Rise and fall of the first superstar

CHENNAI: Recently, I watched Ambikapathy (1937), a musical period film directed by famous American director Ellis R Dungan. Shot in East India Studio, erstwhile Calcutta, the movie, despite its long runtime (210 minutes), kept me glued to the screen. While the reasons are aplenty — from a Shakespearean-infused romance, to ‘daring’ scenes that were ahead of its time, what fascinated me the most was the male lead — MK Thyagaraja Bagavathar (MKT). He was an unconventional hero, who took the Tamil talkies by storm, ruled the roost of Tamil cinema until 1944 and became Tamil cinema’s first superstar. Ahead of a talk about the yesteryear hero, historian Venkatesh Ramakrishnan, gives us a peek into the rise and fall of ‘the man with a golden voice’.

His career in the film industry began in 1934, with the movie Pavalakkodi (1934) but, it was  Chintamani (1937) and Ambikapathy that earned him the superstar status. “MKT acted in about 14 movies from 1934 to 1959 and most of it broke records,” says Venkatesh.

His film Haridas (1944) ran for three consecutive years in the Broadway Theatre and created a record for the longest run in a single theatre. But, the artiste, a matinee idol from Mayiladuthurai, was no great actor. It was his melodious voice and charisma that made him shine. A reminiscent of what his rich voice rendered is Manmadha leelai vendrar, a song from Haridas, that still reverberates in the nook and crannies of Tamil Nadu. “He was also a Carnatic vocalist and a stage actor. He sang in most of his movies and until his time, only actors who knew to sing, could act!” explains Venkatesh.

Quoting what Kalki Krishnamoorthy had written in a review about Chintamani, he says, “He wrote that, ‘A rickshaw man who used to get drunk in the night, used to sit on a bridge near my house and sing all the songs from the movie, in the same sequence.’ They were all hard-to-sing Carnatic songs, but, MKT’s reach was widespread. He took Carnatic music inside laymen’s house. But this vanished once he was out of the scene.”

From men donning the ‘bhagavathar hairdo’ to humming his songs, MKT’s popularity reached a crescendo but, his fame came to a standstill when he was arrested in 1944 in the Lakshmikanthan murder case. “He spent three years in prison. The void he had left behind was so huge and several small-time actors, including MG Ramachandran, got their big breaks when MKT was away,” he adds.

After his release, his career declined, but, he never stopped acting. “MKT in a way asserted Tamil cinema as one of the most powerful mediums of entertainment in South India. Though he continued to act, none of the films did well,” he says.

From being a ‘small town boy’, climbing up the social ladder, becoming one of the most biggest historical figures of his time, to his fall, MKT’s life itself was a melodramatic journey, much like his movies. “He saw others occupy his space. He never thought he could fade away and refused to accept that his days were gone.”

Today, 59 years after his death, MKT is still touted as one of Tamil cinema’s best find. Venkatesh will delve into uncharted territories of the doyen’s life, in his talk. “It will be interesting to discuss about his life in films, outside the showbiz and also showcase some of his songs and movie clippings. For comparison purposes: The man was ten times bigger a superstar than Rajinikanth!” he adds.

(The talk is scheduled for Mar 18, 6.15pm at Arkay Convention Center, Mylapore. For details call:  24661130)