(A monthly column on the comedians of the Tamil screen. This is the first part of the series on K. Sarangapani. )
K. Sarangapani, one of the greatest comedians of Tamil Cinema, was as multifaceted as N. S. Krishnan. His repertoire of comical expressions would unfailingly have the audience in splits. Not only could he sing and dance, but no one could match his style of delivering a dialogue and its impact.
In the huge hit ‘Shantha Sakkubai’ (1939), he played the hero, along with the top star of the day, K. Aswathamma, known as ‘Kannadatha Kokiley’ (the cuckoo of Karnataka). Though she did very few films and died young of tuberculosis, her first Tamil film ‘Chintamani’ (1937) (with M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar as hero) was a major success.
Sarangapani, like most comedians of that era, came from Tamil theatre and made his film debut in the 1935 classic, ‘Bhaktha Ramadas.’ It was produced by an early pioneer of Tamil theatre, ‘Nawab’ Rajamanickam Pillai, who got the title ‘Nawab’ for his role in ‘Ramadas. The star M. N. Nambiar also made his debut in a minor role with this film, which had no females in the cast and all the roles were played by men. Sarangapani played 10 roles in a short film known in those days as ‘farces,’ which was screened along with the main movie. In some cases, the farces were more interesting than the main film!
Sarangapani even played female roles in the ‘Milagaipodi’ farce! (Milagaipodi means red chilli powder!) His very first appearance in the farce was a hit, as he was already a noted theatre comedian.
Sarangapani was born in 1904 in an Isai Velalar family in Kumbakonam, Thanjavur District. Sarangapani, the youngest, had three brothers and a sister.
He married Thayalnayaki and was blessed with three sons and a daughter.
Sarangapani, who was influenced by the Freedom Movement and the political icons of the day, named his children Gandhi Padmanabhan, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Bhaskara Patel, and Subhash Chandra Bose. It even showed in his dress of khadi and a Gandhi cap.
Religious, he visited temples regularly and always carried the auspicious kumkum powder. Being a friend and admirer of C.N. Annadurai, Sarangapani once went to see the leader when he was ill and applied the kumkum on his forehead for speedy recovery. Anna, an atheist, did not wipe it off as a mark of respect for his friend. Not surprisingly, this incident made news!
During the early decades of Tamil Cinema, ‘Bhakthi Padam’ (devotional movie) was virtually a genre. ‘Shantha Sakkubai’ belonged to this category. It was based on a folk tale popular in Maharashtra.
Sakkubai (Aswathamma) is an ardent Krishna devotee, whose husband(Sarangapani) is a ‘mama’s boy’ and her mother-in-law a sadist, played by the Harikatha exponent C. Bannibai. Sakkubai goes away to Pandaripur along with a group of pilgrims and Lord Krishna in disguise takes her place in the household. Unaware of this, the cruel mother-in-law makes the ‘fake' Sakkubai's life hell. However, she wins all the cruel tests. The real Sakkubai wishes to lay down her life at the feet of her Lord and dies….
Lord Krishna realises he cannot get out of the disguise because the original is no longer alive! His wife Rukmini comes to his rescue, the mother-in-law realises the truth about her daughter-in-law, and all ends happily…
The film had excellent music (composer Thuraiyur Rajagopala Sarma, lyrics Papanasam Sivan). Many of the songs became popular such as ‘Pandaripuram Selvom' (P.G.Venkatesan), ‘Thulasimalaa Dharee' (Kothamangalam Seenu as a wandering pilgrim), and a hit duet, ‘Varuven Kondu Thanni' (Aswathamma and Sarangapani, a straight lift from a Hindi tune).
The music composer Rajagopala Sarma appears on screen in a Pandaripuram festival sequence, singing a bhajan.
The director Sundar Rao Nadkarni sings and dances an ‘abhang'.
The success of this movie made Sarangapani more famous…however, the best was yet to come…
(To be continued)
