M.R. Radha: The star who questioned it all

August 01, 2014 02:50 am | Updated 03:12 am IST - CHENNAI:

‘Madras’ Rajagopala Radhakrishnan, otherwise called ‘Nadigavel’ M.R. Radha, was a Dravidian ideologue who took to the stage to talk atheism and social reform. Photo: The Hindu Archives

‘Madras’ Rajagopala Radhakrishnan, otherwise called ‘Nadigavel’ M.R. Radha, was a Dravidian ideologue who took to the stage to talk atheism and social reform. Photo: The Hindu Archives

While it is a common practise to prefix the place of birth before one’s given name, very rarely would one find someone having ‘Madras’ in their name.

One of those men was ‘Madras’ Rajagopala Radhakrishnan, otherwise called ‘Nadigavel’ M.R. Radha, a Dravidian ideologue who took to the stage to talk atheism and social reform. 

Born into a struggling family in Chintadripet in the year 1907, he grew up to don different roles in his life. He was a consummate theatre and film actor and a selfless political activist, espousing the revolutionary and provocative ideas of E.V. Ramasamy, founder of the Dravidian movement. Though he was never a card-holding member of the Dravidar Kazhagam, he played an important role in spreading its core ideas to the public.

Exposing organised religion, satirising revered gods and attacking social inequalities were his forte, often courting controversy and opposition from the establishment and the orthodoxy of the time.

His play, based on the epic Ramayana, written with an atheistic interpretation, created a huge controversy, prompting the government of the day to bring the infamous law that required playwrights to get their scripts vetted prior to the performance. This rule was in place until a couple of years ago, when the Madras High Court struck it down, based on a petition filed by writer Gnani.

However, Radha knew how to get around the censors. “To bypass them, he would announce that he was performing his most famous play, Raththa Kanneer. After a couple of scenes, he would appear on stage as Rama and stage a couple scenes from the controversial play,” says his son, actor and politician Radha Ravi.

As an actor, Radha’s achievements were many; one of them was the manner in which he made the role of a leprosy patient in ‘Raththa Kanneer’ memorable. He was equally at ease playing villain and comedian.

Those old enough to have seen his plays, like Kali. Poongundran, the 74-year-old vice-president of Dravidar Kazhagam, says that an important feature of his plays, especially ‘Raththa Kanneer’, was the manner in which he would include witty social commentary.

“There is a scene in a play where someone would read the newspaper to him and he would comment on it. The audience would eagerly wait for the scene just to listen to his commentary on the latest news. He was spontaneous on stage,” he says.

He was a great son of Madras, who, while defying the powers that be, and launching his own trajectory, significantly contributed and enriched the social, political and cultural scene of the city of Madras. 

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