Visu obit: Late Tamil film director’s brother-in-law Kuriakose Ranga recalls ‘paithiyakara’ days

By Mahesh Ramesh

CHENNAI: Tamil film director, actor and writer Visu, who died in Chennai on Sunday at the age of 74, recently told his sister Bhuvana that it was because of the “paithiyakara” dialogue he delivered in the movie “Kudumbam Oru Kadambam” that people had started seeing him as a “confusing director.”

The dialogue in question is: “Paithiyakaara aaspathirila paithiyangalukku vaithiyam pakkara oru paithiyakaara vaithiyarukke paithiyam pudicha, andha paithiyakara vaithiyar endha paithiyakara haspathirila paithiyangalukku vaithiyam pakara oru paithiyakara vaithiyar kitta than paithiyathukku vaithiyanm pathupaar?” (If a mental doctor treating mental patients at a mental asylum becomes mental, to which mental asylum will the mental doctor go and get treated for his mental illness and which mental doctor who treats mental patients will treat him?)

This tongue and mind twisting dialogue made popular by Visu’s classic delivery in S P Muthuraman directorial “Kudumbam Oru Kadambam” was penned by none other than ‘Kuriakose’ Ranga who, along with Visu, debuted in the movie in 1981. He’s also popular for his role as Lakshmanasamy, the heroine’s brother, in “Manal Kayiru,” and its sequel “Manal Kayiru 2”.

Ranga is married to Visu’s sister Bhuvana.

When asked how he came to be associated with Visu, Ranga says he joined Visu’s drama troupe after finishing his engineering in 1972. He was not new to the drama scene. He had staged a lot of dramas, fascinated by the medium from his school days.

He showed Visu the script of one his plays to join him. Visu went through the script and found one particular dialogue very interesting. He asked Ranga if he could use it in the screenplay he was writing for “Kudumbam Oru Kadambam”. That was the “paithiyakara” dialogue mentioned above.

Though Ranga wanted to act, Visu had said he’d first give him small roles and based on his performance, he would decide. But somehow, an old actor didn’t turn up for shooting, and that role was offered to Ranga. There was no turning back after that.

While Ranga was acting in Visu’s troupe, he was the writer for Rajamani, Visu’s brother who had his own troupe.

Ranga helped Visu with the widely-popular “Arattai Arangam.” It was Ranga who suggested the name and that they could travel around the country to get more speakers.

“In fact, once the show was a hit, Visu asked me how I came up with the title. I said there was a bit of selfishness in the name. Look at the name Arangam… It has my name, Ranga in it”, he fondly recalls.

The writer-actor says he’s in awe of the director’s presence of mind and wit.

“When we were staging ‘Uravukku Kai Koduppom’ (which was made into the hit film ‘Samsaram Adhu Minsaram’) in Bengaluru, the scene where the confrontation happens between Ammayappa Mudhaliar and his son (the interval block in the film) was going on.

As Visu said his dialogues and the son responds, he was to conclude by saying “Appo veeta vittu veliya poda naaye (get out of the home).” But at that time, the director of a big firm, who was seated in the front row, said “Appo veeta vittu veliya poda naaye”, which was Visu’s cue. An undeterred Visu, maintaining character and pacing up and down on stage, quickly retorted: “When even a stranger, who’s watching our feud, gets so much anger, imagine how much anger I, your father, will have. Get out”

“This received huge applause from the audience. Such is his presence of mind” Ranga recalls.

“When we took Visu to hospital around afternoon, today, doctors declared him dead on arrival. So we were returning home around 4.55pm. On our way back, we saw people standing on their balconies and terraces, clapping, as the PM had requested (to appreciate the medical staff taking care Covid-19 patients). Somehow, we felt that this was a fitting send-off to one of the greatest minds of Tamil cinema,” Ranga concludes.


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