by

D.B.S. Jeyaraj

(Legendary “Villain”actor of Tamil cinema M.N.Nambiar passed away fourteen years ago in Chennai on November 19th 2008. I wrote an article about him then which was published in the “Daily Mirror”of Colombo. I am reproducing a slightly edited version of that article on my blog now to commemorate his 14th death anniversary. I am also including at the end two of the many mails sent to me after the article appeared. One is from his son Sukumar Nambiar. The other is from veteran Sinhala actor Henry Jayasena. Sadly both are no more ~ – DBS Jeyaraj)

Manjeri Narayanan Nambiar or M.N.Nambiar (89) as he was generally known passed away around 1.00 pm , in Chennai on Wednesday November 19th 2008. The remains were kept at his residence at Gopalapuram for fans and members of the film fraternity to pay their respects to the legendary “villain” of Tamil cinema.

Rare individual

Nambiar was a rare individual who played villainous roles on screen while remaining a virtuous person with saintly qualities off-screen. Contrary to his villainous screen persona, Nambiar was in real life a teetotaler and vegetarian and, above all, a man who upheld ethical values without any scandal or gossip ever being attributed to him.

He was also a great devotee of Sabarimalai Shree Aiyappan and undertook annual pilgrimages to the shrine for over 65 years. He was one of those instrumental in popularising the comparatively unknown deity over the years. He initiated mountain-trekking pilgrimages at a time when it was not ‘fashionable’ to worship Shree Aiyappan on the scale it is being done today. As a result, he was hailed not merely as a ‘Guruswamy’ but a ‘Mahaguruswamy’ by Aiyappan devotees.

Recently, former film actress and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jayaram worshipped at the octogenarian’s feet and sought his blessings on her 60th birthday. Tamil superstar and Aiyappan devotee Rajnikanth is another who regularly got himself blessed by the Mahaguruswamy.

Ironically, Nambiar, in spite of his unblemished character, was perceived as a dastardly villain by millions of movie-goers on account of his on-screen image while others guilty of off-screen villainy were hailed as good men due to their screen performances.
In this, Nambiar was like P.S. Veerappa, another actor who played the villain in Tamil cinema while being of exemplary virtue in real life.

The ‘villain’

To those Tamil cinema fans like this writer who grew up on a diet of Tamil movies, the demise of Nambiar evokes a sense of deep sorrow. Just as much we relished the great heroes like M.G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan or Gemini Ganesh, we also appreciated the actors who played villainous roles opposite them.

Without these villains, the heroes could not make their mark. How could the lead actor perform his heroic deeds and win rounds of applause if the villains did not battle it out with guns, swords and fists or abduct the beautiful heroine?

Ramayana without Ravana or Mahabharatha without Duryodhana is unimaginable. Likewise, a Tamil movie without a villain or henchmen cannot be visualised. Villains were an integral part of moviedom.
Their impact was so great that the word ‘villain’ was adopted as a Tamil word ‘villan,’ with its amusing feminine equivalent ‘villi’ for ‘vamp.’ We jeered the villains and cheered the heroes.

The older generation of villains faded away and a new breed is taking over but then for some of us, ‘old is gold’ indeed. The villains who faded away or transformed into actors playing character roles have all gone one by one.

P.S. Veerappa, T.S. Baliah, M.R. Radha, S.A. Asokan, R.S. Manohar, O.A.K. Devar and S. Ramadas have all passed away and now it is the turn of Nambiar. He was the last of the great villains of Tamil cinema.

Each actor had a distinctive trait or mannerism. Veerappa was known for his raucous laugh; M.R. Radha for his swift change of voice from squeaky and high-pitched to guttural rasps; and R.S. Manohar would thrust his chest out and impose his personality.

His specialty

As for Nambiar, his speciality was the way in which he would shake his head from side to side with a scowl and/or grimace. He would arch his eyebrows, expand his nostrils, screw up his mouth in a leering smile or merely purse his lips tightly.

This was enough to project a sense of evil and terror. Sometimes the lighting was dimmed to enhance the ominous threat. Chilling, powerful music in the background added to the fear. At times he would wear false, protruding teeth. When he grinned from ear to ear with those wolfish dentures, the effect was truly menacing.

Recollecting Nambiar’s facial expressions revive nostalgic memories in this writer. Imitating actors is a phase many of us have passed through in childhood. Sivaji’s dialogue, MGR’s action, Veerappa’s laughter and Chandrababu’s slapstick are but some of these.
One of my favourite acts during childhood was to imitate Nambiar’s threatening facial expressions. Upon hearing of his death I could not resist a few attempts before the mirror. Hmmm!

Apart from his facial expressions, Nambiar could also deliver his dialogue with appropriate modulation. He would lower or raise his voice when necessary. Even his hoarse whispers were terrifying.
Unlike many of the present actors, these ‘oldies’ could speak perfect, fluent Tamil with correct diction and pronunciation.

Nambiar was ethnically a Malayalee but like those of his era could speak other ‘Dravidian’ languages like Tamil well. Nowadays, even ‘Tamil’ actors and actresses cannot speak Tamil properly.
Nambiar could also play the ‘cool’ villain without engaging in melodramatic histrionics. He could also act the womanising playboy who seduces suavely and then ditches the unfortunate damsel.

A true master

Like most actors of the older generation he mastered swordplay, wrestling, stick-play, horse-riding, etc. This enabled him to play a realistic, swashbuckling villain on the screen.

It is as villain that Nambiar established himself as an actor. But the great thespian has played other roles like comedian, hero and character artiste on screen. Interestingly, the ‘macho’ Nambiar has also acted as a woman and girl on the stage during his formative years.

In a stage and screen career that spanned more than seven decades Nambiar has acted in more than 600 films with different generations of actors. Most of them were in Tamil but some were in Malayalam and Telugu. He has also acted in a Hindi and English film.
It is difficult indeed to single out specific roles from a galaxy of stellar roles played out over several decades. Nevertheless, I shall mention some outstanding ones lingering in memory.

In ‘Ambikapathy,’ the classical villain was the poet Ottakoothan known for his rivalry with poets Kamban and Pugalenthi. Kamban was played by the veteran M.K. Radha while Nambiar played Ottakoothan.

Nambiar also played the crafty maternal uncle villain in ‘Uthama Puthiran.’ Sivaji played a dual role in this movie based on ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ by Alexander Dumas.

Ondru Serntha Anbu Maaruma

Making an impression

Another movie where Nambiar made an impression despite a small role was in A.P. Nagarajan’s ‘Thillana Mohanambal,’ where he played the Maharaja of Madanpoor who was eying the danseuse played by the gorgeous Padmini.

Nambiar also played villain in a historical movie made by Nagarajan starring Sivaji Ganesan. This was ‘Raja Raja Cholan,’ where Sivaji essayed the titular role while Nambiar played Baladevar, a cunning counsellor. The clash between both was like an intricate game of chess and the verbal duelling was captivating. It was truly a clash of titans.

Nambiar also played the ambitious Dewan in ‘Sivantha Mann,’ made by maestro Sridhar. Sivaji was the hero. Nambiar also played villain remarkably in two other Sridhar movies. One was in ‘Then Nilavu,’ starring Gemini Ganesh and Vyjayanthimala. Nambiar acted as a sophisticated cheat and impersonator.

The other was ‘Nenjam Marappathillai,’ starring Kalyanakumar and Devika.In this film on the rebirth theme, Nambiar played a villain crazed with the revenge motive who tries to disrupt a union between two souls in two incarnations.

Nambiar has played villain to MGR in a number of films. Some of the notable ones are ‘Ulagam Sutrum Vaaliban,’ where he plays a karate expert assassin; another one was ‘Vettaikaran,’ where Nambiar played double as bandit and estate manager.

Nambiar played the bandit chief Kaangeyan to MGR’s Kathiravan in ‘Puthiya Bhoomi.’ The names were not so subtle references to the Congress called ‘Kaangiras’ in Tamil and the DMK with its symbol of Sun also called Kathiravan in Tamil.

Among other noteworthy MGR movies where Nambiar made a strong impact were ‘Nadodi Mannan’, ‘Enga Veetu Pillai,’ ‘Naan Aanaiyittaal,’ ‘Theiva Thaai, ‘Thirudathe,’ ‘Raman Thediya Seethai,’ ‘Pallandu Vaalha,’ ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’ and ‘Arasa Kattalai.’

Early days

Nambiar, who was born on March 7, 1919, hailed from Chirakkal in Kannur District in present day Kerala state. The name Nambiar is a caste identity. The Nambiars are a sub-caste of the pre-dominant Nair caste in Kerala.

It is believed that Nambiars are a mixture of the Namboodri (Brahmin) and Nair castes. They are concentrated mainly in North Malabar in the Kannur region. The Manjeris are a Nambiar clan with claims of a martial lineage.

Young Narayanan Nambiar’s mother tongue was Malayalam but he opted to join a Tamil drama troupe at the age of 13. He joined the Madurai Devibala Vinodha Sangeetha Sabha run by the famous “Nawab” Rajamanickam Pillai.

This was one of the famous ‘Boys Company’ drama troupes, so called because all actors were mainly young boys who played both male and female roles. Young Narayanan Nambiar learnt to speak perfect Tamil and played many roles, including that of women.

His monthly salary then was just Rs. 3, of which he sent Rs. 2 regularly to his mother. Board and lodging was the responsibility of the troupe.

After three years of stage acting, Nambiar got his first screen break. A film company called Parameswar Sound Pictures produced in 1935 a film titled ‘Bhaktha Ramadas’ at the Ranjit Studio in Mumbai (then Bombay).

All the actors were males and several from ‘Boys Company’ were recruited. Nambiar, then 16, played two or three roles in the film. He was paid Rs. 75. The director was Murugadas Swamigal.

Unexpected boost

Thereafter, Nambiar did not get any more screen roles for many years. Meanwhile, his stage career received an unexpected boost when lead actor K. Sarangapani quit Rajamanickam Pillai’s troupe.

Now Nambiar began to get better and prominent parts to play. His drama career began taking off. Soon Nambiar passed teenage and sought a place elsewhere in more ‘mature’ troupes. He joined the ‘Shakthi Nataka Sabha’ of “Shakthi” Krishnaswamy.

One of the roles played by Nambiar was that of the cruel monarch in ‘Kaviyin Kanavu,’ a play about the poet Kalidas. S.V. Subbiah played the poet. The play, written by S.D. Sundaram, was a runaway hit. Nambiar’s name gathered fame in drama circles.

It was then that Nambiar and Subbiah caught the eye of Producer Somasundaram of Jupiter Films. “Jupiter Somu,” as he was known, placed both on a contract for his production company. This was in 1946.

Nambiar’s first movie was ‘Vidyapathy.’ This was based on a detective novel written by Vaduvoor Duraiswamy Iyengar and directed by A.T. Krishnaswamy, who also wrote the screenplay.

Nambiar played an evil Brahmin role. His wife was played by M.S.S. Bhagyam. Subsequently Nambiar and Bhagyam were paired in other light, comedy roles. But the duo was not a hit like N.S. Krishnan-T.K. Mathuram or Kali. N. Ratnam-C.T. Rajakantham.

Big break

In 1947, Nambiar got his big break as hero in the film ‘Kanjan’ (Miser). It failed miserably. He was relegated again to secondary roles. Nambiar played ‘friend’ to M.G. Ramachandran in ‘Rajakumari’ (Princess). He also played the scheming uncle Shakuni in ‘Abimanyu.’

Then 1949 saw the film ‘Velaikkari’ being made. The story and dialogue was by DMK founder and ex-Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai.

A.S.A. Samy directed it. Nambiar played a dual role acting as the landlord’s son and a crafty priest. His Harihara das Swamy role attracted widespread attention.

Nambiar’s stock rose and the turning point came when the legendary T.R. Sundaram of Modern Theatres sought him out. He was placed on a contract as was the custom then.

In 1950, Nambiar acted as the conspiring Rajaguru in ‘Manthiri Kumari,’ for which the dialogues were written by M. Karunanidhi, the present DMK Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The movie was a roaring success. Nambiar had arrived.

This was followed by ‘Thigambara Samiyar,’ another screen version of a Duraiswamy Iyengar detective novel. M.N. Nambiar played the title role and adopted 11 different disguises for the film. It was a novelty then and Nambiar’s acting skills were recognised widely.

In 1951, Nambiar played the villainous title role in ‘Sarvathigari’ (Dictator).It was a re-make of an English movie, ‘Gallant Blades.’ Nambiar’s skill as swordsman was praised.

Interesting anecdote

Nambiar was one villain actor who could fence on equal terms with M.G. Ramachandran. An interesting anecdote relates to this.
When the movie ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’ was being made in 1965, MGR sustained a cut on his little finger when a sword-fighting scene between both was being shot. MGR bled profusely. Nambiar apologised and MGR graciously accepted it.

One year later the film ‘Arasa Kattalai’ was being made. Another fencing sequence was being shot. This time it was MGR who nicked Nambiar’s little finger.

As Nambiar was being bandaged, the actor wisecracked, “Settan marakkavillai. Mannikkavum illai” (brother has not forgotten or forgiven). MGR, of course, claimed it was an accident.

Meanwhile, Nambiar was also cast as comedian in some movies. Notable among them was ‘Marmayogi,’ but he did not click in comic roles.
In 1952, an English movie, ‘The Jungle,’ directed by William Burke, was shot in India. It was a USA-India co-production starring Rod Cameron and Marie Windsor. Nambiar also acted in it, playing the villager Mahaji.

T.R. Sundaram of Modern Theatres also tried out Nambiar as hero in the film ‘Kalyani’ in 1952 with B.S. Saroja as heroine. It was a disaster. Some years later Sundaram used him as hero in another movie, ‘Kavitha.’ That too flopped.

Road to success

But Nambiar began zooming to success as a villain on screen. He acted in a vast number of roles with different actors playing the hero. He also acted as second hero and also in ‘grey’ roles where the characters were not clearly black or white.

In some of these roles, Nambiar played the brother to the hero who teams up with the villain and then repents; in others he played the lover or husband to the hero’s sister and is antagonistic to him.

Among such roles Nambiar made his mark as MGR’s brother-in-law or lover of his sister in films like ‘Arasilankumari,’ ‘Nallavan Vaalvaan,’ ‘Parisu’ and ‘En Kadamai.’ In these Nambiar played opposite Padmini, E.V. Saroja, Ragini and L. Vijayalakshmi.

A Sivaji film where he played a role in similar vein and shone was as Kannan in ‘Makkalai Petra Maharasi.’ M.N. Nambiar was paired with M.N. Rajam (no relative).

A highlight of that film was the song ‘Ondru Serntha Anbu Maarumaa? Unmai Kaadhal Maari Pohuma?’ picturised on Nambiar and Rajam. It was composed by K.V. Mahadevan and sung by P.B. Sreenivas and U. Sarojini.

In some other films Nambiar was depicted as a bad guy for most of the time, only to be revealed near the finale that he was in reality the good guy. But it was as the archetypal villain that Nambiar excelled. He played them all with consummate ease.

He did not identify with any particular actor, director or producer and avoided being categorised as belonging to a certain camp.

Sivaji, MGR, Gemini, SSR, Anandan, Jaishankar, Ravichandran, A.V.M. Rajan, Muthuraman, Kalyanakumar, Muthuraman, Sivakumar, Bhagyaraj, Kamalhasan, Prabhu, Rajnikanth, Vijaykanth, Arjun, Prashanth, Vikram and Manoj – he acted with them all.

Renaissance

Nambiar had a filmy renaissance in 1982 when Bhagyaraj cast him in a refreshingly different role in ‘Thooral Nindru Pochu.’ The wrestling match between Nambiar and Bhagyaraj coupled with the drunken song ‘En Soha Kathaiyai Kelu Thaaikulame’ were the highlights of this film.
Thereafter, Nambiar played a number of character and comic roles. His last film role was with Vijaykanth in ‘Sudeshi,’ released in 2006.
He has acted in a number of TV serials. He has also appeared frequently on TV with his reminiscences of Tamil film. He was perhaps one of the oldest and most articulate actors of Tamil cinema.

He also spoke regularly on TV about Sabarimalai Ayappan. He embraced controversy in an uncharacteristic manner by refuting claims made by some actresses about Ayappan temple.

Nambiar did not forget his first love: the stage. He formed the drama troupe Nambiar Nataka Mandram and staged plays. Two such ones were a revival of ‘Kaviyin Kanavu’ and a comedy, ‘Kalyana Supermarket.’

In tribute

He was a deeply religious man and led an austere, pious life, despite being in the tinsel world of Kodambakkam. He was admired and respected for this.

Nambiar is survived by two sons and a daughter. One of his sons, Sukumar Nambiar, is a stalwart of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Tamil Nadu. Nambiar, however, steered clear of politics while being an ardent nationalist.

He was ailing for some time and has been hospitalised for two months. Nambiar passed away peacefully at home on November 19 at the age of 89. The last of yesteryear Tamil screen villains has breathed his last! We, his rasikas, can only think of the past and pay tribute to his memory.

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Mail sent by Sukumar Nambiar to DBS Jeyaraj after reading article on his father MN Nambiar

Djeyaraj avargale, vanakkam.

I am Sukumar Nambiar the elder son of Thiru M.N.Nambiar. When my father passed away I read your article in the net and thought that it was the best comprehensive one written about him. Thank you for your kind words.

My father had not been well about a year and a half before due to a urinary infection which he neglected and as a result the toxin backtracked into his blood stream. It took him two months of hospital treatment to get back to normalcy. Age, surely had caught up with him but he was a healthy 89. He was not eating much and that had made him weak. On that fateful day he was reclining in his bed with my mother seated near his feet and had some tea.

Two days before that I had gone to the mookambika temple in karnataka and before leaving told him that when we were kids he used to force us to eat well and now he was not doing so. He looked at me, smiled and said ” enakku ippo kitta thatai 90 vayasu ayirichu, adhu podum!” The next day he told my mother that all her life she had taken excellent care of him and now he would not be of any trouble to her !

As I said earlier, he had his tea, kept looking at her and then just closed his eyes without any signs of pain etc. It was a very auspicious time at Sabari Malai.

Regarding myself, I have been in the BJP for nearly 20 years and in the last 10 years have been working at the national level. I am a member of the National Executive of the party and have been all india treasurer twice. My field of work involves areas of terrorism and external affairs. I am very involved in the Sri Lankan issue and along with Thiru L. Ganesan made our leadership recognize the difference between the LTTE and the greater tamil cause which has been submerged due to political reasons. I head an organization called The Centre for South Asian Studies and about two years ago conducted a conference in Chennai where we had invited speakers from Sri

Lanka. The tamils, the sinhalese and the muslims were represented and it was a great success. We intend to follow it up in the near future in a bigger way.

Regards,

Sukumar Nambiar.

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Mail Sent by veteran actor Henry Jayasena to DBS Jeyaraj after reading article about MN Nambiar

Dear Mr. Jeyaraj,

I enjoyed reading your article on Mr. Nambiar in the Daily Mirror of 22nd Nov. I cant rember seeing M.N.Nambiar on screen athough I have seen lots of others suc as MGR, Sivaji, Gemini and lots of South Indian actresses such as Vaijayantnthi Mala, Lalith and Padmini, MS Subhalakshmi etc. We had quite a diet of South Indian films too those days!

Of course I saw m any more Hindi films those good old days. I was captivated by men like Dilip Kumar whom I had the good fortune to meet and talk to when he visited Ceylon – I belive way back in the sixties.

Now I hardly go to a Cinema but have seen such films as Ashoka, Veer Sar, Laggaan etc. – some of them from CDs.

Your article was very interesting – it gives a complete picture of the early days of Indian cinema. I can imagine that an actor (stage) was paid only Rs.3/- at that time. When I played Prince Maname in the late fifties, I was paid Rs.25/-! For my first film I got paid the princely sum of Rs.2500/-!

I have been reading some of your political articles too and disliked some of them. Now I see that you dont write very many political articles. I may have bumped into you here and there, but I cant remember.

Mr. Nambiar looks very dashing.

Here’s wishing you more strength to your hand.

Henry Jayasena

D.B.S.Jeyaraj can be reached at dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com