50yrs of Nadodi Mannan- Part 2

MGR was being entirely truthful when he declared that his ‘Naadodi Mannan’ was not a scene-by-scene adaptation of ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’. While at Calcutta in 1938 where he was acting in ‘maaya machindra’ for Metropolitan Pictures, MGR had watched the movie adaptation of Justin Huntly McCarthy’s stage play ‘If I Were King’. The movie and its catchy title made a lasting impact on MGR. Another English movie that MGR found inspiring was ‘Viva Zapata’ (1952). Marlon Brando playing the role of Mexican revolutionary Emilinao Zapata who defies the tyrant president Porfirio Diaz stirred MGR’s imagination to great lengths.

MGR made his crew consisting of R.M. Veerappan, Vidwan V. Lakshmanan and S.K.T. Sami watch the three English movies and gave them his suggestions regarding the outline he had in mind. Several brainstorming sessions later, the team came up with an imaginative admixture of the three stories, tailoring it skillfully to suit the Indian context.

(to be contd )

courtesy :Dhool

50 yrs Of Naadodi Mannan-Part 1

One morning people woke up to find the front page of ‘dhina thandhi’ bearing two advertisements side by side that caused ripples all over the state- they were for two proposed remakes of the Modern Theaters’ classic ‘uththama puththiran’. This 1940 blockbuster was now suddenly in great demand- both MGR and Sivaji Ganesan were interested in donning the dual roles that had propelled P.U.Chinnappa to instant stardom. MGR intended to produce it himself under his Emgeeyaar Pictures banner. As for Sivaji, Sridhar spearheaded the movie backed by Venus Pictures. And in the end, it was Venus Pictures who succeeded in securing the rights to the story (itself an adaptation of ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’) from Modern Theaters and went on to make the movie with Sivaji Ganesan.However, though MGR lost out to Venus Pictures, he did not give up the idea of playing a double role. Then there came an advertisement in the papers heralding the making of ‘Naadodi Mannan’.

MGR had to face a hurdle here again,the advertisement had barely appeared when there came a rival advertisement announcing that Bharani Pictures had also embarked on an adaptation of ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’. MGR and Bhanumati spoke to each other, each of them requesting the other to give up the project. MGR explained to Bhanumati how much the project meant to him and confided to her that he had pinned all his hopes on ‘Naadodi Mannan’.

(to be contd )

Their first project was titled ‘Vidivelli’,

MGR, along with his brother M.G. Chakrapani set up a company called ‘MGR Productions’. Their first project was titled ‘vidivelli’, to be scripted by M. Karunanidhi. However due to various reasons of Karunanidhi’s imprisonment for participating in the Kallakkudi protest, the project had to be shelved. “MGR Productions’ was soon wound up and MGR and his brother M.G.Chakrapani Started ‘MGR Naadaga Mandram’ and took to producing and acting in stage plays.

Kudiyiruntha Koil’ -featuring L.Vijayalakshmi and M.G.Ramachandran.

Figuring in this list is the famous Bangra beat in ‘Kudiyiruntha Koil’ (Aadaludan Padalai Kettu Rasippathilethan Sugam ... Sugam) featuring L.Vijayalakshmi and M.G.Ramachandran.


On her Bangra dance with MGR in ‘Kudiyiruntha Koil’, she said: “You know... I am yet to receive my payment for the dance. Bangra sequence was new to Tamil movies then. Chopraji master had introduced the dance to the State for the first time in that film. And that is why it is still a superhit. On the shooting day, MGR watched me dancing and was horrified. ‘Ayyayoh… I cannot match Viji’s fast movements…’ he said, and withdrew.”

“I saw him discussing something with Chopraji and the shooting was put off. The song sequence was shot after a month. I was told MGR had practised Bangra for a month to dance with me.”

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