Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Down memory lane - Nadigar thilakam documentary




From Left to right standing - Mahesh, Music Director, Yours truly,
G.Ramkumar and Director K.Subaash.

Around the late 1990s Sivaji films wanted to make a TV show on Nadigar Thilakam (NT).

This was tentatively titled "Naanum oru rasikan" and was to have been him reliving
his experiences with around 100 of his colleagues, seniors and even those who came later.

His thoughts on them, his roles with them and then we wanted to get reactions from each of them ( those available). He wanted to trace the trip from M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar down to
the then present day.

Subaash , probably one of the few "friends" I have from this tinsel world, many like Prabhu and Ramkumar were friends before I became an actor, was excited to work with NT as his father Krishnan (Panju) was the one who introduced this legend in "Parasakthi" with that immortal first shot -"Success".

At a time when graphics had not grown his plan was to merge NT at home moving about when suddenly VO Chidambaram, Kattabomman, Parama sivan, prestige padmanabhan, barrister rajinikanth and several others keep walking past and to each of them NT reacts -
I was to have interacted with him and assisted Subaash with the research, script and editing.My good friend Mahesh was to have made the Music. For all of us it was the joy of working with the living legend.

In fact this helped me sit and discuss with him the list of people he wanted - the Producers, The Directors ,The Technicians ( all the crafts from Camera, Dance, Make up, Costume, writers and so on), His fellow actors and others whom he had enjoyed watching on screen - Olivier , Brando , Spencer Tracy , Paul Muni and many others up North including Prithviraj Kapoor etc. In fact we were wondering how to source footage from Hollywood films and the Royalty costs etc. You must remember the economy had not opened up as much as it is today.

Mahesh was toying with a medley of his songs , sometimes the old tune with new words and sometimes the old words with new tunes etc.....and one fully new tune.

The experiences he shared with us will live evergreen in our minds and the kind of respect he had for people like L.V.Prasad, Nagesh , M.R.Radha , Balaiah , Sridhar , APN , Chandrababu, ACT , His mentors P.A.Perumal and Subaash's father Krishnan , AVM , MGR ,the present CM Kalaignar, S.Balachander , Heeralal Master , Padmini, Kannamba , Manorama , Savithri to name just a few was really high .

We actually took up a list of 60 plus names to work with initially .

This was to have been either for Doordarshan or Sun TV - in those days DD was still in the big budget League.

Just reliving those moments brings tears, both of Joy and sorrow - Like he sang -
Naan azhudhukonde sirikkindren.

11 comments:

Keerthi Jeyaraj said...

Yes Sir.. i agree.. i do remember in one of the event, NT praised u for some of u'r collections. I was nice to recap those. Anyways, his foot print can never be erased out of this world... lucky u to be in his close circle..!

Adhikaalai Nawin said...

சிறப்பான பதிவு. தங்களின் உணர்வுகளை ஓரளவு என்னாலும் புரிந்துகொள்ள முடிந்தது. ஆனா, இதையே நீங்க தமிழ்-ல எழுதியிருந்தா இன்னும் கொஞ்சம் 'டச்சிங்'கா இருந்துருக்கும். நெறைய பேருக்கு போய்ச்சேரும். வாழ்த்துக்கள்!

அதிகாலை நவின் - அமெரிக்கா

Rakesh Kumar said...

Oh man, it would have been awesome. Awesome!!! What to do....thanks for sharing, sir.

Giridharan R said...

language is a barrier to express about this wonderful gift of god to the filmworld.. aka sivaji ganesan. thanks for sharing sir. if u can share a bit more...?

sivajifan said...

ஐயா,
தங்களுடைய பதிவு தங்களுக்கு மட்டுமல்ல, படிக்கும் அனைவருக்குமே கண்ணில் நீர் வரவழைத்து விடும். தங்களுடைய அனுபவங்கள் ஒளிப்படங்களாக பதியப் பட்டிருந்தால் அவற்றிலிருந்து சில புகைப்படங்களை இங்கே பார்வைக்கு வைத்தீர்களானால் அதை வைத்து அந்த தொடரைப் பார்த்த திருப்தி என்று ஆறுதல் கொள்வோம். நடிகர் திலகம் என்ற மாமனிதரின் இறையாண்மை பேணல், மனித நேயம் போன்ற பல நற்பண்புகளை மேலும் அறிந்து கொள்ள இத்தொடர் உதவியிருக்கும் என்பது தங்களுடைய குறிப்புகளினின்றும் அடுத்து வரும் தலைமுறை அறிய முடியும்.

அன்புடன்
ராகவேந்திரன்

Unknown said...

you are gifted sir.

being with legend is mind boggling.

best regards

k.subaash said...

Naanum azhuthukonday sirikinrayen

Radhakrishnan said...

Very nice venture. What is Mahesh doing now? Brought old memories back.
Radhakrishnan, Cupertino, CA USA

Shankar said...

Hi Raman,
If I remember right there was a programme aired by Door Dharshan on one Deepavali Day - may be late 80s or early 90s- running to about 2 hours, with Suhasini doing the presentation. On that day , during those few hours there was almost no traffic on the roads of Chennai and everyone was glued to his/her TV including self.
What a great actor he was! As Kamal once famously said," There can be no actor in the Tamil Film industry who can act without copying Sivaji at any point in a movie"
Similarly the music legend MSV.

SSS ( your former MBL friend)

sri said...

என்ன தவம் செய்தனை..............

”ஆரண்ய நிவாஸ்”ஆர்.ராமமூர்த்தி said...

அந்த மகாக் கலைஞனின் ‘பத்மனாப ஐயரையும், பாரிஸ்டர் ரஜினிகாந்தையும் அவ்வளவு சுலபத்தில் மறக்க முடியுமா என்ன?
நாங்கள் அந்த நாளில் டெக்கில் வியட் நாம் வீடு பார்த்துக்கொண்டிருந்தோம்.அதில் ஸ்ரீதர்( நடிகர் ஸ்ரீகாந்த்) தனிக் குடித்தனம் போகும் போது என் அம்மா என்னைப் பார்த்துக் கொண்டு விசும்ப நான் முழித்தேன்..
காரணம்:
1. நான் தான் மூத்தபிள்ளை!
2. என் பெயரும் ஸ்ரீதர்!!
(1990 வாக்கில் நான் தனிக்குடித்தனம் செல்ல அவர்களே ஆனந்தமாய் அனுப்பி வைத்தது வேறு)

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.