‘Star’ Wordsmith

His amazing felicity with words endeared Arur Doss to filmmakers and actors alike.

February 23, 2012 04:34 pm | Updated 04:35 pm IST

WHEN ART IMITATES LIFE: Arur Doss. Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

WHEN ART IMITATES LIFE: Arur Doss. Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

MGR and Sivaji Ganesan wanted S. Jesudoss to put words into their mouths. He did, and how! Jesudoss grew up in Thiruvarur, where he skipped physical education classes in school to indulge his twin passions of reading and writing. When he was only 12, he ran a magazine called ‘Puravi’, meaning ‘horse’, a portentous name, perhaps, considering how his literary career would gallop like a stallion in times to come.

Financial difficulties in the family put paid to Jesudoss’ ambition to go to college. But he kept his passion for writing alive, by contributing stories for magazines such as Kaveri and Ananda Vikatan. When he was 16, he started a drama troupe, Chinnappa Nataka Mandram, named after his favourite actor, P.U. Chinnappa.

Impressed by Jesudoss’ drive, the staff in theatres in Thiruvarur would give him glass slides used to project advertisements before a film began. The boys would write down advertisements of their plays on the slides, the projection of which on the screen drew a sizeable audience to their plays. These plays caught the attention of Somu Vadhyar, who used to stage mythologicals, and he introduced Jesudoss to Kuzhikkarai Murugappa, who in turn introduced him to Thanjai Ramaiah Doss, a master in writing stories, dialogue, lyric and dubbing scripts. In 1952, Ramaiah offered Jesudoss a job as a dubbing assistant. He also rechristened him ‘Arur Doss,’ the Arur coming from Jesudoss’ home town of Thiruvarur.

Arur Doss’ first film as a dubbing assistant was the NTR-starrer ‘Natyatara.’ “My guru’s excellent vocabulary meant he could come up with Tamil words instantly for dubbed films. I picked up my dubbing skills by observing him.” In 1956, Arur Doss wrote the dialogue for ‘Magudam Kaatha Mangai’, a dub of the Hindi film ‘Qaidi.’ This was the first film where he got the title credits.

There used to be a studio called Film Centre, close to AVM Studio. Majith, its owner, asked Arur Doss to write the dialogue for the dubbed version of Homi Wadia’s ‘Pavan Putra Hanuman’, which was released in Tamil as ‘Sri Rama Bhaktha Hanuman’. The film became a huge hit. Arur Doss recalls the words of critic Naveenan: “In many ways, ‘Sri Rama Bhaktha Hanuman’, for which Arur Doss has written the dubbing dialogues, is better than Sivaji’s Sampoorna Ramayanam.” People began to sit up and take notice of the young man from Thiruvarur.

Debut as story writer

Thevar’s film ‘Vaazha Vaitha Deivam’ became Arur Doss’ first film as full fledged story and dialogue writer. He even suggested that Gemini and Saroja Devi be cast in the film!

Earlier, Thevar had offered him a chance to write part of the dialogue for one of his films. Arur Doss refused saying, “Even if it is only a small lamp, let it be exclusively mine. I will use it to light my life.” These words would inspire a famous dialogue later. Gemini introduced Arur Doss to Sivaji Ganesan, and soon Arur Doss was appointed dialogue writer for ‘Pasamalar’. In the film, Sivaji tells Gemini during a tiff, “You may switch off the electric lights here. But a small oil lamp will still be burning, and in that light, one man will toil. That man is this Raju.” Doss’s famous dialogue was used; with ‘Pasamalar’, he had arrived!

In 1961, Arur Doss worked in the MGR film ‘Thai Sollai Thattadhey.’ He wrote for 28 Sivaji films and 25 MGR films. Were there any rough patches in his career? “Not really. Although, sometimes there were misunderstandings. Like the one with Sivaji. I had initially narrated the story of ‘Petraalthaan Pillaiya’ to him. He seemed interested, but did not follow up. So I gave the story to MGR. Sivaji saw it as a betrayal, and stopped talking to me, although I continued to write for his films. Once on the sets of ‘Iru Malargal’, I bumped into him. He grabbed my hand and said, ‘Even if I, as an elder brother, lose my temper with you, how could you be angry with me? I am sorry for my harsh words.’ I cried like a child,” recalls a visibly emotional veteran.

Encouraged by friends, he tried his hand at directing, MGR’s being the only dissenting voice. He told Arur Doss, “I can launch ten directors every day, but I cannot find a dialogue writer like you. I don’t want to lose you.” The film did not have a good run and Arur Doss never directed again.

What was the last film for which he wrote dialogue? “Do not use the word ‘last.’ I penned for K. Balaji’s ‘Thangai’ in 1966. After a 17-year gap, he asked me to write for ‘Vidhi.’ I wrote for 16 of his films after that. So how can you assume I won’t write any more?”

Do the present day films offer scope for his kind of dialogue? “Well, I know how to leave the Arur Doss stamp even in a modern film.”

AVM Saravanan says, “It is unfair that Arur Doss has not been conferred a Padma award. He has written dubbed dialogue for more than 1,000 films and the dialogue for 500 films. He would complete a script in five days. And yet, his genius remains un-honoured.”

Director A.C. Trilokachandar, for more than 30 of whose films Arur Doss wrote the dialogue, says Arur Doss could write both comedy and serious dialogue with panache, and describes Arur Doss as the “fastest and most constant dialogue writer,” a constancy that manifests in Arur Doss’s refusal to call it quits, even at 80.

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