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Sivaji: The legend lives on

N. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI, July 23

THERE was this day in the late 1980s when Sivaji Ganesan was active in politics. He had called for a press conference in the office of the party he was heading and just a handful of reporters had turned up. Being used to seeing the veteran actor on the s creen, it was the first exposure for the rookie journalist to see the actor in person.

The press conference itself did not merit more than a couple of paragraphs the next day, but the journalist left the conference dazed. All along used to seeing the Sivaji emote on screen, the journalist got a chance to see first-hand the various facial e xpressions of the thespian -- a frown here when he did not agree with a point made by one of the journalists, a deep laugh when the question was a trifle uncomfortable or downright humble when the actor-politician wanted to evade a direct reply.

On another occasion, Sivaji had come to pay homage to a former chief minister of Tamil Nadu. He stepped down from his car clad in a starched dhoti and shirt, stubbed the cigarette he was smoking and the next minute had tears streaming down his expressive face. The assembled journalists were stunned. Here was a man who till a minute ago was perfectly composed and was smoking a cigarette and now here he was looking grief-stricken.

That was perhaps the hallmark of Sivaji and what made him dominate the Tamil movie scene the way he did. Contemporaries, admirers and critics alike use adjectives like a colossus, a walking university and what not. None of them perhaps did full justice t o the great artiste, who breathed his last on July 21.

The septuagenarian actor had not been keeping well for sometime. However, the news of his death in a private hospital still came as a shock to millions of his fans and admirers. For one, the perennially faction-riven Tamil film industry got together to p ay homage to an actor who had done all kinds of roles -- the young man angry at society's cruelty, the charming hero wooing his heroine, the savant, the Hindu God, the musician and the role of a father in his last few movies.

Born V.C. Ganesan, the title Sivaji was conferred on him after his role as the Maratha chieftain. Since then, Tamil film buffs knew and referred to him only as Sivaji.

Sivaji graduated to the screen from the stage, and that probably explains his powerful delivery of dialogues. His first film, the story and dialogues for which were penned by his friend and politician, Mr M. Karunanidhi, shot Sivaji into the limelight. I n Parasakthi, through his fiery delivery of the dialogues, a trenchant criticism of society, Sivaji made his mark. There were any number of roles he donned, and film industry personnel never tired of how he lived the roles he played.

Despite all the success he enjoyed on the silver screen, success eluded the veteran actor in another role he played -- as a politician, this one in real life. This was quite in contrast to his contemporary, M.G. Ramachandran, who was Chief Minister of Ta mil Nadu for a decade and would have continued for longer but for his illness and death in 1987. Sivaji, a staunch follower of Kamaraj, was for long in the Congress, later the Congress (I) and even floated his own political outfit. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha, but that was as far as he would go in politics.

An actor who played out his life in full, the lasting tribute was thousands of his fans and admirers lining the streets of Chennai as the funeral procession wended its way to the crematorium. V.C. Ganesan may have died, but the legend of Sivaji is sure t o live on.

Pic.: THE LAST JOURNEY: A grief-stricken Prabhu, son of Sivaji Ganesan, sits on the cortege along with actors, Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan and music director, Ilayaraja.

Picture by Shaju John