Introducing Sivaji Ganesan to the younger generation

[RAGHAVENDRA]

Thank you NOV for this thread and Rakesh. It's really a great service to NT you're doing and my hearty appreciations to you. I don't know in what way I would contribute, but shall try my level best.

Before that wanted to share the joy we all felt during the launch of Karnan DI trailer. Reproducing my posting in the NT main thread.

21.07.2011 அன்று தன் பூதவுடலை மட்டும் அனுப்பி விட்டு நம்முடன் இருக்கும் நடிகர் திலகம் இறவாப் புகழுடன் சிறந்து விளங்குவதை மீண்டும் நிரூபித்த நிகழ்ச்சி, இன்று நடைபெற்ற கர்ணன் முன்னோட்ட வெளியீட்டு விழா. எத்தனை காரணங்கள், சிவராத்திரி, அமாவாசை, வார நாள், முற்பகல் என அத்தனையும் மீறி திரளான மக்கள் வந்திருந்து மிகச் சிறப்பாக நடத்திய விழா, எங்கள் நடிகர் திலகத்திற்கென விழா வென்றால் மற்றவையெல்லாம் எமக்கு எம்மாத்திரம் என மக்கள் திரண்டு வந்து வரவேற்பளித்த விழா. வந்திருந்தோர் அத்தனை பேரும் முதலில் வியந்தது அந்த திரளான மக்களைத் தான் என்றால் அது மிகையில்லை. காலை 8.55க்குத் தொடங்கி சுமார் 11.10 வரையில் இரண்டு மணி நேரமும் போனதே தெரியவில்லை. வருகை தந்த படத்தில் பங்கு பெற்ற கலைஞர்கள் மூத்த கலைஞர் வி.எஸ். ராகவன், சண்முக சுந்தரம், மாஸ்டர் ஸ்ரீதர், பின்னணி இசைக் கலைஞர்களில் மெல்லிசை மன்னர் டி.கே.ராமமூர்த்தி, பி.பி.ஸ்ரீநிவாஸ், மற்றும் பந்துலு அவர்களின் புதல்வர் ரவிசங்கர், புதல்வி விஜயலட்சுமி, விநியோகஸ்தர்கள், ஆநந்தா பிக்சர்ஸ் சுரேஷ், கமலா திரையரங்கு உரிமையாளர் சிதம்பரம், மற்றும் வி.சி.குகநாதன் உள்ளிட்டோர் பங்கேற்றுப் பேசினர். பிரைட்டன் திரையரங்கில் என்தம்பி திரைப்படத்தை 40000 க்கு அனுமதி பெற்று வெற்றியுடன் ரூ 1 லட்சத்தை சம்பாதித்ததை நன்றியுடன் நினைவு கூர்ந்த விநியோகஸ்தரின் கூற்று உண்மை என்றுமே மறைக்க முடியாது என்பதை நிரூபித்தது.

வந்திருந்த ரசிகர்களின் ஆரவாரம் அன்பு சகோதரர் ராம் குமார் வருகை புரிந்த போது விண்ணதிர வைத்தது என்றால் அது உண்மை. ராம் குமார் வடிவில் ரசிகர்கள் நடிகர் திலகத்தைப் பார்க்கிறார்கள் என்பது இன்று நிரூபணம் ஆனது.

நிகழ்ச்சியை சிறப்புற தொகுத்து வழங்கிய திரு மகேந்திராவும் வார்த்தைக்கு வார்த்தை உணர்ச்சிப் பிழம்பாய் உருகிய சேரன் அவர்களும் ரசிகர்களின் இதயத்தில் நீங்கா இடம் பெற்று விட்டனர்.

முன்னோட்டத்தின் காட்சிகள் பிரம்மாண்டம் என்றால் என்ன என்பதற்கு விளக்கம் அளிப்பது போல் சிறப்புற அமைந்துள்ளன. ஒலியமைப்பு மிகவும் அற்புதமாய் அமைந்தது மட்டுமின்றி, தெளிவாகவும் இருந்தது தொழில் நுட்ப வல்லுநர்கள் எந்த அளவிற்கு கடுமையாக உழைத்துள்ளனர் என்பதற்கு எடுத்துக் காட்டு.

இவ்வளவு பெரிய அளவிற்கு இப்படத்தை அடுத்த தலைமுறையினருக்கு கொண்டு சேர்க்கும் முயற்சியில் ஈடுபட்டு அரும் பாடு பட்டு உழைத்துள்ள திரு திவ்யா பிலிம்ஸ் சொக்கலிங்கம் அவர்களுக்கு நம் அனைத்து ரசிகர்கள் சார்பாகவும் உளமார்ந்த நன்றி.

மாதிரிக்கு சில படங்கள் இங்கே







மற்ற படங்களுக்கு

[groucho070]

Don't know why I am credited Raghavendra sir and Vasudevan sir, but NOV started this.

Anyway, here's something I wrote two years ago that might arouse your... curiosity. Curiosity! jeez guys....

Sivaji Ganesan & The Sadists

I'll reproduce it here if you are lazy to open new link or are alergic to IndiaGlitz:

We all know what a great onscreen performer Sivaji Ganesan was. Having played many roles in films directed by directors so many, it is easy to assume that Sivaji or Nadigar Thilagam (loosely translated as Greatest Actor & abbreviated in online forums as NT) seriously requires many entries in the Guinness World Book of Records. As such, I want to put claim to the amount of sadistic physical & emotional torture his characters had to endure in that list...while at the same time put the directors responsible in the stand.

Let's start with his first film itself, Parasakthi, directed by Krishnan Panju team. As soon as the rich, beaming youthful and very handsome NT finds himself in the home soil of Chennai, he was duped, robbed rendered penniless and later became mentally unsound. The final blow came when he had to attack the temple priest. If the conscientious torture of having committed a crime is not enough, he had to be brought to the court and in that famous moment, he had to recount the entire incident again to the bemused judge and crowd. NT was only 24 at that time.

I don't think any other Tamizh film stars have had their characters endure such a predicament in the first role itself. Well, Rajini comes close. In Apoorva Raganggal, he appears towards the end in an extended guest role as a leukaemia patient who returns only to see his former wife frolicking with a dude much younger than hotter looking than him. Also, he dies standing.

In his first leading role afterwards, Mundru Mudhichu, he successfully becomes the killer, indirectly, of the same younger hotter looking dude to reclaim his girl only to find that she got married to his own dad. Poor bloke.

As a matter of fact, this was not the first time we got such a plot. The first victim of that nefarious plot of having your hot chick getting hitched by your daddy was none other than....yes, Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan. Ethirparaathathu was an experimental flick written by maverick filmmaker, Sridhar. And he had to get NT's girl married to his dad, played by Nagaiyah who always seemed like he would anytime keel over clutching his heart. Sridhar's atonement would be to put NT in an action flick, Sivantha Man. Safe and sound this time, except when NT was shot at, almost maimed, had fisticuff with various henchmen and was almost ran over by helicopter. But that's another story.

When the filmmakers decide to go extra creative and borrow from elsewhere, they can find rich resources in the classic plays and novels from the west. Both MGR and NT hijacked Alexandra Dumas' tales in the successful Nadodi Mannan and Uthama Puthiran, the latter which saw the second NT's head caged in metal mask.

But before those hits, the producers decided to have our own version of Hamlet and chose to film the hit play Manohara. Playing the title character, NT was brooding, in conflict with the palace authorities & towards the climax he has to be chained like a dog and listen to P. Kannama over emote. Well, at least it was not Vijaya Kumari.

Anyway, those are just few of what happened to NT. I would like to pin the directors down in this article. Let's pick a fight with B.R. Bandhulu first. With humble beginning as small time hack director, Bandhulu took the whole world (yes, the world) by storm when he directed Veera Pandiya Kattabomman (VPK) that earned NT best actor award in an Afro-Asia Film Festival held in Egypt. Kattabomman, the role that many swear was NT's best, constantly had to fight verbally and physically with white faced fellow Indian actors and deliver some ear shattering heart pounding dialogues, the delivery alone more powerful than the swords he swished. Now, how does Bandhulu end this film? With the hanging scene of course.

Fresh from the success of VPK, Bandhulu directed Karnan, a single viewpoint piece taken from the epic myth, Mahabaratha. NT's title character gets dumped in the river as a baby, grows up to be a warrior under a horse rider's tutelage, gets humiliated at a royal court, end up being pally with someone you don't even want to have tea with, fight against his own brothers, and end up getting killed. This is not after he had to cut off the very things that will protect his life, his ear ring (more elaborate type) and body shield....yes, they were attached to his body. During the climactic battle scene, he had about three hundred gazillions of arrow struck on him. Geez. When one of his brothers from the opposite camp, Arjunan, comes running along crying that he had murdered his own brother, his aide/Chariot Rider/mentor Lord Krisha smirks and tells Arjunan something to this effect: "Dude, your brother was, like, dead several scenes ago?? Halloo?". Thanks Bandhulu.

If you think that I am being unfair to Bandhulu wait till I tell you a tale of comedy. Yes, comedy. Bandhulu decides to make a comedy and you all know how brilliantly funny Bale Pandiya was. Think again. First time we see NT, he is about to commit suicide from a tower. And then, you get a second attempt, only to be saved by the super gorgeous Devika. If you think things are safe for this NT, wait till you learn what awaits the villain NT (three roles remember?). The Maruthu character hardly moves, if so he just walks towards the camera, adjusts his lungi and smokes his beedi. That's it. He hardly does anything, unlike the notorious MR Radha character, his boss. What happens to this NT? Of course, he got shot at the end. Comedy.

Here's more about getting shot, with bullets since they deposited all the arrows they had in Karnan. Director T.R. Ramanna will forever be remembered for bringing both MGR and NT together in Koondu Kili, where naturally the first scene was that of NT attempting to commit suicide. But that's another story. Well, Ramanna resurfaced a decade later when he directed NT in Tannga Churanggam. This film was his answer to the spy flick craze that was hitting worldwide thanks to the success of James Bond films. NT gave our own OO7, Jai Shanker, a run for his bullets, appearing cool, stylish but not without some emotional moments. Just when you thought all would be safe, he is given electricity jolt halfway, and worst, at the time when singing duet mean open space and beautiful garden, our man was given only a small water well to have a duet with his date. Then, all seemed to be safe and sound till the climax. When NT hunts down the bad guy (Ramdass) in a church...of all place...he gets shot at both his hands AND legs. Hey, even Hollywood make do with a single shot in either the hero's leg or arm, for Eastwood's sake.

Well, similar slug-related fate naturally awaited NT when he was cast in multiple roles. This time in a beautiful film called Navarathiri, directed by the gifted director A.P. Nagarajan, NT was made to take on 9 roles and the cruel thing was no rubber prosthetics was involved. Kidding. Well most characters are well and healthy; we then meet the brutish NT with a rifle, sling belt full of bullets, really looking very fiery and what happens to him? He gets shot and takes a really long time to die, trashing his feet about till they slowly stopped. Gruesome scene. I bet Savithiri was genuinely horrified that moment. Then, we meet few more NTs till towards the end when here comes crawling, literally on his four a leper. Who played this leper? Your guess is as good as mine. But that's another story.

Single role or multiple role, number does not matter. All has to suffer. Just ask director A.C. Thirulogachander. Remember Bheem Singh's plot twist involving acid thrown at NT's face in Pava Manippu and permanently scarring it? (It also had Nagaiyah playing NT's dad who still looked like he would keel over clutching his heart, except that he was propped to the wall by a humongous Quran) Well, inspired ACT had not one, but two NT's in Deiva Magan to have a really brutish nasty facial scar. Given away to orphanage as a child and originally intended to be killed by the scar-faced dad, NT Jr had to endure enough psychological trauma before at the climax where even the director felt enough is enough and had him take in more than one slug in his belly. Oh, Nagaiah again plays NT's dad and this time dies without keeling over and clutching his heart.

Another director not a stranger to onscreen gunshot wound is P. Madhavan. How can we forget the unnecessary death of the lead character in Rajapart Ranggathurai, where someone puts in real bullet in the gun used for a stage play in which NT, as stage actor Ranggathurai, plays a freedom fighter. Yes, P. Madhavan was also the director of Tanggapathakkam, in which NT plays Inspector Chowdary, whose defiant son goes to the other side of the fence, leaving him with a crippled wife who dies heartbroken. This time it is not NT, but his onscreen son Srikanth who gets the bullet. Who does the shooting? NT of course, but his own son...the trauma he has to live through is worst than death.

And so we saw all that from the 50s to the end of 70s, NT was blinded, half blinded, crippled, shot at, attacked, made to be alcoholics, given various psychological trauma, not forgetting silly costumes (late 70s) and preposterous wigs, and other horrific stuff like being paired with Sri Priya. It's staggering that NT the person remained the sane intelligent man right till the end.

One could go on and recall onscreen traumas mentioned above. But it is perhaps having been through these predicaments throughout the entire 50s, 60s & 70s, that the immune audience failed to give proper emotional response to NT in his 80s films, even though he suffered regularly onscreen, with his characters having multiple heart attacks, dying conveniently to spruce up bad script or sharing the screen with nightmare child Baby Shalini. But history is there to show the sadistic directors and scriptwriters had in their hand a brilliant artist who was willing to suffer in front of the camera. And being fans of this magnificent actor, we too are perhaps, equally, sadistic. But that's another story.

Ends.

By:

Rakesh Kumar, Malaysia.

[rsubras]

sorry, oru chinna doubt......... intha thread kum film thread la irukkara Sivaji thread kum basic ah enna vithiyasam............ that is a thanga churangam in itself in terms of the loads of information and rare news etc., and also detailed film discussions........

[Plum]

"Or had to share screen space with baby shalini" - jesus! The worst horror of all that you listed

[Plum]

This will be more "youthful" Subras. It is to attract younger generation like Vinod etc. You, ofcourse, by virtue of having appreciated the original thread, automatically join the oldies list

[rsubras]

ithellam too much ah therilae @ Plum I am at least 5-7 years younger than you...........

classics than oldies varuvaanga nu inga yaaro sonnapla.......... appadiye paarthalum antha thread ku than niraya peru varuvatharku vaaipu........ yea..but the intention is fine....... to let the younger generation participate more, ask questions which would be answered by stalwarts..........

[SoftSword]

andha thread pakkam poga naan konjam ninnu yosippaen...
oru romba sincere'a stricta nadatthappadra oru pazhangaalatthu koyil pakkam pora maadhiri...
anga pesikkiradhae oru madhiri vera language... something pulls me back... ennanu solla therila...

[Plum]

Softie - I see where you come from. I guess this thread is acknowledgement of your feeling. I would welcome open expression by youngsters of how they feel about NT and his performances. I am interested in understanding their viewpoint unfiltered...

[SoftSword]

enakku sivaji avlo pudhusu illai plum...
amma and thaaimaama theevira sivaji rasigargal...
paasamalar paatta renduperum sendhu paadi thaalaattuvaanga...
adhanaala many sivaji movies, chinna vayasulaye paathirukkaen... avlovaa nyaabagam illai ashte.

[Plum]

AppO you also unseletted from youth gang and attached to oldies list