Prem Nazir: Malayalam Star's Tamil Cinema Journey Explored

Vamanan

Prem Nazir, the evergreen star of Malayalam cinema whose birth centenary is approaching, was not only the most prolific leading actor with more than 500 films but also had a significant presence in Tamil cinema in the late 1950s with more than 20 films.


It was through the Tamil version of a Malayalam film made in Udaya Studios of Alleppey, that Prem Nazir first came to the notice of Tamil filmgoers. The film was ‘Visappinte Vili’, whose Tamil version ‘Pasiyin Kodumai’ was released in Tamil areas towards the end of 1952. The film portrayed the struggles of a young man and his mother plunged into poverty after the death of his wealthy father.

Though ‘Pasiyin Kodumai’ did not get good reviews, it was during the making of its Malayalam version that Abdul Khader was named Prem Nazir by co-actor Thikkurissy Sukumaran.

In 1953, when the Malayalam ‘Achan’ had its Tamil makeover at Udaya Studios as ‘Thanthai’, Prem Nazir reprised the role of the prodigal son with conviction in a narrative that located the wellsprings of affection in the father’s heart rather than the mother’s. The novelty of the theme was noticed by reviewers though there were misgivings about the Tamil accent of the Malayali actors.

Despite exposure to Tamil audiences through Malayalam-Tamil bilinguals as well as Malayalam films dubbed into Tamil (‘Naan Yaar’ in 1954, ‘Manthravadii in 1955, ‘CID’ in 1956), Prem Nazir did not make headway in Tamil films as they had a lukewarm reception at the box-office.

Having entered the film industry in the early 1950s before linguistic politics and language passions had sharply intensified to insulate the regional language film industries from each other, the possibilities of an upcoming Malayalam star being cast in a straight Tamil production were ripe when Madras was a hub for film production in the southern languages as well as Hindi.

The ball was set rolling in 1957 by story and script writer A K Velan who was looking for an actor who could play the role of an urbane doctor in ‘Thai Piranthal Vazhi Pirakkum’, his first production that he was also directing. He happened to see Prem Nazir’s photograph, and after verifying his credentials through ‘Merryland’ Subramaniam, a producer of Malayalam films as well as a studio owner, who, like Udaya Studios, had given Prem Nazir early breaks in his career. Subramaniam told Velan that he would ask Prem Nazir to call him. When the call came, Velan asked Prem Nazir if he would act in his Tamil film.

“I will if you call me,” replied the actor. When he also expressed some reservations about his Tamil diction, Velan replied: “You have been able to respond to me in Tamil. This will do.”

‘Thai Pirandhaal Vazhi Pirakkum’, which was released during Pongal in 1958 turned out to be a dark horse hit which won the jackpot twice over. When Velan re-released the film after its first whopping run, it earned as much money as a successful new film! The film had characters you could identify with and an array of classic songs, with Prem Nazir, who played a golden-hearted doctor, miming to one of Tamil cinema’s evergreen numbers, ‘Amudhum thenum etharku’.

This opened the floodgates of Tamil film opportunities for the actor, from producers who were staring at the three big stars of Tamil cinema, MGR, Sivaji and Gemini Ganesan, and craving a second rung of heroes, for their low-budget productions. The prestigious AVM production house cast Prem Nazir in the lead role opposite M N Rajam in the family drama ‘Thilagam’ (1958), and though he showed improvement in dialogue delivery and diction, the film came a cropper. Prem Nazir successfully played the lead role in ‘Orey Vazhi’ (1959), made by Vasu Menon who had come out of AVM to chart his own destiny as producer and studio owner.

Prem Nazir figured in quite a few films which were not cut out to make his performances stand out. Such is his role as the heroine’s policeman brother in ‘Nalla Idathu Sambandam’ (1958), meant to be a re-launch for Tamil cinema’s arch villain, M R Radha. Prem Nazir figured in roles with MRR in films such as ‘Ulagam Sirikkiradhu’ (1959), meant to project the latter as a man with a soul of gold under a tarnished image. Under the baton of the veteran director Ch Narayanamurthi, Prem Nazir gave a good account of himself in the family drama ‘Naan Valartha Thangai’ (1958), in which he played the good-natured brother-in-law to the main character of the film played by Pandari Bai.
In a period of about three years from early 1958, Prem Nazir did a flurry of films, a few of which either did not offer him an opportunity to succeed or simply failed to cut ice.

But one film that stands out among his films is Modern Theatres ‘Vannakili’, in which Manohar plays the anti-hero protagonist while Prem Nazir is the usual good-hearted hero. As a devoted farm hand with whom the landlord’s daughter falls in love, Prem Nazir turns in a commendable performance. The film is parsed with hit songs such as ‘Maattukkaara Vela’ and ‘Aathile thanni vara’.

Once Prem Nazir became an unquestionable star in the Malayalam film industry, he had little time for secondary roles in Tamil cinema. His wafer-thin roles in Sivaji starrers ‘Palum Pazhamum’ (1961) and ‘Muradan Muthu’ (1964) represent the tapering offof his avatar as an actor in Tamil films. But the fact remains that his Tamil innings can scarcely be forgotten.

THE LEAD STORY

• Prem Nazir’s year of birth is given variously as 1926, 1927 and 1929. The definitive volume published by the Premnazir Foundation gives 1927 as his year of birth, and the number of films in which he played the lead role in Malayalam films as 500
• Prem Nazir acted in lead roles in about 23 Tamil films
• Comedian friend Ramasamy and Honnappa Bhagavathar cast Prem Nazir in the lead in their productions ‘Thangam Manasu Thangam’ and ‘Uzhavukkum Thozhilukkum Vandhanai Seivom’
• Prem Nazir died in Chennai, the city that had given him so many opportunities, on Jan 16, 1989

(The writer is a historian of Tamil cinema)