Aachi

Gopishantha (26 May 1937 – 10 October 2015), better known by her stage name Manorama, also called Aachi, was an Indian actress, comedian and playback singer who had appeared in more than 1000 films and 5000 stage performances predominantly in the Tamil and also in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Sinhala. She was honoured with Kalaimamani award in 1995. In 2002, Government of India awarded Manorama the Padma Shri for her contribution to the arts. She is a recipient of one National Film Award, one Filmfare Award South and seven Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.

Early life

Manorama was born to Kasiyappan Kilakudaiyar and Ramamirtham in Mannargudi Thirukannamangai, a town in the erstwhile Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu in a Kallar family. Her mother brought her up by taking up a job as a maid. She mentioned her indebtedness to her mother for her success: Many of the mother roles that she has played in films resemble her own mother. Her family moved to Pallathur near Karaikudi owing to poverty. While in Pallathur, her mother had started vomiting out blood, hence Manorama decided to start working as a maid and dropped out of school at the age of 11. Once a drama troupe had come to Pallathur, but the actress who was to play a small part, suddenly dropped out due to her inability to sing and the troupe was looking for an artiste who could act and sing as well. The drama troupe decided to give her this role in the drama titled ''Andhaman Kadhali''. Hence her acting career began at the age of twelve, acting in plays. During this time, she was rechristened Manorama by one of her dramas' director Thiruvengadam and harmonist Thiayagarajan. Manorama went and met S S Rajendran (SSR) when he camped at her native district with his drama troupe. She was selected for a role in his ManiMagudam drama written by Kalaignar M Karunanidhi.She continued to act in plays and performed as a playback singer as well. After watching her performance in plays, she was offered her first film, named ''Inbavazhvu'', by Janakiraman, which remained 40% incomplete and later Kannadasan offered her lead role in a second film, ''Unmayinkottai'', which got shelved after shooting for about 40%. She lost hope of becoming a film actor when both these films remained incomplete.

Manorama fell in love with her manager in the drama troupe; S. M. Ramanathan and married him in 1954; the couple have a son named Bhoopathy born in 1955. However, they divorced in 1956 and started to live separately in Chennai. She quoted in an interview in 2015, "My mom wanted me to study medicine. But it was not easy to become a doctor in those days, and I became an actress. So, if I hadn't taken up acting, I would have tried to become a doctor as my mom wished for it. But now, fortunately, my grandson is a doctor, and I am proud of it."

Early career

She acted in small roles in few ''Vairam Nataka Sabha'' dramas. Once she went to see a drama of S. S. Rajendran, who was residing at Pudukkotai, in Tamil Nadu, and P.A. Kumar introduced her to Rajendran. She showed her skill in dialogue delivery and was offered a job in S.S.R. Nataka Mandram company and played in hundreds of stage productions all over the district: The dramas included ''Manimagudam, Thenpandiveeran'' and ''Pudhuvellam''. She credits her work in ''Manimagudam'' as where she was first recognized as an actress. She then took part in an unfinished film starring S. S. Rajendran and Devika.

Career

She migrated from dramas to the silver screen with the role of a heroine in the 1958 Tamil film ''Malayitta Mangai'': Kannadasan gave her the lead role in this film. The first film in which she played the heroine was the 1963 ''Konjum Kumari''. Then, she concentrated more on comedy from 1960. She was given equally challenging roles alongside the well known comedian Nagesh in 50 films.

When asked in an interview as to how she got into films, she quoted, "It's all because of Kannadasan. It was he who changed my life by casting me in the film ''Maalayitta Mangai'' in 1957. It was a comical role, and he trusted me so much and said that I will be able to pull it off. I was very doubtful about it, but he told me, "If you are going to act in films only as a heroine, people here will throw you out of the industry after three or four years, but doing such roles will take you places. And you have the talent, too, to reach higher peaks." That is when I got confidence and continued doing comedy roles."

The first time Manorama stood before the camera was for a Sinhalese film ''Sukumali'' in 1957, in which she played the heroine's friend. Her dance master Suryakala recommended her to the director Masthaan to play the role. She has acted predominantly in Tamil films since 1958, but also acted in Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada movies as well. Her on-screen pair with Tangavelu was appreciated in the film ''Vallvanakku Vallavan'' in 1965. Her on-screen pair with Nagesh was very popular in 1960–69 and then with Cho in the 1970s and 80s and later with Thengai Srinivasan, Vennira Aadai Moorthy, and Surali Rajan in the 70s and 80s. She had done playback singing for 300 songs, mostly pictured on herself, in Tamil films. The first song that she sang was in a film called ''Magale Un Samathu'', composed by G. K. Venkatesh and this opportunity she got due to the film's producer P.A. Kumar. She has sung a classical-based song with TM Sounderajan in the film ''Dharshinam'' (1970), where she was paired with Cho. Manorama sang a song with L.R. Eswari named "Thaatha thaatha pidi kudu". Her career's biggest hit song sung by herself was Vaa Vaathiyaare Uttaande composed by music director V. Kumar for the film ''Bommalattam", which was picturised on her and Cho. She also sang for M. S. Viswanathan and A. R. Rahman.

Some of her best Tamil films include ''Anbe Vaa'', ''Thenmazhi'', ''Ethir Neechal'', ''Galatta Kalyanam'', ''Chittukuruvi'', ''Durga Devi'', ''Annalakshmi'' and ''Imayam''. In Telugu, she starred in films such as ''Rikshavodu'', ''Krishnarjuna'' and ''Subhodayam''. When asked in an interview as to which are her memorable roles, she said "It is Nadigan, which had Sathyaraj and Khushbu in the lead. I cannot forget that role of Baby Amma in my life. Also my role in ''Chinna Gounder'', for which I had to sport weird, artificial teeth, is something which I always think about.

Manorama was paired with Nagesh regularly in films with M.G. Ramachandran in lead like ''En Kadamai, Kanni Thai, Thayin Madiyil, Kadhal Vaganam, Chandrodhyam, Anbee Vaa, Padagotti, Kadhal Vagahnam, Vivasaaye, Thaikku Thalaimagan, Vettikaran'' and ''Ther Thiruvizha''. Other directors cast the Nagesh-Manorama pair in films like ''Anubhavi Raja Anubhavi, Kungumam, Saraswathi Sabadham, Panjavarnakilli, Navarathiri, Puthiya Paravai, Patthu Matha Bandham, Anbu Karangal, Micheal Madan Kamarajan, Annamitta Kai, Gowri Kalyanam, Anbe Aaruyire, Server Sundaram, Ner Vazhai, Ninaivin Nindraval, Poojaikku Vandamalar, Deiva Thirumagal, Rakta Thilagam, Aannavin Asai, Thiruvarutchelvar, Seetha'' and ''Karunthel Kannayiram''. Manorama, actress Sachu and Jayalalithaa have acted together in 2 films as a combination — ''Galata Kalyanam'' and ''Bommalattam''. Manorama and Jayalalithaa have acted in 25 films together.

Her work was noticed even among stalwarts like Sivaji Ganesan and Natiya Peroli Padmini. Manorama shared in an interview that initially she was nervous acting in front of veterans like T. S. Balaiah, but, the director A. P. Nagarajan made her understand that the scenes in which Jil Jil Ramamani appears, she would be the center of attention. She acted alongside the well-known comedian Nagesh in 50 films and in 20 films with Cho Ramaswamy. They made a notable pair and acted in many well-received comedies. In 1974 she shared the screen space with the legendary comedian Mehmood in the Hindi movie ''Kunwara Baap''. Cho and Manorama were paired together in 20 films which included ''Malligai Poo, Annaiyum Pidhavum, Dharisanam, Anbai Thedi, Nanaivin Nindraval, Nirai Kudam, Ayiram Poi, Mohammed Bin Tughlaq, Bommalattam, Delhi Mappilai, Vilayattu Pillai, Kanavan, Rojavin Raja'' and ''Suryagandhi''.

The character she was given by K. Balachander in the 1989 film '' Unnal Mudiyum Thambi'' she personally considers a cornerstone as she was giving a new challenge as an actor. She related in an interview on Toronto TV that one of the most challenging characters she played was the role of the 50-year-old unmarried woman in the 1990 film ''Nadigan'' with Sathyaraj. She has acted with all of the lead comedians across five different generations, which includes M. R. Radha, K. A. Thangavelu, J. P. Chandrababu, A. Karunanithi, Ennatha Kannaiya, V. K. Ramasamy, Nagesh, Cho Ramaswamy, Thengai Seenivasan, M. R. R. Vasu, Suruli Rajan, Vennira Aadai Moorthy, Janagaraj, Pandiarajan, Goundamani, Senthil

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases