I am from
Chithirai Pudukulam
, in
Tirunelveli
. It was my school annual day performance that impressed Kalaivanar N S Krishnan (NSK), who was a chief guest, and wanted me to accompany him to Madras.
I had sung a song, a satire on how people who hated Gandhiji later became his followers. Being the king of humour, NSK requested my school to give me as his “return gift”. He came home and asked my mother if he could take me to Madras to work as a writer in his cinema company. My mom was so innocent she asked where Madras is! After much persuasion, she let me go and that was when I set foot in this city and made it my home.
My early days in Madras working on films and scripts for NSK’s villu pattu kutcheris, were an enriching experience. The city gave me an opportunity to work with legends of Tamil cinema and politicians like E V K Periyar, C N Annadurai, Sivaji Ganesan and Kannadasan.
I have fond memories of sharing accommodation with Kannadasan on Ganapathy Mudali Street. We shared a friendship that was unconditional. Sivaji Ganesan too was a great sport. Once, when he was a theatre artist, we were walking through Pondy Bazaar and I recalled a scene where he had acted well. He began enacting it on the road, such was his passion that the road became his stage.
I also shared great camaraderie with director R C Sakthi. We used to eat off the same plate at the Parklands hotel in Mambalam, which was our regular hangout.
After NSK’s demise, I took up villu pattu full-time, as I wanted to ensure the legacy of the
art
form continues. In 1975, when television came to Madras, our villu pattu kutcheri was telecast. For the past 60 years, I have been performing around the world, and conveying a lot of messages through it, such as welfare measures of the state and other social issues.
I am 92 now and glad that I dedicated 75 years of my life to art, which wouldn’t have been possible if I had not come to Chennai.
Chennai is a city where people from diverse ideologies seamlessly come together. When I received the Bharathi Award for villu pattu (2018), my daughter Bharathi Thirumagan received the Kalaimamani Award for the art on the same stage. A father and daughter getting recognition from the state on the same stage is a miracle that can happen only in Chennai. It’s the city for arts and
artists
. “Chennai thalainagaram mattum illai , kalai nagaramum kooda!”
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