Covid-19 has not spared small screen business. It has indeed affected the players, especially artistes and makers of soaps, in a big way. With restrictions on movement, content generation has hit a bottleneck and most of the channels have turned to old serials and films to keep the home-bound audience entertained. “Well, when the popular serial ‘Ramayan’ can be brought back, why can we not air some of our bring our old serials,” asks a channel head. Why not, indeed. If a channel has a bank of some 1,000 films, starring actors such as Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Vijay, Ajith Kumar, Suriya, Karthi and Vikram, it can telecast them until the crisis passes. Also excerpts in the form of song sequences and comedy scenes can be telecast too.
Another option is to switch to reality shows, shot earlier. News channels, however, have no problem with the situation providing copious content, repetitive though. The challenge before the staff of entertainment channels now is to dive into their archives and emerge with old ‘treasures,’ which mission has already started.
This is one serial, which is aired at 2.30 p.m. and again 10.30 p.m., Monday to Saturday. But it is not a repeat telecast of the same episode. The channel started its late evening telecast of ‘Magarasi,’ two weeks after its launch in the afternoon slot. So the episodes are different. A remake of the Telugu serial, ‘Kanulu Moosina Neevaye,’ it has some of the popular big screen faces too. One is Riyaz Khan and another is singer Deepan Chakravarthy. In the lockdown situation, with most of the soaps going off air, viewers can watch this serial at night. The day telecast stands suspended. It is informed that a bank of 20 episodes will keep ‘Magarasi’ going for some time.
This seems to be a good opportunity to turn the spotlight on Riyaz Khan. In the background is the interesting story of an artiste, who has aced both big and small screens. Taking his bow as a teenager, he has 300 films under his belt. “My first film was in Telugu, titled Madura Nagarilo . Around the same time, I I acted in Sukham Sukharam , a Malayalam film, directed by Balachandra Menon. Both were big hits. So I had a nice beginning and was eager to make my entry in Tamil cinema. But the problem was I was neither an adult nor a child star. Besides some of the big stars such as Sathyaraj, Prabhu and Karthik were ruling the roost. so had to wait for quite a while before the next opportunity came,” recalls Riyaz.
Riyaz Khan receiving the State award (2003, Power of Women) for best villain from the then Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha
After a couple of years, he got the break through Athma , directed by Pratap Pothen for his producer brother. Riyaz was one of the heroes, along with Ramki and Rahman. Others in important roles were Nasser, Gouthmani, Kasthuri, Vinodhini, Vaani, Vijayakumari, Vijayachander and Senthil.
Television and soaps rose in importance, bringing entertainment to the drawing room. Several channels, including Sun TV, made the best use of the trend. Hindi star Jeethendra’s production house wanted to test the waters too and produced ‘Sakti,’ in which Riyaz played small role. This was followed by ‘Kudumbam,’ directed by K. Rangaraj, which was a hit. There was no looking back as Riyaz went on to star in ‘Chithi’ for Radhika’s production house and in ‘Marumagal’ for Kushboo. “I was one of the actors in ‘Annamalai,’ where Sivakumar did an important role too,” informs Riyaz.
Aamir impressed
Big screen beckoned and Riyaz acted in Badri , remake of the Telugu movie, which starred Pawan Kalyan. Aalavanthan with Kamal Haasan, Ramana under Murugadoss and a Kannada film with Puneeth Rajkumar happened at this point. His performance in Ghajini impressed Aamir Khan, who wanted Riyaz to repeat the role in the Hindi remake. Riyaz played villain in Balettan with Mohanlal. “
“When I was doing some of the memorable roles in films, my friend director Sunder C. asked me to do a transgender role in his serial, ‘Nandhini,’ which won me acclaim,” says Riyaz, who had become adept at toggling both small and big screens. “Right now, I’m working with director Mani Ratnam on Ponniyin Selvan in the role of Soman Sambavan, which requires me to be with a moustache and beard. Meanwhile, my friend, director Rajkumar wanted me to act in a serial “Magarasi.” He kindly adjusted the dates to accommodate me,” says Riyazh Khan, who has done 10 serials so far and also 10 telefilms.
Riyaz in ‘Nandhini,’ serial
Another notable person in ‘Magarasi,’ is Deepan Chakravarthy, son of legendary singer Tiruchi Loganathan. His first movie as hero was Rani Theni , directed by G.N. and another film was Maarupatta Konangal, directed by Erode Murugesh. Among the serials which he played significant roles are "Ethanai Manithargal" on Doordarshan, “Megala,” for Sun TV and “Aaru Maname Aaru” in Raj Television. Now he is acting as Raja Raman, father of the hero Puviarasan in "Magarasi."
