DhooL.com Song Of The Day

Song of the Day # 1003

From: bb on: Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:00 pm 

Song of the Day: uruvaththilE ivan manithan from yaarukkaaga azhuthaan.

http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/1003.html

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- ungaL ellOrukkum dhooL kuzhuvin iniya puththaaNdu nalvaazhthukkaL!

- Saravanan writes:

He was thrilled at the summons from Chitralaya, for it was every aspiring actor’s dream at the time to act in a movie directed by Sridhar. He said a silent thanks to his bosom friend Balaji who taken it upon himself to fetch for him the big break that had seemed elusive so far, and had got him introduced to Sridhar. He was now part of the cast of ‘nenjil Or aalayam’, the movie that Sridhar was making wholly inside a hospital set. He was slated to play a rather insignificant part of a villager who comes to the hospital. However, the Gods seemed to smile at him that day. For Ramarao, who was to play the relatively bigger role of the compounder was unexpectedly delayed, and cameraman Vincent wanted to check the lighting for a sequence involving the compounder. Vincent’s gaze fell on this newcomer who was watching the proceedings, and asked him to enact the role of the compounder just for the rehearsal. The scene was that of the compounder searching for a mischievous little girl who is hiding somewhere to avoid another dose of a bitter medicine. Our man did not take the instruction lightly as a mere stand-in; he decided intelligently to do something different and comical. Rather than to merely search behind the door or under the bed, with perfect timing and droll seriousness he also looked under the pillow and inside a table drawer! Sridhar and Vincent exchanged a few words, and the talented newcomer was told that the compounder’s role was his! nenjil Or aalayam went on to become a colossal success, and his innovative comedy fetched Cheyyur Krishnarao Nageswaran instant stardom and mass appeal. Though after his screen debut much earlier in thamaraikkuLam (1959) Nagesh did get to make sporadic screen appearances, it was after eliciting notice as Peter in nenjil Or aalayam that he soared high in the firmament of filmdom. Nagesh soon became a mandatory inclusion in most movies; he had to work day and night to fulfill his commitments. There were even occasions when MGR and Sivaji Ganesan had to wait for Nagesh to turn up in the sets, so much was he sought after in the next decade. By provoking instant and unreserved laughter at his endearing antics, he walked into the hearts of the Tamil filmgoers like none other.



C.K. Nagesh (1933- 2009)

"If I get a hard audience they are not going to get away until they laugh. Those seven laughs a minute -- I've got to have them.", declared Comedian Ken Dodd. Our Own (1933- 2009) was similarly determined, determined to make us laugh, and so we did. And we will keep laughing for only Nagesh has passed on, Dharumi would still be lamenting aloud at not being able to win the 1000 gold coins promised by the King, Chellapa will forever frighten his father with his gripping narrative of a horror sequence, Given a chance, Ramiah would once again let out the sprawling guest house of the absent owner, Vaithi, unscrupulous as always, would no doubt continue to fare well in his detestable profession….. Truly, the characters donned by Nagesh seem so life-like, that they have acquired a halo of immortality as each successive generation of Tamil moviegoers discovers anew the genius of Nagesh. The full-length role of a nagging old woman in naan (with her ‘komattula kuthtthuvEn!’ refrain), the son who disguises himself as an old woman to rob his banker father in kudiyundha kOyil, the hilarious triple role of grandfather, father and son in paNakkaara kudumbam, the hen-pecked husband in chandRodhayam, the doctor determined to win a reward by tracing a missing girl in ooty varai uRavu, and my personal favorite…the absent-minded LIC agent Panju in poojaikku vandha malar ( with utmost seriousness, he even asks Manorama if her name was Krishnamoorthi!) … how much have we laughed outright at Nagesh’s convincing antics! pudhiya paRavai, pachchai viLakku, saadhu miraNdaal, soapu seepu kaNNaadi, Madras to Pondicherry, then mazhai, ninaivil nindRavaL, bommalaattam, adhE kaNgaL, uththaravindRi uLLE vaa… memories of Nagesh in these movies bring an involuntary smile… And even while extracting hilarious performances from Nagesh in movies such as bhama vijayam and anubavi raja anubavi, K. Balachander brought to focus on the serious side of Nagesh- server sundaram, neerkumizhi, major chandrakant, ethirneechal, paththaam pasali, poova thalaiya, navagraham, nootRukku nooRu, thamarai nenjam and aboorva raagangaL had Nagesh donning roles of dazzling dimensions. Nagesh played himself with panache in the hilarious thillu mullu. An obscure little movie titled ‘engaL vaathiyaar’ directed by Durai had Nagesh in the role of an impoverished schoolmaster trying to get his daughter married to any one of 4 of his ex-students, giving a magnificent performance that went sadly unnoticed. In later years, Kamalhasan, always an ardent fan of Nagesh, gave him memorable roles in movies such as aboorva sahOdarargaL, michael madana kamarajan, magaLir mattum, nammavar, avvai shanmugi, panchathanthiram, vasoolraja MBBS…

Much as he made us laugh, Nagesh’s life had more than a fair share of sorrows. Initial success did not come easily; his pock-marked face came for repeated derision and he had to face rejection and humiliation in plenty. He did taste success at length, but legend has it that when he piled his car with riches and rushed to his hometown, he was too late even to watch his mother’s mortal remains being consigned to flames. When he married Regina, he supposedly faced ostracism from his family and community. And when he thought he had settled to a life of tranquil matrimony, Nagesh was embroiled in a criminal case pertaining to the murder of his brother-in-law, and the accompanied notoriety played havoc with his personal and professional life. Then years of alcohol abuse took their toll- Nagesh fell dangerously ill-indeed it was indeed a miracle, aided by the medicine that Balaji procured from the U.S. just in the nick of time, that Nagesh lived to tell his tale of woe. A slump in his career lead to financial worries; even the theater that he constructed in his name was besieged with troubles and he had to ultimately sell it. Despite being among the finest actors of the country, Nagesh never received the recognition that he deserved; the National Award for the Best Supporting Actor that he received in 1994 for his superb performance in nammavar was a tardy and tightfisted response from the powers that be. ‘paartha gnyabagam illaiyO’ a movie that Nagesh made to bolster the sagging fortunes of his son Anandbabu saw his finances dwindling further. Anandbabu’s battle with alcohol and drugs filled Nagesh with depression, and with his wife’s demise a few years ago, Nagesh lived the life of a recluse. After a fall in November 2008, his health witnessed a rapid deterioration; death was perhaps a blessed release he was craving for…



Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winters rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages .

- William Shakespeare (Cymbeline)

Much has been written in the aftermath of his demise about Nagesh- his early life, his years of struggle, his stage appearances and his legendary celluloid performances …let us in dhool bring to SOTD a little remembered song from a movie that seldom finds mention…. And for that we have to go back in time, and look up some interesting incidents that form the backdrop of the making of the movie…

* * * *

Sometime in the late 50s, Jayakanthan’s story ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’ had appeared in Ananda Vikatan, fetching widespread critical acclaim. Actor Chandrababu had befriended Jayakanthan during that time, and expressed his eagerness to adapt the story for the screen and act in the lead role of Joseph. However, the ideas that Chandrababu put forth on the screenplay were not to JK’s liking. It was a little later that actor A. Veerappan came to JK with the news that Producer G.N. Velumani was desirous of making a movie of ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’, and wanted to meet him in this regard. JK met Velumani and agreed to give him the rights to the story on the condition that Veerappan play the lead role of Joseph. Velumani agreed to JK’s terms at the spur of the moment, but when the press announcements were made, it was Sivaji Ganesan who was playing the lead role! The movie was to be a star-studded affair with Savitri, Rangarao and Baliah taking on the supporting roles. Velumani had appointed Sridhar to direct the venture.

Though Velumani had gone against his word, JK remained silent as he felt that a producer who was investing money in a project could not be bound by a mere verbal assurance. Later on, Velumani informed JK that Sridhar was desirous of holding discussions with him on the adaptation, and requested JK to meet up with Sridhar. JK called upon Sridhar at the latter’s Chitralaya office, and Sridhar elaborated his ideas on making the movie. With mounting frustration, JK felt that his story was being mangled beyond recognition. Reminiscing on this incident in his ‘Or ilakkiyavaadhiyin kalaiyulaga anubavangaL’ JK says that when Sridhar related to him how he would film the end of the movie with Joseph kneeling in front of a wooden cross and breathing his last, JK lost his cool and retorted that considering Sridhar’s ideas, it would be more appropriate to rename the movie ‘yaarukkaaga seththaan!’

With that, JK kept away from the making of the movie. Reports reached him, however, that Velumani had started expressing apprehensions on Sivaji fitting into the character of Joseph, and that Sivaji had become aware of the producer’s misgivings. JK, who was nowhere in the picture by then, suddenly found himself f in the center of a controversy as there appeared some false reports in certain sections of the vernacular media that it was JK who was not in favour of Sivaji donning the role of Joseph. Subsequent reports indicated that Chandrababu was now being considered to play the role of Joseph. When the press sought JK’s reaction, all that JK said was it did not matter who would be playing the lead role, what was important was how realistic performances would be extracted from the actors and how story would be filmed. This was again misrepresented in some sections of the press that JK was not happy with Chandrababu as Joseph either. The next day’s Dhinathandhi carried Sridhar’s irked reaction that if JK did wanted neither Sivaji nor Chandrababu, would JK himself play the role? A furious JK gave a prompt rejoinder to Sridhar in Janashakti. In later years, JK regretted the harsh terms he had employed in his response.

The partially made movie was then abandoned after several lakhs of rupees had been expended on it. Chandrababu came to JK’s house soon thereafter, offering Rs.75, 000 for the rights to ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’. When JK informed Chandrababu that the rights were still with Velumani, Chandrababu replied that as Velumani had given up the project, he would give the rights to Chandrababu if JK urged him to do so. JK refused to do this, and with this the idea of filming ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’ was shelved.

In the meantime, along with a horde of talented communist comrades, JK involved himself in the making of paadhai theriyudhu paar (1960/ Kumari Films). Though it was a commercial failure, JK was satisfied with the way the off-beat movie had shaped up. Soon thereafter, Producer ‘Venus’ Krishnamoorthi professed a great admiration for JK and wanted him to make a movie for them. JK expressed his opinion that none of his stories would suit the screen. At Krishnamoorthi’s request JK wrote the screenplay and dialogues for the Tamil adaptation of a Bengali movie titled ‘takka aanna paisa’. However, Krishnamoorthi had lost interest in the project, and now asked JK to work on the script of another Bengali story involving a dual role for the heroine. JK had completed penning the ‘treatment’ of the screenplay when he felt a torrent of misgivings overcome him and informed the producers that he was no longer interested in the assignment. The movie came out later as kaathirundha kangaL (1962/ Vasumathi Pictures).



It was during this time that JK’s friends, K. Vijayan and N. Bhaskaran in particular, were urging him constantly to take upon himself the filming of any one of his stories. Their argument was that just as DMK had ingratiated itself into the psyche of the populace solely through cinema, they too could counter this assault through the same medium, making truly good movies in the bargain. JK then decided to make a movie of his ‘unnaippOl oruvan’ and approached Venus Krishnamoorthi with the idea. Krishnamoorthi agreed readily to finance the project. However, when the script was read out, Krishnamoorthi expressed an opinion that the proceedings seem to drag on with the characters eating and sleeping all the time. JK walked away in a rage, and then with the encouragement of his friends floated his own film company, calling it ‘Asia Jyothi Films’ after Nehru who had passed away just then. The starkly realistic ‘unnaippOl oruvan’ (1965) scripted and directed by JK under this banner, won critical acclaim and the National award for the 3rd Best Feature Film. The movie, however, could not run beyond a week. In his memoirs, JK reveals how the movie was removed after just a week from Krishanveni Theater in Madras, though the collections were more than average, and how he had to sell the movie to a Soviet Film Entity called Sovexport. However, despite all this, the financial woes of ‘Asia Jyothi Films’ were such that JK and friends decided to recoup their losses by making another movie.

This time JK picked his ‘karuNaiyinaal alla’ for adaptation. A new found acquaintance called Mothi Rajagopal agreed to finance the project in part. JK then approached the Film Finance Corporation (FFC) for funds. However, the stringent conditions imposed by FFC filled JK with reservations. It was at this opportune moment that an old friend and owner of Mars Advertising, Udhuman Mohaydeen who went by the name Minnal accosted JK with the welcome tidings that his friends who were owners of a company called Chempi Traders were willing to wholly finance the celluloid adaptation of ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’ if JK was ready to make the movie. So JK gave up his efforts to film ‘karuNaiyinaal alla’ and approached Velumani to get back the rights to film ‘yaarukaaga zhuthaan’. The good-hearted Velumani returned the rights to JK without a demur, and wished him all the best to make a successful movie of it.

Thus JK commenced making ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’. He felt intuitively that this particular story was such that the impact the book could never be reproduced on the screen. However, the financiers insisted on ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’, and considering the livelihood of the members of Asia Jyothi Films, JK went about making the movie.

* * * *

What then was this story that had attracted so many celebrities over the years? As we know, it had appeared in Ananda Vikatan, and had then been published as a book by Meenakshi Puththaga Nilayam, Madurai in 1962.



‘Nataraja Vilas’, an unpretentious lodge located near the railway station in a nondescript town forms the backdrop of the proceedings. The story narrates the happenings of a Monday night and the subsequent Tuesday in the lodge. The chief protagonist is the simpleton Joseph, a hardworking employee in the lodge. An inebriated guest, Gopinath Seth entrusts his wallet stuffed with money to the owner Ratnavelu Mudaliar for the night. Forgetting all about it in the morning, he accuses the innocent Joseph who had entered his room with his morning coffee of stealing his wallet. Mudaliar, who is in dire need of money, seizes this opportunity and remains silent, even as Gopinath thrashes Joseph asking him to accept the theft and return the wallet. A stoic Joesph’s response remains that he did not steal the wallet. A small-time fraudster who occupies another room in the lodge sees an opportunity to share in the loot, and taking Joseph aside, cajoles him to own up so that they can make good their escape with the wallet. When Joseph reiterates that he did not take the wallet, the scoundrel along with his accomplice beat him mercilessly.

A woman who had been abandoned by her paramour is another guest in the lodge. She has always held Joseph in high regard, and yells at the two men to stop beating Joseph. She then takes him to her room and bathes his wounds and comforts him. Joseph goes down to Mudaliar’s room. A nervous Mudaliar asks him blusteringly if he had stolen the wallet. Joseph does not reiterate his innocence now, he looks at Mudaliar unflinchingly. Joseph had witnessed Gopinath handing over his wallet to Mudaliar the previous night, but chooses to remain silent rather than reveal Mudaliar’s duplicity. Unable to meet Jospeh’s gaze, Mudaliar falls silent. Govindasami Naidu, the head cook returns just then from his weekly visit to his village. He had always held a soft corner for Joseph and seeing him torn and bleeding, he flies into a rage. He insists that Joseph would have never committed this theft. After ascertaining that no one had left the lodge since morning, Naidu urges that the police are summoned so that they could search the premises and find the wallet. Mudaliar trembles in fear, and when Naidu asks him to lock all the rooms, he sees a way out of his predicament. Going up to Gopinath’s room, he places the wallet behind a statuette of Gandhiji’s 3 monkeys that Joseph had placed there. When Gopinath goes in to take his coat, he notices the wallet and announces the discovery.

Gopinath Seth is now profuse in his apologies to Joseph and offers him money, which Joseph refuses. Mudaliar is unable to look at the honest Joseph. The fraudsters and the other employees of the lodge who had thought Joseph to be guilty look at him sheepishly. Naidu and the girl look at him with compassion. And what does Joseph do? He cries. Joseph who had never shed a drop of tears all his life, even when his mother died, even when he had caught his wife and his best friend locked in a moment of illicit intimacy, even when he had been unjustly accused of theft, weeps now with unabashed abandon… What does he weep for? Is it enough if the hidden wallet comes to light? When would the deceit, falsehood, avarice and suspicion that men harbour in their hearts come out? Hugging his statuette of the 3 monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil, does Joseph weep for the evils that remain hidden deep inside every man?

* * * *

This then was the story that JK set about making a movie of. He picked on Nagesh to play the lead role of Joseph. It was the time when Nagesh was riding on an unprecedented high as the most sought after actor in Tamil cinema- his very name spelled magic at the box office, for his mere presence in a scene would kindle guffaws from elders and children alike. JK had held Nagesh in high esteem for his unquestioned talents.

And what did Nagesh feel about JK? Read what Nagesh says about JK in his ‘siriththu vaazha vENdum’: ‘ennudaiya thiraippada ulaga vaazhkkaiyil naan pazhagiya, sandhiththa manithargaL yEraaLam. avargaLil indRaLavum enakku naNbargaLaaga irukkiRavargaLum uNdu. rayil snEham pOl idaiyil vandhu vazhiyil vidai petRavargaLum uNdu. aanaal naan sila nErangaLil sandhiththa sila manithargaLai ennaal endRaikkumE maRakka mudiyaadhu. appadippattavargaLil romba mukkiyimaanavar Jayakanthan.’

Nagesh’s close friend Srikanth who was an ardent fan of JK’s works. When JK met Nagesh for the first time in a railway station, Nagesh, who had not read much of JK’s books, told him that Srikanth used to speak high of JK to him. Later Nagesh attended some of JK’s public speeches and found himself drawn to the maverick writer. One morning JK woke up to see a huge crowd gathered in front of his house. When he rushed down to know the cause, he saw Nagesh seated calmly in his drawing hall. Nagesh said that he had heard that JK would be at home only early in the morning and so he had dropped by at that unusual hour. After exchanging pleasantries, Nagesh invited JK to come and watch his ‘ethirneechal’ play. JK willingly obliged, and after watching the play, Jk refuted the rumours floating around that the play was inspired by his ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan.’ This incident served to pave the way for a budding friendship between the writer and the actor, which strengthened further during the making of ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’.

Nagesh agreed happily to play the role of Joseph, indeed he treasured it as a singular honour for having been picked by JK for the coveted role. However, his dates were wholly booked much in advance, and hence JK shot all the sequences involving Nagesh in the middle of the night. In his memoirs Nagesh recalls an incident wherein they were relaxing after a stint of shooting. An altercation with some taxi drivers led to JK and Vijayan joining in the brawl and bashing up some of the taxi drivers. However, the very next day JK sent for those taxi drivers, apologized to them and gave them twice the amounts they had demanded earlier. In another incident, JK and Nagesh were traveling together for the shooting one night when they were held up at a railway gate. To while way the time, at the suggestion of a mischievous JK, Nagesh and JK removed their shirts, and in the dark roadside they posed as beggars seeking alms. Nagesh adds that it was JK who managed to collect a higher amount!

As the financiers wanted popular actors of the day in the cast, JK selected his cast accordingly. A slim and beautiful K.R. Vijaya, a much sought after heroine by all the top heroes of the day, agreed willingly to play the role of the sympathetic female guest in the lodge. T.S. Baliah enacted the role of the lodge owner Ratnavelu Mudaliar who gives in to temptation and remains silent when Joseph is unfairly accused. For the playing the role of the good-hearted Govindasami Naidu, JK’s first choice was S.V. Subbiah, but when Subbiah refused the offer, JK engaged another veteran S.V. Sahasranamam to play the role. Raja Wahab Kashmiri was well cast as the North-Indian Gopinath Seth.



The gifted Nimai Ghosh, who had earlier directed ‘paadhai theriyudhu paar’ was the cinematographer of ‘yaarukkaag azhuthaan’. Koteeswara Rao composed the background music. Editing was by Jambulingam and Selvaraj. JK’s total budget was Rs. 3 Lakhs, which Chempi Traders handed over in 6 installments. JK was assisted by his associates K. Vijayan and Malliyam Rajagopal. JK demanded and secured a higher remuneration than Nagesh, but recalls in his ‘Or ilakkiyavaadhiyin kalaiyulaga anubavangaL’ that he was taken aback when the financiers informed him that part of the remuneration would be in black!

With JK’s meticulous planning and determined execution, the movie was shot in a start-to-finish schedule at the Newtone Studios and was completed in 3 months. The movie was released on April 14 1966. K. Balachander, who was among those who watched the movie in its very first show in Casino Theater, was effusive in his praise. JK who watched the movie along with the audience that day felt encouraged at the response. But when he returned from a 10 day trip to Kerala, he saw that the movie was running to empty halls, and was taken off from all the theaters at the end of a mere 2 weeks.

The reasons were not far to seek. JK admits that a story that could not be extended beyond 7000 feet had been ‘dragged like rubber’ to satisfy the whims of the financiers. The original story takes place wholly in the premises of ‘Nataraja Vilas’, but the movie had extended external sequences such as Naidu taking leave of his family after his weekly visit in the village, the girl’s lover being unable to return to her due to family pressures, Mudaliar seeing a mother beating her child for stealing, Mudaliar imagining himself standing as an accused in a court and then languishing as a prisoner in a cell… For prolonging the length of the movie, JK even had to introduce new characters not present in the original story such as Mani Panikkar played by K. Vijayan. As another ‘stretching tactic’, the movie opens with a speech heard in JK’s voice, followed by a longish song.

Notwithstanding the unseemly speed with which it was returned to the cans, ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’ remains one of the stray realistic ventures of Tamil Cinema. In fact, it has a place of pride in the ratings of learned film historians such as Theodore Bhaskaran. Nimai Ghosh captured the soul of JK’s story with his haunting black & white frames. Nagesh was simply astounding as the unjustly accused Joseph, and Vijaya was a revelation with her stark, brilliant performance. In future years, Nagesh would go on to gather honours with his sensitive portrayals in JKs projects such as ‘sila nErangaLil sila manithargaL’ and ‘oru nadigai naadagam paarkiRaaL’, while Vijaya would come out with another stunning delineation in JK’s ‘karuNai uLLam’.

* * * *

The movie had a single song, which comes right after the opening speech by JK. The song was written by Kannadasan. In his initial years, when Kannadasan was associated with the DMK, JK did not entertain any high regards for the poet, as JK was vehemently against the party. However, with Kannadasan breaking away from DMK and associating himself with the Congress, JK found himself addressing joint meetings with Kannadasan and came to know him well. Kannadasan had openly declared once that one book that was always to be found at his bedside was JK’s ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’. When JK called Kannadasn to write the song for ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’, the bard came willingly one morning to the ‘Asia Jyothi Films’ office. After accepting ‘a peg’ offered by JK, Kannadasan’s pen flew with its known felicity, and the verses were written in no time at all. The bard then departed flashing his gracious smile. JK had kept aside in a cover the money to be paid to Kannadasan for the song; the cover was lying intact with JK for many months, and then JK used the money to meet some expense. JK adds that Kannadasan never asked for the payment even once!

Kannadasan poratrays the noble character of Joseph in simple, yet arresting lines:

uruvaththilE ivan manithan-
koNda uLLaththilE oru paRavai
paruvaththilE oru kuzhandhai-
nenjin paasaththilE oru thandhai

JK sent for S.V. Ramanan to set the verses to tune. JK had listened earlier to the music composed by Ramanan for the documentaries produced by his brother S. Krishnaswami and for few devotional songs and radio jingles. Even earlier Ramanan had assisted his gifted mother Meenakshi Subramaniam when she, along with C.N. Pandurangan, composed music for ‘paaNdithEvan’. Ramanan had also assisted Pandurangan when the latter composed music for Sridhar’s ‘ethirpaaraathathu’. He was among Salilda’s assistants when the music for ‘chemmeen’ was composed. JK had come to know Ramanan well when Ramanan assisted Chittibabu in composing the background score for ‘unnaippOl oruvan’, and when a song had become mandatory for ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’, he called Ramanan to compose the music. The movie version of the song begins with the lines ‘piRandhapOdhu piRandha paarvai maaRavEyillai- indha piLLai koNda veLLai manam vaLaravEyillai’ rendered by Dharapuram Sundararajan. This song is among the early forays of Yesudas in Tamil Cinema, and his honeyed tones tinged with an inexplicable melancholy bring alive the vision of the bard.

‘uruvaththilE ivan manithan’ from ‘yaarukkaaga azhuthaan’ (1966/ Asia Jyothi Films)
Sung by K.J. Yesudas
Lyrics by Kannadasan
Music by S.V. Ramanan
Listen

The song serves as an introduction to the noble character of Joseph with silhouette shots of him working hard at his menial tasks. As the verses unfold, Joseph is seen kneeling in front of a cross, his eyes closed deep in prayer. As the song progresses, we see Joseph reacting to all situations with the same serene smile… when he gives all his food to a beggar, when a street urchin throws a stone at him, when Mudaliar pours a bucketful of water at him when he oversleeps- he even mops the water cheerfully, when he massages Mudaliar’s feet at the end of the day, when he spies his wife and friend in an intimate embrace… Joseph’s response is the same always … the tranquil smile that comes from his heart and escapes from his lips, not before lighting up his eyes… The song, with its lyrics and visuals establishes firmly the credentials of Joseph…

* * * *

K.R. Vijaya was among the early mourners at Nagesh’s St. Mary’s Road house on 31 January this year when the actor passed away. She was seen wiping her eyes even as she was entering the compound, and standing besides the mortal remains of the beloved doyen later, and clutching the hands of Anandbabu, Vijaya sobbed uncontrollably..



What erased the famed smile from the face of Vijaya and made her weep? Was it the memories of the man and the performer Nagesh, for Vijaya had been with Nagesh in his important career milestones, besides sharing screen space with him in countless movies- she was the bewitching Radha whom Sundaram falls for in the immortal ‘Server Sundaram’ that launched Nagesh in a big way, she played his pair in the successful ‘chinnanjiru ulagam’, and she played his wife in his last screen appearance in ‘dasavathaaram’. Perhaps the associated memories came gushing in a torrent, a torrent that flowed as tears down her cheeks? Or was it perhaps that bane of advancing age…an aching solitude…as she watched yet another of her contemporaries depart for yonder pastures…

Tags: K.J.Yesudas

Discussion Page in DhooL on this Song

http://www.dhool.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8417