Veteran film and theatre actor, V.S. Raghavan, 90, died on Saturday after battling pancreatic cancer. He is survived by two sons.

Mr. Raghavan had the distinction of acting in more than 1,000 Tamil films over the past six decades.

The actor, who became the darling of mimicry artistes, began his career with Vairamalai in 1954. Some of his memorable roles were in films directed by K. Balachander.

His role in Iru Kodugal , where he played a father with negative shades, earned him critical acclaim, as did his role as an Anglo-Indian dad in Nootrukku Nooru .

He has also starred in popular films such as Kadhalikka Neramillai , Pattanathil Bootham and Urimai Kural . In the 2013 film, Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara, he appeared in the song, Pray Pannuven , which went on to become a huge hit.

Mr. Raghavan was also a well-known theatre artiste. His troupe, INA Theatres, was popular with the masses.

Following the announcement of his death, many film personalities offered condolences. Former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, in a statement, said she was pained to hear about Mr. Raghavan’s death.

“He was kind, gentle and friendly with everyone. He has been doing character roles for the past 58 years. It’s a great loss to the Tamil film industry. I offer my condolences to his family and members of the film fraternity,” she said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Udhav Naig / Chennai – January 25th, 2015

CHENNAI: Tamil film actor V S Raghavan passed away in his sleep at a hospital in T Nagar on Saturday evening after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 89 and is survived by his sons K R Srinivasan and K R Krishna, daughters-in-law and a grandson.

A seasoned veteran of more than 1,000 films, Raghavan was seen recently in “Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavaanikalum” (2014) and TV serials Valli, En Iniya Thozhi and Uyirmei. He began his career as a sub-editor at Maalathi magazine and went on to act in stage plays. After acting in a play “Vairamaalai”, Raghavan went on to make his film debut in the screen adaptation of the play under the same title in 1954.

Former chief minister J Jayalalithaa paid tributes to the veteran artist in a press release: “He treated everybody with love and affection. His death is a great loss to the film industry. I convey my heartfelt condolences to his family and his friends in the film fraternitym,” she said.

One of the few actors to have played ‘father’ to legends M G Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan in several films, Raghavan’s most memorable movies include ‘Nenjil Ore Aalayam’ (1962), ‘Karnan’ (1964), ‘Kaadhalikka Neramillai’ (1964), ‘Bommai’ (1964), ‘Iru Kodugal’ (1969) and ‘Urimaikkural’ (1974).

He shared a special friendship with late director K Balachander who directed him in several films. Raghavan was noted for his role in Balachander-directed tele-serial Anni in the early 2000s and headed the Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Naadaga Manram in the early 1990s.

The cremation will be held at 5pm on Sunday in Besant Nagar, his family said. “Many of his close friends from the film and television industry have been calling to convey condolences. We expect a large gathering of film personalities tomorrow,” said Janaki Srinivasan, his daughter-in-law.

Raghavan began his career as a sub-editor at Maalathi magazine and went on to act in stage plays. He was seen recently in “Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavaanikalum” (2014) and TV serials Valli, En Iniya Thozhi and Uyirmei.

Chennai :

Public art is to a city what a private collection is to a home. Shorthand for the owners’ cultural and political preferences. Chennai, whose public art has thus far been monopolised by the political and film posters, would lead to the assumption, not incorrect, that these are the city’s two primary pulses. This is set to change with Goethe-Institut Chennai launching its street art festival on a massive scale, roping in street artists from across the world and India to confer upon Chennai new art and imagination.

‘Conquer The Concrete’, the 18-day intervention — with support from Chennai corporation and Southern Railways among other collaborators — will create wall murals across pre-determined sites, including railway stations like Egmore, Greenways Road, Kastuibai MRTS and Park Town, cinemas like Casino Theatre and Satyam, five Corporation schools and YMCA College of Physical Education. The project will also coopt the community, via workshops at schools and colleges, and partnerships with painters of cinema hoardings, the original street artists of the city.

Introducing the project, Helmut Schippert, director of Goethe-Institut, pointed out that street art tends to be viewed by the city administration with some scepticism, seeing in public wall art more risk than reward. “But what harm can art do,” he questions. What it can do, he states, is animate a city, make it culturally and intellectually resonant, and newly interpret old spaces. “Artists can respond through art, to the challenges and questions that arrive on the back of rapid urbanization,” he adds.

Balchand Parayath, of Chennai City Connect, hopes that as people see more street art in Chennai, they’ll come to embrace it and participate in it. “Street art makes a city more livable,” he holds.

Street art, which goes back to graffiti, typically involves surreptitious paint jobs at night, usually without permission of local officials or property owners. This project has all the go-aheads. While officials did want to know what the artists would be painting, they were assured there would be no breach of social codes and nothing to give offence, although a mockup couldn’t possibly be handed to them.

Georg Zolchow, an artist from Berlin and the project’s curator, says the foreign artists (from America, Spain and Germany), aware of the scant street art culture here, are keen to take on India’s walls, to collaborate with Indian artists and create a visual discourse.

Among the seasoned street artists on the field, whose works compass comic art, abstraction and figuration, is M P Dhakshna, a hoarding painter who sees through this collaboration, his own art taking a new turn. “I used to think art was something you depicted literally; now I know it to be a personal expression that can even be abstract,” he says.

Shilo Shiv Suleman, another participant is a Bangalore-based artist associated with Fearless Collective, a troupe of artists, photographers, videographers and others who campaign for the reclamation of public spaces — by both women, and art. “I’ll be exploring the idea of gender and consent in Tamil cinema, questioning those narratives we see on the screen of the woman being chased by a man and ultimately caving in,” she says. The project, they all promise, will bring about a change of scene.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by Joeanna Rebello, TNN / January 24th, 2014

The biography tells the story of the actor with details hitherto unknown, including his differences with MGR, which ultimately led to his fall.

When the Tamil film world was dominated by two big heroes – Sivaji Ganesan and MG Ramachandran – a comedian commanded salary on a par with them and, on a few occasions, even received more. He had the distinction of singing in his first film Dhana Amaravathi (1947). He was a dancer and singing-actor, who introduced yodelling in playback singing.  But J.P. Chandrababu’s life was a tragedy and he died a pauper in 1974, befitting the title of the film Maadi Veettu Yezhai that he directed.

‘Nagaichuvai Chakravarthi: J.P. Chandrababu’, a soon-to-be-released biography, tells the story of the actor with details hitherto unknown, including his differences with MGR, which ultimately led to his fall.

He led a royal lifestyle and bought a 20-ground plot on Greenways Road and began constructing a house. “He designed it in such a way that he could drive the car straight to the first floor. But Maadi Veettu Yezhai put paid to his hopes and he plunged neck-deep into crisis. The property was attached by the court,” says Sornarajan T. Victoria, the book’s author.

The shooting began, with MGR acting in a few scenes, but the film could not be completed. “During the intermission of the film Thattungal Thirakkapadum, it was announced that Maadi Veettu Yezhai would be released soon. But it never saw the light of the day,” says Mr. Sornarajan.

Chandrababu acted in 76 movies and his rise in the film industry was achieved through versatility. “He comprised in him the talents of the singing and dancing comedian Danny Kaye, the facial features of Jerry Louis and the body language of Bob Hope,” describes Mr Sornarajan.

Born Joseph Panimayadasan Rodriguez to freedom fighter J.P. Rodriguez in Tuticorin, it is still a mystery how he assumed the name Chandrababu, though people used to address him Babu.

His father, a friend of freedom fighter V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, was running a magazine ‘Sudhanthira Veeran’ at Mannadi in Chennai and was exiled to Sri Lanka for his campaign against British rule. Writer Jayakanthan has said it was Chandrababu who first addressed him as J.K.

There is an apocryphal story that on the night of his marriage, he allowed his wife to join her lover after she disclosed her love for another man. “There is no basis for the story. They lived together for six months and spent their honeymoon in Bangalore. But when he realised that she would be happy with her lover, he agreed for separation,” says Mr. Sornarajan.

He was known for his abundant generosity and the lines of the song Thannalam Maranthaal Perum Perinbam‘ sums up his character. It was Sivaji Ganesan who bore the cost of his funeral expenses. “Kingmaker Kamaraj, a family friend of Chandrababu, broke down even as he tried to console his father Rodriguez,” according to Mr. Sornarajan. He was laid to rest at the Quibble Island graveyard in Chennai

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books / by B. Kolappan / Chennai – January 17th, 2015