You've seen them, you love them, you can't imagine growing up without them... Now here's what you didn't know about them!
Telugu
Veteran director Sattiraju Lakshmi Narayana, or Bapu as he is popularly known, is a man who likes to wear many shoes. A law graduate from Madras University, Bapu tried his hand as a cartoonist, graphic artist, art director and painter before taking a headlong plunge into film direction.
However, not many know that he worked as the Asthana Chitrakar (resident painter) at the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) and illustrated many works of Saint Annamacharya. Bapu even designed and produced the TTD video on the Brahmotsavam Festival of Lord Venkateswara of the Seven Hills in 1992 and again in 2001.
Though the late item girl Silk Smitha was known best for her titillating performances on screen, with passing time she went on to become the ultimate symbol of sensuality across south India. People however, seem to remember her for all the not-so-right reasons, associating her with a handful of iconic yet risqué films that verged on the pornographic. But the streak of rebellion was an indelible part of her personality. Born into a poor family in Eluru, Silk Smitha dropped out of school in class four, moving on to Chennai to pursue her dream of becoming an actor. The rest was a silky smooth ride, much to the viewers' delight!
The late producer B Nagi Reddy is best remembered for his productions like Pathaala Bhairavi, Maya Bazaar and Missamma. With over 50 films to his credit in the four south Indian languages as well as Hindi, Nagi Reddy was easily one of the most influential producers of his time. He did not stop at that but also ventured beyond film production. In 1972, he founded a medical and educational trust, which runs a hospital, health center and heart foundation. The enterprising producer also brought out the popular monthly illustrated magazine Chandamama, as well as the Telugu news paper Andhra Jyothi.
With a hefty portfolio of 198 films to her credit, Jamuna was one of the best actors of south India, although her entry into cinema was quite literally touched by destiny. As the story goes, director Dr Rajarao first spotted her at a stage show titled Maa Bhoomi.
Impressed with the performance of the young lady, he offered to cast Jamuna in Puttillu in 1952 and thereafter she never looked back.
Kannada
Did you know that Girish Karnad is much more than a writer? He has been a mathematician, a Rhodes scholar, a great performer on stage and screen, a TV compere, a filmmaker and a cultural administrator who headed prestigious institutions such as the Sangeet Natak Akademi in Delhi and the FTII at Pune.
Deeply involved in culture and the arts, Karnad's exhaustive knowledge of the media at home and abroad lend to his views a touch of authority, without a doubt.
Rulingthe Kannadafilm industry for well over 50 years, Dr Rajkumar was quite the subject of study among his fans, with over a dozen books written on him. The earliest writings on Dr Rajkumar is said to be Ondu Kathanayakana Kathe, penned as a narration by the actor, as told to Chi Sadashivaiah. The piece appeared in a serialised form in Vijayachitra, a monthly film magazine from the publishers of the popular Chandamama. But the series never got completed due to the sudden demise of Sadashivaiah, and the story reached an abrupt end.
Tamil
Everyone's favourite comedian of yesteryears, Chandra Babu was dead serious when it came to acting.
He had to enact a scene in which he swallowed an egg and opened his mouth to release a chick. To make it more authentic, the committed comedian decided to pop in a real chick for the three-minute shot in Nadodi Mannan Though the shot was superb, it was later found out that the chick had scratched and mauled his tongue, which caused some bleeding while the actor seemed unmoved. To this day, the scene remains a showstealer. Good that the director did not ask for a re-take! The director of the hit film, Deiva Piravi, Krishnan Panchu was fairly notorious for being a perfectionist. Funny thing is, the cast decided to follow suit during the shoot. During the emotionally charged climax scene in which Padmini was supposed to beat SSR in a confrontation, the committed actress took her role a tad too seriously. As the shoot was underway, she actually thrashed SSR proper with an umbrella! Lucky for us though, the scene proved a real tear-jerker. An amused SSR later admitted laughingly, "the pain was worth it." Film veteran MGR became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu even as he was in the midst of his acting career. Passion evidently ruled over politics when the actor decided to postpone his swearing-in ceremony in favour of shooting his directorial venture Maduraiyai Meetta Sundara Pandiyan. Despite the clash in schedules, MGR completed shooting and then took his oath as Chief Minister.
Malayalam
You may not know this, but superstar Mohanlal had quite an early start in his acting career. Known as Lalu in his school years, he bagged the Best Actor Award early in the sixth standard. Later on, while completing bachelors in commerce from M G College inThiruvananthapuram, Mohanlal foundeda company called Bharath Cine Group along with his friends Suresh Kumar, Unni, Priyadarsan, S Kumar and Ashok Kumar. Bound by a common passion for cinema, the motley bunch started shooting for a film titled Thiranottam in 1978. Directed by Ashok Kumar, the film failed to release due to conflicts with the censor board.
In time though, the actor came to the notice of director Fazil, who was looking for a youngster to play a negative role in his film. He breezed through the screen test and did Manjil Virinja Pookal, which went on to become a runaway success. Malayalam cinema in the 1960s saw actor Sathyan at the top of his form, though little did we know that he indeed wore a bunch of hats before taking a plunge into films. Starting out as a former Malayalam teacher, Sathyan joined the army in 1941 and became a commissioned officer of the Viceroy of India. He was posted in Imphal in Manipur as well as Burma and former Indochina (Malaysia) where he saw action against the Japanese. After the war years, he worked as a clerk at the Trivandrum secretariat, following which he served as a sub-inspector of Police in Kerala. His career path then took an unexpected turn when Sathyan started acting with Merryland Studios, a decision that saw him gradually emerge as the first indomitable superstar of Malayalam cinema. Quite a ride!
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