This weekend (June 28 and 29), the Kuku Company presents the musical of Victor Hugo’s immortal French classic Les Miserables at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Auditorium. Since its original publication in 1862, the novel has seen innumerable adaptations in movies, TV and radio shows, theatre, animated films, and musicals. As a movie, it has been adapted more than 35 times in almost every conceivable language, including Turkish, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, and, of course, French and English. In India, it was remade in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.
The 1935 Hollywood version, directed by Richard Boleslawski and starring Fredric March, Charles Laughton, Rochelle Hudson and others, is considered the best adaptation. Celebrated British stage and screen star Charles Laughton created movie history with his portrayal of the tough police Inspector Javert, which became the role model for several others. The film was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, but sadly missed winning it.
The Tamil version, Ezhai Padum Paadu, was a Deepavali release in 1950 and showed at Casino on Mount Road. This cinema had, since its inception in the early 1940s, only screened English films and this was the first time it was showing a Tamil movie, creating city entertainment history.
The sadly underrated K. Ramnoth, master lensman, screenwriter, editor, director, and producer, directed the hugely successful film. The multilingual Chittoor V. Nagaiah played Jean Val Jean superbly, earning the title ‘Paul Muni of India’ from the stormy petrel of Indian film journalism, Baburao Patel of Filmindia .
However, passionate literature student and co-actor N. Seetharaman, stole the film away with his portrayal of Inspector Javert, so much so that he became known as 'Javert' Seetharaman for good.
Others in the cast included Serukalathur Sama, T. S. Balaiah, V. Gopalakrishnan, T. S. Durairaj, Lalitha-Padmini (the Travancore Sisters) and ‘Lux Soap Beauty’ Kumari N. Rajam. (Now in her 80s and known as Thanjavur N. Rajalakshmi, she is a successful Bharatanatyam guru.)
The song ‘Vidhiyin Vilaivaal’, sung by (Radha)-Jayalakshmi and picturised on Rajam was shot in a single take without a cut, a technical marvel then. Even today, the film (often screened on television) leaves a stunning impact on both film technicians and viewers.
Here’s an interesting anecdote involving the young actor Gopalakrishnan and producer Sriramulu Naidu, who was known for his autocratic attitude. On the day that a dream sequence had to be shot, Ramnoth sent word that he could not come to work because his wife was ill. The shot was a song sequence of Lalitha fantasizing about Gopalakrishnan, who she is in love with. The young Gopi, all of 18 or 19, a true blue disciple of his director, went back to his hotel room in the absence of Ramnoth. An annoyed Naidu sent for him, saying he would direct the shot in the absence of Ramnoth. Gopi refused to come and, after heated argument, was sent packing back to Madras. Naidu shot the dream scene with Ragini, the youngest Travancore Sister, dressing up as a boy and doubling for Gopi. Naidu used long shots and mid-shots, mostly of her back, but he did complete the scene!
