.Moopanar to the President’s chair as Mr.Moopanar had secured around 300 odd votes against Mr.Nedumaran’s 200 odd”. Nedumaran and his supporters were heart broken. It was clear that NT and his supporters had indeed voted for Moopanar. It shows the strong bonding between NT and Moopanar. Media as always had only highlighted the acrimony between NT and Moopanar that developed in 1982 over Rajya Sabha nomination (which we will be discussing later) but failed to record the earlier cordial period between the two.

By August 1978, NT had resumed shooting. TN politics was quite and MGR inducted SDS and KAK (surprise left outs in the first place) in his ministry. By now MGR had abandoned the idea of relinquishing the CM chair because he knew without him ADMK cannot stand against MuKa.

On the national scene, Indira felt that her presence in Parliament would make life difficult for Janata and in turn would boost her party’s chances. She was on the lookout for a safe seat and for this she decided that south was the safest place. At this time Chikmagalur in Karnataka fell vacant and with the backing of Devaraj Urs she filed her nomination from there. The former Chief minister of Karnataka and veteran Congress leader Veerendra Patil was put up on behalf of Janata. This predominately hilly constituency mainly consisting of Coffee and tea estates voted in favour of Indira. MGR had supported her candidature and sent people for campaigning. But the Janata leaders didn’t like her presence in Parliament and they brought a privilege motion against her and Indira was disqualified. She won the election in November 1978 and within a month, she was stripped of her membership. This move drew large protests and slowly the support for Indira was swelling. But the Janata Party failed to read the pulse of the people.

So 1978 came to an end. In the second half of 1978, NT had two releases. They were

a. Pilot Premnath – 30.10.1978 (Deepavali). This ACT directed Indo- Lankan co production was not only hit in TN but went on to become a Blockbuster in Sri Lanka and rewrote many records there.

b. Justice Gopinath – 16.12.1978. Nothing great to write about. The first film in NT-Rajini combination.

c. Thacholi Ambu – Malayalam – Onam 1978. Actually this should come earlier than Pilot in the chronological order as it was released in September 1978. A Super hit in Kerala.

1979 dawned. Though Moopanar had been elected as TNCC President, he was still not comfortable and he had put in his papers at least twice before. But Indira Gandhi didn’t accept and asked him to continue. But when he did it more often to score a point or two over his detractors, Indira got annoyed and accepted his resignation. In his place RV Swaminathan was appointed. Moopanar didn’t expect this but he had no other go. NT and his fans were also upset but nobody could do anything about it. At that time they had more pressing things and it was none other than the prestigious home production named Tirusoolam that was getting released as the 200th Movie of NT. The date was fixed as Jan 27th and when the film went for censor, the board headed by Veenai.S.Balachander objected and ordered some cuts. Though it caused some heartburn between NT and SB, the matter was sorted out and the movie got released as scheduled. A movie inspired from Kannada Sankar-Guru where Dr.Rajkumar played double role (both sons), in Tamil NT took the mantle of father role also and as the whole world knows it went on to become the biggest hit of Tamil Cinema and some of its BO records are yet to be broken. The fans had been pressing for a conference and NT gave the green signal. The occasion was the celebration of 200th movie and the dates were fixed as March 10 & 11 and venue was Madurai. The fans planned it big. Again Nedumaran’s services though he belonged to Madurai were not utilized and Thalapathy Shanmugam who had now replaced Chinna Annamalai as President of Akila Indhiya Sivaji Ganesan Rasikar Mandram and who also hailed from Madurai took charge. As per the old practice the first day of the conference started of with a big procession and NT watched it from a special stage erected at the junction of West and North Masi streets (Mela Masi Veedhi- Vadakku Masi Veedhi Sandhippu- near Nehru Alala Vinayakar Koil). Again customary as it was, the first day was devoted to Congress Party. RVS the TNCC President and Nedumaran did not turn up and Moopanar was presiding over the meeting. NT had not publicly commented about change of guard and finally when NT rose to speak at the end of the day (Kannadasan had earlier given a nice speech laced with humour), he started addressing all present in the stage and finally said “ Endrendrum Engal Arumai Thalaivar Moopanar avargalae” and the whole gathering burst into cheers. A very clear indication where his priorities lay.
The second day was for the stars and everybody from the Tamil cinefield except Kamal and Jaishankar turned up. There was mammoth crowds for the conference and at the end NT acknowledged all praise and thanked everyone. At the close of ceremony, Major came to the mike and said that he wanted to read a message. It read “ All the best wishes for the successful conduct of your conference”. It was addressed to NT and when Major read the sender’s name as Indira Gandhi, there was deafening applause. It immediately reminded me of the scene that happened during Unakkaga Naan release and made me wonder whether that group of NT fans that was against Indira had indeed returned to this fold. No clear answers were available at that time. The conference was a big success. All papers and journals wrote about the conference. Ananda Vikatan probably summed up the whole thing in simple lines. It published photographs of the conference in two pages
It just wrote two lines.

Irunooru Moonooru Agattum; Imayam pol
Ungal Pugazh Oongattum.

Tirusoolam swept all records in front of it but it had to face opposition from NT films itself before it completed 100 days. Kavari Maan, the first film of NT that was directed by Sp.Muthuraman was released on 06.04.1979. A family flick, NT did a superb portrayal of a hurt father in a most subtle manner but unfortunately the fans and lady audience at that point of time could not digest the scenes where the wife character went astray and this affected BO performance. Hardly a month passed when Balajee released his Nallathoru Kudumbam on 03.05.1979. As usual it was a remake from Telugu. After a long time and probably for the last time the second most favourite pair for NT fans, NT- Vanishree pair came together (the most favourite was NT- Devika. May be surprise news to some NT fans/ followers who may be thinking that NT-Padmini pair is the first choice)
But NK had a storyline that had shades of resemblance with Tirusoolam and since NK came close on the heels to Tirusoolam, it ended as an average Grosser.

Friends, I wanted to go up to 1980 Parliament elections and then to break. Now we are at May 1979 and starting with June when many important hot political happenings started (like Tanjore by election) that ended up with Indira Gandhi’s return of power, it will occupy more space. Even by my standards, this particular post has become too lengthy and so let us take a break here and come back. Sorry if somebody is bored by the lengthiness.

Regards