Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan

[joe]

Role that moved him to tears




SIVAJI GANESAN donned so many roles, his face mirroring emotions as swiftly as the mind registered them. But there must have been one character which he cherished and loved to portray.

This correspondent was fortunate to meet the thespian at his house a few days before he was hospitalised. The conversation meandered touching subjects of all sorts and inevitably arrived at cinema. Among the 300 films which was his favourite?

Pat came the answer, ``Kappalottiya Thamizhan''. ``Enacting a doctor, an engineer and others are not very difficult. But to portray a person, a revered freedom fighter, whom people had met, seen and moved with, is a different proposition. So when the late Panthulu asked me to enact the role, I first hesitated. Then I decided to meet the challenge. I got all the material on V. O. Chidambaram Pillai and studied it.

``On seeing the film, I cried, not because my performance was moving but because it hit me with new impact - the sacrifice VOC and others had made for the country. When VOC's son Subramaniam said that he saw his father come alive on the screen, I considered it the highest award.''

In fact, Sivaji Ganesan is the only hero who has enacted the maximum number of freedom-fighters - VOC, Bharati, Tirupur Kumaran, Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Vanchinathan, Balagangadara Tilak and Bhagat Singh.

What did he think of cinema today?

``Everybody is doing well. I do not believe in the concept of heir. Whoever performs well will be rewarded.''

His last days were spent on watching television. He would avidly see all the films and serials. His only grievance was that nobody pronounced Tamil words correctly. ``It breaks my heart to hear them maul Tamil, in both TV programmes and films. Even my son Prabhu is not an exception. All the TV comperes must take lessons from experts. And producers must insist that they spell Tamil correctly.'' Such was his love for the language.

For Sivaji ``Navarathri'' was not about nine characters. ``It is navarasas. I tried to portray them and it came out well as it had a good story line,'' he would say modestly.

Punctuality was his hallmark. He would be there on the spot, at least 15 minutes earlier, with full make-up. He would not leave the set until the director said `Break'.

He would insist that co-artistes were present to see his expression so that they could give better reaction. He was always there to help anybody with tips on acting. The aim was that the scene and the film should be a well-made product.

Why did he not venture into direction?

``It is a big job and I am not ready for it,'' he would say. The truth is that he knew everything about each and every department of film- making - the nuances of acting, camera movement and position, script- writing. He never missed a thing in maintaining continuity. This correspondent had seen him remind the director about things he had omitted in a particular scene continued after a few months. His memory was amazing.

That brings us to his ability to memorise dialogue. He memorised the script of the play, ``Vietnam Veedu'', during the break of a film shooting. A.V.M. Saravanan, talking to this correspondent, marvelled at the way the veteran memorised the dialogue as someone read it out to him. On stage, the next day, Panchapakesa Iyer was delivering the lines complete with a perfect Brahmin accent.

He was the inspiration for hundreds of actors. But who was his role model?

There were no CDs or video cassettes to watch and learn from. English films would not come here as promptly as they do now. Sivaji relied only on his imagination.

Many of his films were remade in Hindi and the late Sanjeev Kumar who had done some of those roles once said that he would be happy if he could achieve at least five per cent of the original performance.

Sanjeev Kumar never failed to meet Sivaji when he visited Chennai. It is ironical that except singer Lata Mangeskar none from the North chose to pay their last respects or condole the death of the greatest actor India has produced.

Simple, he would listen with child-like curiosity to whatever one had to say. And then he would add his views revealing his knowledge.

The subtle sense of humour which laced the conversation made exchanges delightful. The man who loved laughter has left millions in tears.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2...s/09270226.htm

[stranger]

When did Sivaji thread become a Pm thread?

Four people have contributed equally including you and me!

[joe]

கழுதைகளுக்கு தெரியுமா கற்பூர வாசனை!

[stranger]

கழுதைகளுக்கு தெரியுமா கற்பூர வாசனை!

kolly!

You are lucky as you dont know how to read thamizh script!

[Thirumaran]

கழுதைகளுக்கு தெரியுமா கற்பூர வாசனை!

If i did something wrong anywhere please forgive me.

I definetly feel that donkeys are better than me.

Joe,

Just for fun..

Sorry.

[Kollywoodfan]

Sorry joe, didn't mean to do anything!

...and I agree, the donkeys are better than Thirumaran

[Thirumaran]

Sorry joe, didn't mean to do anything!

...and I agree, the donkeys are better than Thirumaran

Instead you should have said, you are better than me.

[stranger]

Guys!

That comment is not for you two. It is an attempt to settle an old score. So, you guys just ignore it!

[joe]

The legend lives on...
Sivaji Ganesan's voice and diction not only changed the course of dialogue delivery in Tamil films and plays, but also had a deep impact in the manner in which the language is spoken by narrators on Radio and Television. This is perhaps the most impressive contribution of the thespian, observes Dr. S. KRISHNASWAMY.

ALTHOUGH WE are constantly aware that we are all mere mortals, we are unable to reconcile with the mortality of some people. ``Sivaji'' Ganesan is one such - an immortal in our minds.

``Long live Bharathan....'' blessed Rajaji, after the film ``Sampoorna Ramayanam'' was screened for him. Sivaji Ganesan had performed the role of Bharatan. Those brief words of Rajaji, who rarely watched films, were unconsciously pregnant with identical ideas of film historians and researchers on Tamil Cinema. ``In the desert of Tamil films, an actor by name Sivaji Ganesan is an oasis'', I had said, in my article on Tamil films for an American arts magazine in the 1970s. Earlier, Erik Barnouw and I, in the first edition of our book ``Indian Film'' (1963), had commented, ``Seldom has substantial talent been used more recklessly or profitably''. A world-class actor remained a regional star, essentially because the ethos of Tamil Cinema was never in the wavelength of world cinema - celebrated as the Seventh Art. But even a diehard enthusiast of realism in films, had to sit up and watch Sivaji. That one hand gesture of Bharatan, meaning ``lets go'', in ``Sampoorna Ramayanam'' is not merely etched in my memory, but has been adapted, and re-enacted by a hundred film actors, and even classical dancers on stage.

It was often worth spending the nearly three hours watching immature story lines and inept directorial handling, to experience those sparks of true genius of an inimitable actor - Sivaji. His performance was stylised - drawing from the immeasurable depth of India's racial memory of many millennia, from artistes of ancient Tamil and Sanskrit Theatre. This was often erroneously described or even criticised as ``over- acting''. Well, if your theme is melodrama, your performance has to match it. But Sivaji Ganesan's range and immense versatility, did not confine him to this stylised performance alone. He could challenge any actor of the realistic school, when the need, the story and character demanded it. His career's best performance (in my opinion) as V. O. Chidamabaram Pillai in ``Kappalottiya Thamizhan'', puts him on a pedestal among the all-time- greats of world cinema, as an actor. The biographical, which was well researched, gave him the scope to re-create the ambience, maintaining the integrity of character - the realistic human side of a great patriot of the Freedom Struggle.

In contrast however, many fans remember him for his melodramatic portrayal of Kattabomman. Although made by the same creative team which was responsible for the suave, artistic and authentic ``Kappalottiya Thamizhan'', ``Veerapandiya Kattabomman'' was historically far from accurate. It was more like a costume drama or a mythological. Sivaji's performance was in tune with that treatment. Even today, nearly four decades after the release of the film, when enthusiastic parents bring their children for audition to perform in our TV serials, the boys invariably deliver Sivaji's dialogue from ``Veerapandiya Kattabomman'' to demonstrate their histrionics. Sivaji Ganesan's voice and Tamil diction not only changed the course of dialogue delivery in Tamil films and plays, but also had a deep impact in the manner in which Tamil is spoken by narrators on Radio and Television.

Unique among the film styles of the world, song sequences in our films constitute an inheritance from ancient Indian theatre. There was indeed, no one to beat Sivaji in ``rendering'' the songs. Never for a moment would you feel that he was lip-wagging for the playback singer, since his gestures and mannerisms were emotive manifestations of consummate skill, artistry and flair, unlikely to be matched even by original singers.

Apart from the infrequent courtesy calls, I have had the privilege of talking in-depth to ``Nadigar Thilakam'' - as his fans reverentially called him - three times. First was my hour- long interview for the first edition of ``Indian Film'', in 1962; the second in the 1970s for a Bombay-based film magazine and the third for an American Academic journal in the 1980s. He has sometimes been described as one constantly wearing an actor's mask - that he conversed as though he was delivering a dialogue. On the contrary, at least some parts of my interactions with him revealed a simple, transparent personality. For instance, soon after his return from his first trip abroad (to America as an invited guest of that Government), I asked him ``How was America?'' He first said, ``You have studied there. What am I going to tell you about America?''

``I mean your own reactions - how did you enjoy the visit?'' I asked.

With hardly a moment of hesitation there was a sincere answer. ``First I was struck with wonder. Then I was uncomfortable and felt embarrassed. Gradually, I felt very happy'', and then he expanded, ``The first impression of wonder was with the sights which were beyond what I had imagined. I was then uncomfortable because, I felt I was just another face in the crowd. Having got used to the attention of my people back in Tamil Nadu, it was a strange embarrassment to walk in crowded streets without anyone taking a second look at me. Gradually, I felt it meant at the same time, a rare liberty to be myself. And I enjoyed that''. It was candid, childlike and unpretentious.

In another session, I asked him ``Do you feel that you are not being used to your fullest potential, because of the limitations of Tamil cinema?''

``I can put it this way. I want to function as a fountain pen. My ambience expects me to perform as a pencil. Sometimes this results in my writing as a ball-point pen'' he described, in graphic terms.

In 1986, I was addressing The Washington Institute for Values in the US Capital, on the subject ``Culture As Political Phenomena''. In the small group of high profile audience, a senator, surprisingly well-informed about India, asked, ``Why is your great actor Sivaji Ganesan not politically successful like your M.G. Ramachandran?''.

I quoted from the narration of my biographical TV documentary on MGR. My narration says, ``The MGR Phenomenon was an amalgam of fact and fiction, dream and reality. The only archetype character he performed in all his films was of a hero who combined in himself the strength of a Hercules, the modernity of a James Bond and the love and compassion of a Jesus Christ''. The political value of this ingenious image is unparalleled in the history of media.

On the contrary, Sivaji Ganesan was the last word in versatility, performing any role of any shade - often that of a tragic hero, the self-pitying brother, the negative womaniser of ``Thirumbipaar'', the treacherous foreign spy of ``Andha Naal''.

He performed these different roles as a true artiste, interpreting every shade of character with ingenuity, involvement and ``finesse''. There was no fusion of an off-screen image and an on-screen image, to create a political mascot. Hence Sivaji Ganesan's attempt to build a political brand-equity failed. It was certainly a price worth paying - for he will be remembered as one of the greatest actors of modern India.

In my ``MGR Phenomenon'' I had said, ``Although MGR was an actor by accident, he was a mature politician by deliberate choice''. It will be equally true to say, ``Although Sivaji Ganesan stumbled into politics, he was a born actor par excellence - a thespian of whom India will be eternally proud''.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2...s/09270221.htm

[joe]

Nadigar Thilagam with Hollywood Greats

Photo
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/gallery/sg/sg014.htm