Server Sundaram — 50 Tamil Movies to watch before you die — 7
The definition of anti-heroism has been misinterpreted in many places referring it to those lead characters which have some grey shades too. But according to me, an anti-hero is the one differs from the standard notions of a hero. A hero in Tamil movies is usually physically smart, has sharp features, strong, intelligent, suave, stylish, compassionate, girls fall for him naturally, and he never makes a mistake. The norms were never broken, and actors like MGR were very successful proponents of this model.
But every one of these norms was broken into pieces when a great actor entered this movie world. His name was Nagesh, and the movie was Server Sundaram. And that’s why it’s one of the must-watch Tamil movies of all time.
Server Sundaram (1964)
Server Sundaram was only the 5th movie of Nagesh. He was just another budding actor with only one hit in Nenjil Oru Aalayam and that too as a comedian. Server Sundaram is an adaptation of the play by the same name written by K.Balachander, produced by AVM Pictures with music by MS Viswanathan — Ramamoorthy and directed by Krishnan — Panju.
The story is about a young wannabe actor Sundaram (Nagesh) who comes to Madras to make it big in movies and ends up in a restaurant as a waiter. He lives with his mother (SN Lakshmi). He meets his restaurant owner’s (Major Sunderrajan) daughter Radha (KR Vijaya)when he serves her group of friends in Mahabalipuram. As Radha is friendly to him, Sundaram naively believes that she is in love with him. Sundaram meets his friend Raghavan (Muthuraman) at the same hotel.
Seeing Sundaram’s passion, Raghavan helps him to get a big break into the movie world. Raghavan is supposed to be the bridegroom for Radha but decides against it because Sundaram is in love with her. But Radha meets Raghavan and informs him that she is not in love with Sundaram and sees Sundaram as a brother. Raghavan and Radha fall in love but hide their relationship from Sundaram so that he succeeds in movies.
Sundaram becomes a star believing that making himself rich and famous will help him to get her. He proposes to Radha but finds out that she is in love with his friend. Sundaram realises his folly and focuses on his movie career. But he starts discarding his mother because of his workaholic nature. Finally, his mother’s demise teaches him the reality of life.
The movie is said to be semi-autobiographical of Nagesh as it traces the life of an actor, his rise and fall.
Why is it so special?
- If there are 100 reasons for this movie to be exceptional, all the 100 reasons would be Nagesh. He makes you laugh, cry, sad, think, introsepct, retrospect and share the character’s emotions. I have not known any other movie that can make an average person to relate to a character so much. Is it possible to play an introverted man who has insecurities about his physical appearance without being negative? Nagesh showed it’s possible to play such a character with such panache, and it was his 5th movie as mentioned earlier.
In one scene where he goes to the heroine to express his love with a bouquet, and she rejects his proposal. He asks for a gift from her. She asks “what you want?” He says “ Nothing much, I want the dustbin you have. Because my heart would pain if you throw my bouquet into the dustbin”. Nagesh gives a helpless expression at that moment which no actor could have matched. He was special.
The writing in this particular scene is so brilliant. The character blames his insecurities and doesn’t blame the woman, within few minutes, he understands that she is in love with his friend and supports the decision.
2. The brilliant writing of K.Balachander. Server Sundaram was a stage play written and directed by KB while he was working at the Accountant General’s office. Server Sundaram was a hugely successful play, and Nagesh was playing the role of Sundaram in the play that was produced under Ragini Creations. Balachander wrote the play with Nagesh in his mind. The sharp, witty dialogues and a non-stereotypical screenplay with an anti-hero made the movie special. It was a precursor to the Balachander’s movies that was going to revolutionise Tamil cinema.
3. The perfect supporting cast with Muthuraman as his friend Raghavan and KR Vijaya. Major Sunder Rajan as his restaurant owner and above all SN Lakshmi as Nagesh’ mother was apt to the role. SN Lakshmi played the mother’s role in the stage play, and Nagesh was stubborn that she should play the character in the movie too. The mother-son chemistry between Nagesh and SN Lakshmi formed the base for the story.
4. The directorial duo of Krishnan — Panju made a perfect adaptation of the play to the big screen. They were the most sought after directors at that time because of their success rate. They were well versed in adapting stories in different languages.
5. The movie had scenes that gave the inside view of the cinema world — like the creation of rain effect or chase sequences etc.; It was said that few producers showed their concerns for revealing the cinema secrets. But AV Meyaapa Chettiar was stubborn about holding those scenes because he felt it would deglamourise the cinema world for the audience. The movie itself was an anti-movie in all aspects.
6. The songs and music composition were at it’s best. Kannadasan and MSV were at their peak form. Songs like Avalukku Yenna (it even shows the live recording of the song) are still considered to be classics. People never knew Nagesh could dance so well.
Why is it on the list?
- The movie brought in the anti-hero wave. By anti-hero, I mean a comedian who didn’t conform to any of the requirements of a traditional hero became the lead. The movie also had short, sharp and witty dialogues from K Balachander ushered in the change from the long monologues of the past. This was the second movie after Parasakthi that brought in the next wave in writing.
- The movie brought two of the stalwarts of Tamil Cinema to the forefront. Nagesh was unknown except for a notable comedy role in Nenjil Oru Aalayam. K Balachander had written screenplay and dialogues for Deiva Thaai (MGR Movie) and he didn’t enjoy the process because he had to compromise his writing for a big star. Nagesh was cast in almost all the films after 1964. He became a must-have in a movie. Directors were forced to include characters that will suit Nagesh and the two big stars of Tamil cinema, Sivaji and MGR had to wait for Nagesh’s shoot dates. KB, of course, became one of the prolific filmmakers of Tamil and introduced the two Superstars of Tamil cinema — Rajinikanth & Kamal Hassan.
- The story was about an average person and the life he goes through. He was fallible, vulnerable with all his imperfections. Post Server Sundaram, directors started making movies about ordinary people.
Trivia
- Although KB directed the play, the producers AVM opted for their successful director duo Krishnan-Panju. It was because K Balachander wasn’t keen on making movies as a full-time vocation. K Balachander later made a couple of successful films for AVM. When Balachander was apprehensive of making a move towards cinema (he was in a comfortable government job), AV Meyyappa Chettiar persuaded him to take up movies as a full-time job. He promised that AVM Productions would produce three films of K Balachander [1]. By then, Thirumalai Films signed up K Balachander for Neerkumizihi (1965), and rest was history.
- K Balachander was born in a small village near Nannilam in Thanjavur district. Against his father’s wishes, he used to direct short plays with his friends for Sivarathri. Their ticket price was kerosene for Petromax lights that they used to light the stage area. He continued making plays while in Annamalai University, and his first major play was Major Chandrakant while working at Accountant General’s office. It became popular, and he started Ragini creations to stage his plays. MGR watched one of the plays and persuaded K Balachander to write screenplay and dialogues for Deiva Thaai (1964) [4].
- In Server Sundaram, the sequences were Nagesh does mono acting with a coin on the road and pining for his lady love were influenced by Chaplin’s City Lights [1].
- Server Sundaram was remade in Hindi with Mehmood in the lead by the same directors and AVM as Main Sundar Hoon in 1970. Although it was not a blockbuster hit, Mahmood continued to remake Nagesh movies in Hindi. The popular ones are Humjoli (1970, a remake of Panakkara Kudumbum) — in which Mehmood reprised the triple role of Nagesh, Bombay to Goa (1972, a remake of Madras to Pondicherry), and Do Phool (1973, a remake of Anubavi Raja Anubavi).
- The first picture in this article was taken initially as a promo pic, but there was no such scene in the original movie. After seeing the first copy, AV Meyyappa Chettiar insisted on such a scene to make the promo shots authentic. He was vehemently against making fake promo shots without having it in the movie. But this picture eventually became a classic photo of Nagesh [1].
- The editor in the movie was credited as Panjabi. It’s a pseudonym of Panju as he edited the film and Panju edited all his films under the same pseudonym [2].
- SV Rangarao was not part of the original cast. One day when Nagesh was shooting for the movie in Vahuni Studios, SV Rangarao was shooting for another film. He pulled up Nagesh for not asking him for a role. Nagesh fondly calls SV Rangarao as “Daddy”. After discussing with the directors, they decided to have SV Rangarao for the director role who directs Sundaram in the first movie. After SV Rangarao finished the shoot, Nagesh was confused about the remuneration bit. SV Rangarao made fun and asked for Rs.1 Crore and then later asked for a couple of pegs of Whiskey [8].
- The play on family planning by Nagesh and Manorama that’s part of the film was used by the State Government in different towns and villages to create an awareness of the issue[1].
9. Krishnan — Panju, arguably the most successful director duo made 55 movies together that includes blockbuster hits like Rattha Kaneer (1954), Parasakthi (1952), Kuzhandhiyum Deivamum (1965), Uyarntha Manithan (1968) and of course Server Sundaram. Panju was born as S Panchapakesan in 1915 at Umayalpuram. Panju was raised by his paternal grandfather and studied in Pachaiayappa’s college. He dropped out of college due to financial difficulties and joined as a clerk in a soda and essences shop in Wall Tax Road run by Vajravelu Mudaliar. Mudaliar started a studio to make a movie, but it was halted due to financial difficulties. But Mudaliar introduced Panju to CD Kannabiran, manager of Prabhat Talkies. Kannabiran introduced Panju to Ellis R Dungan, American Director, who was working with historic Sathi Leelavathi (1936) at that time. Panju learnt to edit in Ellis R Dungan’s stable and moved to Premier Cinetone Studio, Coimbatore as an Editor. Krishnan, on the other hand, was in charge of the film lab in Pakshiraja Studios and became friends with Panju while working on Araichimani or Manuneedhi Chozhan (1942) directed by Raja Sandow. Panju married Krishnan’s sister and became a family member. Looking at their talent and skill, Raja Sandow made them directors in Poompavai (1944). Their most significant break was Nallathambi (1949) that marked the entry of CN Annadurai as the writer. Krishnan — Panju were the directors of debut movies of prolific writers including Karunanidhi (Parasakthi, 1952), Murasoli Maaran (Kula Deivam, 1956), KS Gopalakrishnan (Deiva Piravi, 1960) and K Balachander (Server Sundaram, 1964). Krishnan’s son became a proflic writer and director — K Subash (Chathriyan). The last movie credited to Krishnan — Panju was Malarum Ninaivugal (1985) but Panju passed away in 1984. Probably, they completed the movie before his demise. Krishnan didn’t make any other after Panju’s demise [2].
10. Nagesh, born as Gundu Rao in Dharapuram, joined as a clerk in Indian Railways and moved to Chennai along with his friend Dharapuram Sunderraj to make it big in the movies. They stayed with Vaali in a small lodge in Mambalam. Nagesh joined Balaji’s drama troupe and played some memorable roles. Balaji looking at the talent of Nagesh, met with innumerable producers to get an acting chance for his friend but none were impressed by the looks of Nagesh. Nagesh, being a performer, did unsolicited performances in office gatherings and weddings. His first break was in Manamulla Marudhaaram (1958) that had Balaji in the lead. In Nenjil Our Aalayam (1962), CV Sridhar conceptualised a comedy love triangle between Nagesh, Ramarao and Manorama in parallel to the main poignant love triangle. Nagesh was initially supposed to play the role played by Ramarao, but on the day of the shoot, Ramarao wasn’t available for the rehearsal. Chitralaya Gopu (who was assisting CV Sridhar) suggested that Nagesh can rehearse. After seeing Nagesh, A Vincent, the cameraman commented that Nagesh is like Jerry Lewis and until then slapstick wasn’t a comedy genre in Tamil cinema. Nagesh was given the role, and the rest was history [3].
11. The reason why Server Sundaram is considered to be semi-autobiographical is that Balachander was a friend of Nagesh and knew his ups and downs. The character of Raghavan (played by Muthuraman) is an ode to Balaji and the producers rejecting Sundaram due to his looks happened to Nagesh in real life. At the end of the movie, Nagesh arrives at his mother’s death bed and misses his chance to see his mother one last time due to a movie shooting. In real life, Nagesh missed his mother’s funeral [3].
12. K Balachander and Nagesh were best friends for life. In short, Balachander remarked that “he thinks with Nagesh inside him and Nagesh acts with me inside him”. Such was their understanding, and Kamal once quipped that Balachander scolds him by referring to Nagesh because he is incapable of acting like him. They parted ways in Velli Vizha (1972) due to a small tussle that became a big break for Thengai Srinivasan. But they mended their differences and came back together in Apoorva Ragangal (1975) [6].
13. The last movie that Nagesh acted was Dasavatharam (2008) with Kamal Hassan who adored him. In fact, Kamal brought Nagesh back to cinema through Apoorva Sagodhargal (1989) when he was down due to financial issues and alcoholism. Nagesh played a menacing villain in the movie. Soundarya Rajinikanth tried to recreate the image of Nagesh for her 3D movie Kochadaiayaan (2014).
14. In Server Sundaram, the song Thattai Nenjam, the parrot repeats what KR Vijaya sings. Sadan, a mimicry artist in MSV’s troupe lend his voice to the parrot. Sadan was part of the trio (others were Saibaba and Udayarpalayam R Srinivasan) who performed the mimicry in Kadavul Amaithu Vaitha Medai (Aval Oru Thodarkathai, 1974)[7].
15. Nagesh’s grand son Bijesh Nagesh (son of Anand Babu) is making his debut in the upcoming Tamil movie Server Sundaram (unfortunately the teaser made it to the screens in 2017 but the movie is yet to make it to the theatres). Just enjoy the teaser and check out the introduction scene of Bijesh Nagesh. Can there be a better tribute to his grandfather and legacy of Server Sundaram?.
References
- AVM 60 Years by M Saravanan
- Remembering Panju — The Hindu
- Tragic Comedian by S Theodore Baskaran — Frontline
- K Balachander, A Tribute by Vandhana — Silverscreen
- The mimicry artiste and the memorable song — B Kolappan — The Hindu
- நாகேஷ்-கே.பாலசந்தர் இடையே வெடித்த மோதல் — Touring Talkies
- Memories of Mellisai Mannar MSV Speaks about Thattai Nenjam — AVM Productions
- ‘சர்வர் சுந்தரம் படத்தில் ரங்காராவுடன் நடித்தது பற்றி’ — Nagesh — AVM Productions
