Aug 22, 2006 08:02 AM
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The unveiling of the statue of the thespian Sivaji Ganesan on the Marina recently, revived my memories of the great actor.
Circa 1952. The tamil filmdom had plenty of releases, with concrete faced actors ruling the stage. The dialogue deliveries, facial expressions were just boring. Mythologicals and stereo type socials were the products of the film factories. "Parasakthi" was released during Deepavali, with the debut of a small built hero, and what a debut! Previously the producers were reluctant to gamble with this new hero who 'spoke dialogues like a fish opening its mouth'. Now their gamble was a success. The atheist flavoured film was a hit with the present Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi's fiery dialogues, spoken with grandeur by the debuntant actor, later called as 'The Lion throated'.
Sivaji's entry entirely changed the Tamil film scenario. A new wave swept literally. Non stop he ruled the Tamil film scene for half a century. I think he acted roughly around 300 films and mostly as the hero. He cannot be compared to M.G.R., N.T.R. or Rajkumar. His style was variety. He never shied to act in a negative character even in his haydays. Even in the beginning days of his career, he acted as a villain to Gemini Ganesan in 'Pennin Perumai', when he was acting as hero in other films. He was a womaniser in 'Thirumbi Paar', an unpatriotic radio engineer in S.Balachander's songless movie 'Andha Naal', a scheming bigamist in 'Rangoon Radha'. He puffed cigarattes and drank on the screen without caring for his image unlike M.G.R. who nurtured a puritan image on screen, and thus in his later days became the CM of Tamil Nadu. The scoop of the day was 'Goondukkili' in which the great rivals acted, and Sivaji was the villain scheming to seduce M.G.R.s wife. Complex roles were written for Sivaji and he was a Director's delight. Directors like A.Bhimsingh, P.Madhavan, A.C.Thirulogachander made plenty of films with him as a hero and mostly all were hits.
Mythological and historical roles were glorified with his performances. In 'Sampoorna Ramayanam', when he could have acted as the hero, he opted for the small role of Bharathan and stole the limelight. The negative character of Duriyodana's friend in Mahabharata was given a new face with Sivaji donning the greasepaint as 'Karnan', the good man in the bad party. After he acted in 'Thiruvilayadal'as Lord Shiva, no actor could be accepted in that role. Disciples of Shiva and Vishnu, like Thirugnanasambandar, Sundarar, Sekkizhar, Periyazhvar and others were brought to life on screen by Sivaji. Nobody could have given justice to the role of the patriotic king 'Veerapandiya Kattabomman' except Sivaji. A great chunk of the public would not have known, if such a king who fought against the British ever lived, if not he had enacted that role. This role was a milestone to Sivaji's acting career. And the age and his poor education background must be taken into consideration while reviewing his films. In his twenties and thirties he gave sterling performances in roles so mature.
The greatest criticism on him was that he over acted, was too theatrical, and loud. Of course, he was from the stage, where he gained the honour of being named as 'Sivaji' when he donned the role of the great Marathi warrior King, in a play written none other than C.N.Annadurai, the founder of DMK. As Kattabomman, he was loud, but otherwise, the film would have gone into the cans within days. The dialogue delivery in this film still lingers in the Tamil minds, and there are people who could just repeat the entire dialogues of the film. But there is a scene in this film, when he conducts an enquiry on his Prime Minister, and the voice modulation in that scene, will be a rare treat to acting students. The next film by the same director B.V.Bandhulu was 'Kappalottiya Thamizhan', a biographical sketch of the great freedom fighter V.O.Chidambaram Pillai. He was never loud or over acted in this film, but the movie was a commercial failure. On the same day M.G.Rs 'Nadodi Mannan' was released and people flocked these theatres.
Even great actors of the other languages could not do justice to the roles he enacted, when they were made into other languages. For instance, the role of the hero in K.Shankar's 'Alayamani'was a complex one, with jealousy and affection as conflicting layers of the hero's mind, and when it was remade in Hindi as 'Aadmi', the great Dilip Kumar hammed through the role. 'Navaratri' was another hit, in which he acted in 9 different roles. When it was remade in Hindi as 'Naya din Nayi raat', Sanjeev Kumar could not come any where near him. He carried the role of the father figure in one of his last films- Kamalahaasan's 'Thevar Magan' with a style that could not be matched with Amrish Puri's role in 'Virasat'. I don't remember the name of an old hindi film, in which Ashok Kumar, Pradeep Kumar and Anup Kumar acted, which I happened to see on DD. It was remade in Tamil with Sivaji in all the three roles as 'Deiva Magan' and this movie created history.
He was equally in ease with comedy roles and a great dancer. His flamboyant style of dancing was a treat in films like 'Uthamaputhiran', 'Thookku thookki', 'Kaaththavaraayan' and even in one of his last films 'En Aasai Raasaavey'. Though his films of the mid seventies and eighties were trashes, he managed to give excellent performances in some of his last films in the company of good directors. Bharathiraja's 'Mudhal Mariyaadhai', Bharathan's 'Thevar Magan', Prathap Pothan's 'Yaathra Mozhi' (malayalam) were notable films.
Pages and pages could be written on this great Nadigar Thilagam. He never won the best actor award given by the Indian Government. But the French Government presented him with the Chevaliar Award. Dada Saheb Phalke Award was given to him after every sundry personality received it. But his memory will linger in the hearts of the Tamil population for a long time.
