Talented Ramachandran (T.R.Ramachandran)

Talented Ramachandran (T.R.Ramachandran) Can we forget this big eyed witty Ramachandran? The ever famous Sabapathy and his comic exchanges with Kali.N.Rathinam. Starting in 40’s he was the first comic hero in Tamil Film Industry. Ramachandran born in Karur in 1917. As usual studies did not interest TRR. He learned music & harmonium from Karur Raghavendra rao. TR was impressed by the acting skills of Raghavendra rao and wanted to pursue acting. With his Dad’s permission he toured along with Raghavendra rao to various cities to perform stage dramas & plays. During this tour he landed into Madurai JAgannath Iyer’s “Balamohana Ranjitha sangeetha sabha” doing women role. S.v.Venkataraman was also part of that troupe and he was impressed with TRR’s performance started own drama company but it did not last long. Seeking film opportunities SVVenkataraman went to Bangalore to meet AVMeiyappa chettiar. Chettiar already have seen SVV’s plays and especially TRR’s peformances made TRR play TRMahalingam’s friend in the film in the making “Nandhanar(1938)” and that marked the entry of TRR into films. He did minor roles in few films but it was Sabapathy which got TRR into fame. He also sang all the songs in the film. Post word war 2 AVM chettiar wanted to make a movie based on PAmmal sammandha mudhaliar’s play “Sabapathy” in the same name and he casted TRR as the hero. The hilarious TRR & KALI N Rathinam’s pair rocked the scene & provided relief to the people who were in grief after world war. TRR was a natural actor and at the same time Director’s actor. Having acted as hero in Sabapathy he acted In comic role in AVM’s first production Venture NAam iruvar(TRmahalingam was the hero). Thus he was adaptable to any situation/role. He also did comic role in Sri Valli and his hallarious comedy was widely talked about, AVM casted Vaijyanthi mala & TRR in Vaazhkai and the entire scenes with TRR were humorous.. Finding a child in his car and taking it with him and V.mala suspecting him etc were well made screenplay and of course R.Sudarsanam’s songs added to the popularity (Un kan unnai yematrinaal by MS.Rajeswari & TRR himself). Vaijayanthi mala debuted with this film ad TRR was her first hero. TRR re-wrote the Hero appearance as one would expect, Tall well built, trained in fighting etc but he simply made that all a myth with his natural witty acting and his big eyed expression. One can proudly say he opened doors for actors without looks but with good talent can also flourish. He was the first to do so. My fav film of his is ofcourse Vaazhkai and another one which I’ll be mentioning in the paragraphs to follow. His acting career picked up with Pon vayal with Anjali devi, Raji en kanmani with Sri ranjani jr. Raji en kanmani showcased his acting talent and he proved that he could do serious roles as well. Gomathiyin kadhalam with Savithri in lead was a thriller movie and TRR in his usual rocked the scene. B.R.panthulu’s Kalyanam panniyum brahmachari had TRR as the hero and Nadigar thilagam as Second hero. Comic scenes involving TRR, PAdmini, KD Santhanam(who played TRR’s dad) and NT are ever hilarious. If you get chance watch the accident scene where TRR interrogates PAdmini and she gives a wrong address. Ever hilarious scene. Anjali pictures tasted success with Pakkinti Ammayi(1953) with Relangi & Anjalidevi in lead. When they planned to remake in tamil Adutha veetu pen instant choice for the lead was TRR. Who better than him can do that role and of course joining hands with him was comedy king K.A.Thangavelu.. as the playback for TRR.. Each and every shot in the movie is hilarious. TRR just stole the show with his expressions and body language especially the scene where in Thangavelu teaching him music and TRR’s expressions .. over all a laugh riot. One of my fav movie of TRR is Adutha veetu pen for his expressions and body language. But Adutha veetu pen did not land him any lead offers he still continued his second hero/comedian roles in Kalyaniyin kanavan, Vivielli, Iruvar ullam (villain) and slowly moved to character roles as well. He did the famous raja kadhu kazhudhai kadha raja in one of the film. During this transformation he got 2 noticeable roles. One was the pious man role he played in Sadhu mirandal. Veteran BalamuraliKrishna gave voice for TRR Arulvaye neeye a hit song in the movie,Music by T.K.Ramamoorthy. He played a devoted father for Master Prabhakar & Kutty padmini. TRR played the role to perfection caught between the murderer(OAK thevar) & the kids. One of the finest performance of TRR. The other one in the same year 1966 he played Abinaya Saraswathi B.Sarojadevi’s father in Anbe vaa. Scenes between TRR, BS,Thalaivar rocked the scene. To add more humor hilarious scenes between TRR & Nagesh relating to food is evergreen one. TRR rocked in Anbe vaa too. Other notable roles were MRRadha’s son in Aalyamani, Vibranarayana’s Assistant in Thirumal Perumai. Othu- Mama in Thillana mohanambal. I’ll blame the Directors of 70’s who ignored this fantastic artist and he did very few films in 70s and 80s and slowly faded away from the film scene. Senseless Tamil film directors casted him in miniscule roles in Muyalukku moone kalu etc.. He then settled in America with his daughters and passed away in 1990. Did TRR get the needed recognition? No as usual we never appreciate good talent. He was not awarded or recognized for his talent. He acted with all popular stars and was even paid 10 times more than the film hero MGR in the movie Vidhyapathi. Did we give the due recognition for this man who entertained the audience for more than 3 decade? Not at all rather many would have forgotten this iconic comic hero who was pioneer for many actors and a proud introduction by AVM. Better late than never as film fans let’s all celebrate this evergreen comedian hero legendary T.R.Ramachandran. Will come soon with another forgotten talented artist. Rajesh Lavanya