MAMBALAM TIMES

April 23 - 29, 2011 MAMBALAM TIMESPage 5TAMIL CINEMA 75 -A LOOK BACKBy RANDOR GUYTHE AVM STORY - 63The reel-life brothers in ‘Bhai Bhai’ were played by the reallifebrothers Ashok Kumar and Kishore Kumar, top stars ofIndian Cinema. This brilliant casting by Meiyappan addedextra impact and interest to the film.Ashok Kumar Ganguly was perhaps the only movie star inIndia to enjoy the longest innings, dating back to 1936, and wasalmost always at the top. Born into a well-placed lawyer’sfamily in Bhagalpur in Bihar, he too studied law but gave upsuch a career to land in movies in Bombay as a LaboratoryAssistant in the famous Bombay Talkies. Here he had a breakas actor in the milestone movie and film classic ‘Achhut Kanya’(1936) opposite the ‘Grand Dame of Indian Cinema’, DevikaRani. The film dealt with the controversial love affair betweena high-born Brahmin youth (Ashok Kumar) and a low-born‘untouchable’girl (Devika Rani) and the complications thatarise over such socially condemned relationship. However thesuccess of ‘Achhut Kanya’ did not bestow immediate stardomon Ashok Kumar.As Devika Rani was not impressed with him, he was laterpaired with Leela Chitnis, and his films with her -‘Bandhan’(1941) and ‘Naya Sansar’ (1941) - made him a star.Then came ‘Kismet’(1943) and its phenomenal box-office recordcreatingsuccess made Ashok Kumar a big name and an all-India star. Since then he never looked back.He turned producer and also directed a few films but he wasalways a star. His cinematic style of underplayed actingbrought him fame and name, and his long and impressive trackrecord made him an icon of Indian Cinema as an evergreenperson. His fine films include ‘Humayun’(1945), ‘Mahal’(1949),‘Samadhi’(1950), ‘Afsana’(1950), ‘Deedar’ (1950), ‘Chalti KaNaam Ghadi’(1958), ‘Howrah Bridge’(1958), ‘Gumrah’(1963),‘Oonche Log’(1965), ‘Aradhana’(1965), ‘Rajnigantha’ (1966)and many others.Kishore Kumar (1929-1987), his younger brother, was amulti-faced personality and had a wide range of talents. Actor,singer, music composer and producer, his fame still persists asan off-screen ‘play-back’ singer. An icon of Hindi film music, hesang thousands of songs and many of them became immortalmelodies of Indian Cinema. His song ‘Roop Tera Mastana’ in themusical super hit ‘Aradhana’ is an all time favourite of HindiCinema. He had lent voice for singing to almost every hero ofHindi Cinema of his time, and particularly Dev Anand!Besides the famous brothers, others in the cast of ‘Bhai Bhai’included the star-mother of Hindi Cinema, Nirupa Roy, Shama,an excellent character actor, Om Prakash and others. Shama,an attractive star, played the ‘other woman’ who lures awaythe elder brother (Ashok Kumar) from his devoted wife (NirupaRoy).At first the well-known Hindi actress, Meena (1920-1987),the star of the hit film ‘Ek Thi Ladki’(1950), was cast as theother woman. (After the thumping success of ‘Ek Thi Ladki’,she came to be known as ‘the laara lappa girl’, thanks to the hitnumber ‘Laara lappa....’, a catchy melody that made filmhistory!) After a few reels were shot with Meena, Meiyappanand the directors Krishnan-Panju felt that she, with her rolypolyfigure, was not the right choice to play the seductress!Indeed Nirupa Roy, with her good looks and slim figure, appearedmore attractive than the vamp! Ever a perfectionist,Meiyappan did not hesitate to replace Meena with Shama.After the success of ‘Bhai Bhai’, Meiyappan decided toproduce Hindi films regularly, and his second film in 1956 was‘Chori Chori’. It featured the most famous pair in IndianCinema, Raj Kapoor- Nargis. Both had come to be hailed asicons of Indian Cinema.(To be continued)Is anything interesting happeningin your street or locality?Please informMAMBALAM TIMES!Buttermilk distributed dailyThe staff of Thakkar BapaVidyalaya (VenkatanarayanaRoad, T. Nagar) have been distributingbuttermilk to passersbyduring summer for thepast 15 years.T. Sridhar and S. Nagaraj(Mechanical instructors) toldBy Our Staff ReporterB. Suchitra (resident ofKrupasankari Street, WestMambalam) will present a vocalconcert at 5 p.m on Saturday,April 23 in Sri Ram Samaj,Arya Gowda Road, WestMambalam.She will be accompanied bySrividya R. S. Iyer (violin) andErode Nagarajan(mridangam).Suchitra is also a harikathaexponent.All are welcome.More details can be had inphone 97909 33529.Mambalam Times that buttermilkwill distributed from10.30 a.m to 12.30 a.m dailytill the first week of June.They said that the 10 litersof milk is used to prepare buttermilkfor more than 500 personsdaily.Suchitra’s vocal concert todayHe distributes ‘mini’‘Panchangam’By Our Staff Reporter‘Agri’ Kannan (resident of Q-3, Prem Nagar, South BoagRoad, T. Nagar) has been distributingpocket size copies ofthe ‘panchangam’ free for thelast 24 years.He told Mambalam Timesthat his ‘Panchangam’ containsall the information foundin the normal sized one.By Our Staff ReporterSri Sathya Sai Samiti, T.Nagar conducts Sai bhajansevery week in the followingvenues in T. Nagar:Sai Keshav Hall, 157, G. N.Chetty Road (near PanagalPark, Vijaya Bank building):Saturdays, 5.10 p.m.Ayurvedhaasramam, 155,Kannan said that he hasprinted more than 16,000 copiesof the latest ‘Panchangam’.He started with 500 copies, herecalled.Copies of the pocket size‘Panchangam’ can be obtainedfrom the above address.Kannan can be contacted intelephone number 9840305141.Sai bhajans on 3 days a weekG. N. Chetty Road (near PanagalPark), Mondays, 6 p.m.50/38, Motilal Street (oppositeRanganathan Street),Wednesdays, 6 p.m.All are welcome.More details can be had fromD. Srinivasa Rao (9840050875) or C. Ramamurthy(9444o 54819).Women Helpline 1098C M Y K