Potpourri of titbits about cinema - ‘Kavignar’ Bharatidasan

Go and do better things …!

‘Kavignar’ Bharatidasan wrote the dialogues for the hit movie Aayiram thalai vaangiya apoorva Chintamani. The success of this movie created a big controversy as Bharatidasan, who staunchly believed in the self-respect movement that was totally opposed to mythology and epics, was questioned on his participation as a dialogue writer for a film of that genre. But Bharatidasan refuted the charge, asserting that he had introduced a change in the style of the film by replacing the Sanskrit words used to address the characters with their beautiful Tamil equivalents. And, he has also portrayed for the first time the characters known as ‘asuras’ with lot of compassion. And, he further conceded that he could augment his resources to achieve only that much at that time but promised to ensure a respectful place in the future movies for rationalistic ideas. He requested that he should not be misunderstood. And, dismissing the criticism as baseless, he told in a lighter vein, “Go … go and do better things …!”

“Nadiga mannan”

Ulaganatha Pillai, a stage artiste, wanting his son Chinnasamy also to become an artiste, advised him to join a drama company. Chinnasamy joined T. K. S. Brothers who were the foremost at that time. In the beginning, Chinnasamy was given only very minor roles. So, he left the company and joined Madurai Original Boys Company. He was signed for a three-year contract for a monthly salary of Rs. 15. He earned name and fame through the various roles he did and was also the hero in many plays. MGR was his heroine in woman’s attire. Chinnasamy took formal training in music, sword fighting, singlestick, horse riding and wrestling. But when Jupiter Pictures produced the movie Chandrakanta, he was given only a minor role in the film in spite of his good work in the stage version. His name was mentioned as Chinnasamy in the titles of the film, released in the year 1936. But, subsequently, he changed his name to P. U. Chinnappa, with the ‘P’ in his initial referring to his native town Pudukottai and ‘U’, referring to his father’s name Ulaganathan. This was followed by a spell of uninterrupted successes. He dominated the Tamil filmdom. He fell in love with A. Sakuntala, the heroine of his film Prithvirajan and married her on 5th July in 1944 by registering the marriage. But, within seven years of marriage, Chinnappa died of heart attack on 23rd September in 1951 at Pudukkottai. His only son Rajabahdur was introduced as hero in the film Koil puraa. Subsequently, he acted as the villain in the movies Vaayillaa poochi and Karakaattakkaaran. And he too died suddenly, even before his career could take off.