From Rajinikanth to Kamal Haasan, uncommon pictures from movie units take over Chennai park

A younger Rajinikanth clad in a white vest, is midway via an expressive rebuke — maybe some expletives are additionally concerned. Behind him, is a towering Kamal Hassan mid-smoke, the eerie consternation on his face befitting a ruthless serial killer. Rising from between Parattaiyan in 16 Vayadhinile and Dileep from Sigappu Rojakkal, are a few girls hand in hand, on their every day night stroll on the sparsely populated Thiruvanmiyur MRTS park. This scene, as weird as it’s pretty, is a telling cross-section of the town and cinema capital that’s Chennai.

At the moment, it’s not solely joggers, little skaters, and the odd overworked IT worker that make up thepark. Stolen moments from the golden age of Tamil cinema, exactly 50 of them from 1977 to 1982, by veteran nonetheless photographer T Lakshmikanthan span this public area, a lot to the delight of unsuspecting passers-by. Titled Maasaru Kaatchiyavarku — this unseen archive of Lakshmikanthan is one in all Chennai Photograph Biennale’s foremost exhibits in its third section.

Painstakingly dug up from 180-films price of negatives, the curation by translator Nirmal Rajagopalan, was admittedly a mammoth job performed over a restricted time frame.

Lakshmikanthan is 83 now and his eyesight is waning. This show makes up for under one-third of the gathering of negatives that he has preserved over time. Over name from his Chennai residence, he speaks of a time when ‘Sivaji (Ganesan) anna’ would fondly confer with him as Lakshmi, or when he travelled throughout western Europe with Rajinikanth, and knew Kamal Haasan as a prankster and a younger boy desperate to don many roles in a movie set.

“Cinema was like that —everybody was a good friend!” says Lakshmikanthan. Nirmal provides, “This was a time when technicians and artists have been on an excellent keel. There have been plenty of friendships and relationships that got here out of a movie set.”

Whilst a 14-year-old, Lakshmikanthan’s life was intrinsically linked to cinema, a lot in order that he frequented movie units with teams of younger junior artists from Kodambakkam, in pursuit of the odd probability to be a part of this seemingly distant world. After beginning out as an assistant photographer within the late 60s, it was the 1970 movie Sangamam, starring Gemini Ganesan and KR Vijaya, that earned him the identify as an impartial nonetheless photographer. His massive break was in 1973 when he shot for Gauravam, a double-action film starring Sivaji Ganesan. The now well-known shot of Sivaji wearing royal regalia, holding a golden orb, as King George, was shot by Lakshmikanthan. This iconic picture went on to grow to be a life-size cut-out in entrance of Shanthi Theatre on Mount Street on the time, marking a big level in Lakshmikanthan’s profession.

Quickly sufficient, the photographer was deemed a grasp of ‘motion photographs’. “It was Sivaji anna who most well-liked motion or candid photographs greater than posed pictures. After 1975, I began clicking solely when the actors have been in between motion. It simply sat nicely with me.” The frames on show at the moment, as an example, catch actors of their most expressive portrayal of the character.

He continues, “Again within the day, working with every film was a distinct expertise. In the event that they wished dawn photographs, I’d be there at 4am, and generally we shot via the evening. Whether it is was a Bharathiraja movie, attending to sleep for even a few hours was uncommon,” he recollects with a chuckle.

At the moment he’s in possession of the negatives of pictures taken on each single movie set he has ever labored on —proper from 1970 to 2023, his final movie, Appatha starring Urvasi. Gathering and preserving negatives was a behavior he picked up whereas working at picture studios early on in his journey with images.  

Guests on the exhibition
| Photograph Credit score:
Thamodharan B

Again within the park, whereas some pictures are larger-than-life and telling of the period they belong to, others are smaller, laid throughout a narration that hinges on coincidental connections. The 50 photographs which can be on show are erected in clusters. Be it the central set up of the doe-eyed heroines from the Nineteen Eighties —from Revathi to Madhavi and Sridevi, or the amusing stand off between comedy stars like Goundamani or Thengai Srinivasan, or frames capturing contrasting scenes from socially related movies like Alaigal Oivadhillai (1981).

Within the curation, Nirmal has additionally juxtaposed the images with verses from the Thirukkural, inviting the viewers to look past what the {photograph} merely exhibits. Says Nirmal, “Every of the photographs are in clusters for a deliberate purpose. I’ve paired every of them with a particular kural —as an example, a group of main women’ portraits shot on set, is paired with a kural the place Thiruvalluvar waxes eloquently on magnificence. A set of eight photographs the place every actor is portraying a distinct emotion —from inquisitiveness, sorrow or shyness —is paired with a kural that talks about how no matter runs in a single’s mind manifests on one’s face simply.”

One of many pictures on show
| Photograph Credit score:
Gowri S

Numerous pictures within the archive have been shot on analogue.

“Every of those photographs will set off a distinct sort of reminiscence to somebody who has watched these movies. All these motion pictures are color, however the photographs we’re seeing are black and white. I hope individuals who stroll in right here recognize the nostalgia and likewise the added layers,” concludes Nirmal.

The present is a part of Chennai Photograph Biennale and shall be on until March 16 from 7am to 6pm.