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The brilliance of Sivaji
Sivaji was, is and will be one of the most celebrated actors of Indian films. He was such a colossus in the Tamizh Industry, it was quite unbelievable. Yesterday we were treated to a lovely presentation on Sivaji by the actor Mohan V Raman. Mohan is such a passionate fan of cinema and Sivaji in particular that this was as easy as Mohanam was to the Maharajapuram family! The highlights of the presentation for me were
1. Couple of amazing Sivaji facts - Sivaji in his career has on 18 different occasions had 2 films simultaneously being released on the same date in Madras. Of these 36 films, nearly 50% were ran either 100 days or 25 weeks! At a point of time, 85% of the theatres in Madras were screeing Tamizh films which starred Sivaji as the hero.
2. The beautiful manner in which Mohan illustrated how Sivaji could vary the “kaalapramaanam” or tempo in which he delivered dialogues. This is very interesting for me as a musician because it is very very difficult for me to change the tempo in which I sing certain songs. I guess formally trained actors could get this because it is part of their syllabus, but for Sivaji to have got this through sheer observation, native intelligence and hard work is what is exciting to learn about.
3. A brilliant example of the acting of Sivaji from the famous Dharumi episode in Thiruvilayaadal. At one point when the exchange is happening at a brisk pace between AP Nagarajan (Nakkerar) & Sivaji, APN insists that the hair of even the divine Goddess could not have a natural fragrance. At this juncture one generally does not notice what Sivaji is doing. But at that precise moment the Lord realises that by mentioning the Goddess, Nannkeerar is actually to referring to Sivaji’s wife and he takes a slight backward step indicating shock at the audacity of the man! This bit of subtle acting can easily be ignored unless pointed out by an expert like Mohan!!
4. Some lovely examples of Sivaji’s different Tamizh accents, starting from Manohara, Parasakthi, the Tambrahm accents in Vietnam Veedu & Gowravam, the sissy playboy in Deivamagan, the Madras baashai in Bale Pandiya with MR Radha, the Konguththamizh with Sarangapani in Makkalai petra magarasi, the brilliant Mukkulatthor tamizh in Thevar magan, the sophistication in Uyarntha manithan and the list can just go on and on.
5. Finally as a Vote of thanks, Mohan played a 40 sec clipping where Sivaji is seen felicitating Mohan for a programme he had organised, and even there you can see the dignity and stature of the man in the way he operated in that formal space.
Mohan is a huge Sivajiphile. He was instrumental alongwith a few others in getting a postage stamp released on Sivaji in a record time of 71 days after his passing. He ahs organised some terrific philatelic exhibitions showcasing the life of Sivaji through stamps. He and YG Mahendran are running a Sivaji films appreciation society showing his films once a month.
