Earlier, actors were represented by the Sangeetha Nataka Sangam. In those days, theatre was the maternal home for all the actors. Hence, they did not feel the need to have a separate association for professional actors. Amateurs had a say on Sangam matters, professionals didn’t. Amateurs were the big shots. Advocates, doctors and auditors took to stage as amateurs. The SIAA was started to protect the interests of the professionals. Theatre artistes like Somasundaram, T N Sivathanu, T K S Brothers, V K Ramasamy and R S Manohar came together and sowed the seeds for SIAA. The association took shape with the support of Kalaivanar N S Krishnan, Director K Subramaniam, MGR, Thangavelu and T K Ramachandran.

The SIAA started functioning from a small rented room on the first floor of a building at the Royapettah-Mylapore junction. The first president of the association was T V Sundaram. MGR was the first vice president. Election was conducted every year. T V Sundaram remained as president for the first four years.

In 1956, V Nagaiah became its president. In 1957, Kalaivanar N S Krishnan became president, S V Sahasranamam, MGR and S S R were secretaries. 

MGR became its president in 1958, but the following year famed actor Anjali Devi took over the mantle and S R Janaki became the vice president. MGR took charge as an executive committee member.

 Those were the days when camaraderie among members was at its best. MGR became its president once again in 1961-62. With efforts of Kalaivanar, MGR and S S Vasan, an 18-ground plot in Habibullah Road in T Nagar was bought for the association, which started its operations in two thatched rooms.

Sivaji Ganesan became its president in the early 1970s. The trio of Sivaji, Major Sundararajan and V K Ramasamy obtained Rs 18 lakh loan from State Bank of India and constructed a concrete building with an auditorium. The association ran into debts and could not repay the amount even after getting government’s financial assistance and waiving off interest. This situation continued for long. 

The loan was closed only after actor Vijayakanth took over in 2000. Celebrity actors, then and now, did not approve of the association becoming a union. The gulf between the celebrity actors and small-time actors may also be the reason.

There is union for every discipline in film field including musicians, cameraman, light man and even for those cleaning vessels. Since there was none for the actors, exploitation of small-time actors by the film producers became rampant. Addressing this issue, in 1968, Music genius M B Sreenivasan and legendary cinematographer Nimoy Ghosh and Sahasranamam created a union for actors. 

Sreenivasan and Nimoy Ghosh sowed the seeds for today’s Film Employees Federation of South India, an umbrella organisation with unions belonging to different trades in the film industry affiliated to it.

Sahasranamam became the president of the union, S N Krishnan and Cho Ramaswamy, its secretary and treasurer, respectively. The union got registered in federation also. But due to lack of support from celebrity actors, the union lost its importance and was finally dissolved. 

It was difficult for celebrity actors and character artistes to be treated on par with those artistes who earn a paltry Rs 300 and to come together under the union banner.

Actors like Arvind Swamy never associated with the SIAA.  And those who have joined the association have never given even one per cent of their remuneration to the association fearing that their earnings would become public and would attract income tax raids.

The growing displeasure for Vishal has given birth to a new combination under K Bhagyaraj. For more than 10 years, Ishari K Ganesh has rendered financial help from his pocket to the members of SIAA. He also came forward to produce a film and donate the profit earned from the film for the construction of the SIAA building complex. He roped in Vishal and Karthi to act in the film.  The film had to be dropped midway after Vishal failed to show up for the shoot. Many members then wanted Ishari Ganesh to contest the elections. Bhagyaraj has a good image among the members.  The new team also seem to have the support of former office-bearers of the association. The Vishal-led Pandava team had good opportunity to win the election unopposed. But because of his approach, he has paved way for Bhagyaraj-led Swami Sankaradas team to fight it out.

When Vishal entered fray in 2014 election, SIAA was under full control of R Sarathkumar and Radha Ravi. The good name earned by the team led earlier by Vijayakanth, who had taken efforts to close all the loans of the association, was marred by some activities of Radha Ravi and the anti-incumbency factor also played a huge role in Vishal’s landslide victory. It was a team effort of Nasser’s goodwill, Karthi and Ponvannan’s relentless hard work and powerful campaigning leading to the victory. Even Udhayanidhi Stalin and S Ve Sekhar, who are poles apart in politics, supported Vishal. But the problem started when Vishal started behaving as if the victory was the result of his personality. He did not consult his team when he decided to contest in producers’ council election. To cap it all, Vishal also fielded his candidature for the R K Nagar assembly by-election. 

He earned the displeasure of his own team members as they felt that Vishal was trying to misuse the SIAA image for his personal benefits. Many who supported Vishal felt that he was ambitious, but did not do enough to accomplish the task on hand. Also, non-participation in executive committee meetings of SIAA and not honouring the call sheets for films he had signed that made producers suffer loss earned a bad name for him.  It may be noted that in the 2014 elections, alleged corruption by the then Sarathkumar-led team was the plank on which  Vishal  contested and emerged successful. He had also promised that a new state-of-the-art building would  be constructed for the sangam. The building is in its completion stages now.  However, last week Isari Ganesh, educationist, producer and actor and set to contest opposite Vishal assured that  he would  complete the construction of the building as he felt that the Nasser-led Pandavar Ani had no plans to raise Rs 22 crore  (approximate) still needed to complete the building construction. Both these teams have been campaigning vigorously  in the  last five days across the state.  At one of these campaigns in Salem, the incumbent treasurer of the body, Karthi said that  elections were not necessary at all. “Isari Ganesh has said that no construction work has been carried out in the last 18 months which is not true. The building is standing tall on Habibullah Road right in front of us. So, I am left wondering if elections are necessary. We have wasted a lot of time running around for votes, which is unhealthy, ” he added.

Accusations and promises galore, secret deals and feast for the voters... the intensity of the election to the South Indian Artistes’ Association (SIAA) has reached a feverish pitch.

The stars have drawn the lines between one faction under actors Nasser, Vishal and Karthi and the other under actor and director K Bhagyaraj, Vels Group of Institutions chairman Ishari K Ganesh and actor Prashanth.

The election in which 3,000 odd members are set to vote has created hype among the eight crore Tamils living all over the world. Those ruling the film world in Tamil Nadu have gone on to become chief ministers, MPs and MLAs in the past. 

The bone of contention between the two warring factions is who will complete the construction of the multi-crore association building complex, which has now stopped for want of funds. About Rs 18 crore funds are required to complete the Rs 32 crore building

The other big problem facing the association is who and how will the association repay the pending loans amounting to Rs five crore. Contributions from stars who make mega bucks have been a trickle. Actor Karthi has recently promised that he will contribute Rs one crore and actor Vishal said he will contribute Rs 25 lakh. Ishari Ganesh promised he will contribute Rs two crore and he has already given Rs one crore.

Compounding the problem is that SIAA is not registered as a union, instead it is formed like a recreation club. If it had turned into a union, the monthly subscription collected from its  members would be substantial and suffice for the construction of the building.