Crossing Kodambakkam Bridge -2

Crossing Kodambakkam Bridge -2
Radha and Bhagyaraj

Radha

The shooting was of the film Enga Chinna Rasa. The heroine was Radha, a native of Trivandrum. I had briefly freelanced for the current publication ( Screen) when  I was employed at Trivandrum. I had interviewed Ambika , elder sister of Radha then and got to know the mother who is said to be the guiding force. Ambika was introduced to Malayalam by Balchndra Menon ( called Bhagyaraj of Malayalam cinema as he also acts the lead and scripts, directs and even writes lyrics). In Tamil, Ambika was introduced by Bhagyaraj.

As the actor came out for a break, I went up to Radha and spoke to her in Malayalam. I told her about my interview with Ambika and she was mighty pleased. I told her that I would like to interview her and asked her to introduce me to  Bhagyaraj. She willing obliged and to my surprise Bhagyaraj was a down to earth  man. It was a time when Bhagyaraj was called the one man industry. It was also the time when his movies were getting remade in Hindi. So a bit of publicity in a Mumbai film magazine was good.

The so called secretive Bhagyaraj narrated the entire story. It was just like seeing a film. I asked him about the restriction on taking photos of him in song sequence. He had a different take on it. He said that the stills of the song sequences found it way to Sivakasi where it was printed as glossy posters and calendars and sold through street vendors. This came before the release of the film. As he could not plug the leak, he banned everybody other than the still photographer to take photos. He personally selected photos and gave them to the press and poster designers. The buzz then was that a freelance photographer who is also a relative of a movie moghul was the culprit. He came in a car and had a Hasselbad camera with lights etc and assistants. He represented a popular Tamil film magazine.

Bhagyaraj  had the knack to come out with subjects that had very strong woman characters. He was often slammed for his double meaning dialogues but yet it did not alienate him from the family audience. After nearly a decade of success in Tamil and Hindi, he took a beating at the Box Office with Vaetiya Madichu Kattu  in 1997. His production venture though few, were all hits but with Veatiya Madichu Kattu he burnt his fingers. The film was written with Kishan Kumar ( younger brother of Gulshan Kumar) in mind as a simaltenous release was planned. The Tamil version with Bhagyaraj and Nagma got released 1997 but the Hindi version got caught in some financial disputes. Like the Tamil version, the Hindi film Papa The Great sank.

For six years he kept off films and was seen in some Tv soaps and shows. 3In 2006, he came back to direct Chokka Thangam with Vijayakanth in the lead and Parijatham which was the launch vehicle of his daughter Sharanya and had Malayalam actor Prithviraj in lead. Both the movie had big producers like GV and  Oscar films. Both the movies bombed.. In the meanwhile he shifted to acting in supporting roles and continues to do  so. In 2010 , he again took to direction and production to launch his son Shanthanu. The film bombed.

He is the publisher and Editor of Bhagya Weekly. His answers to readers questions is very popular and so also his Editorial. I have seen on many occasions a staff of Bhagya coming to the locales (even outside Chennai) to get the answers and editorials. He has ten novels to his credit. A rare feat for an actor- director- producer.

Radha who was the heroine of the Bhagyaraj film and me struck a chord. I featured her often in my magazine. Her elder sister Ambika too was very friendly. Both of them acted with the top Superstars like Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan as well as other heroes. The Tamil filmdom revolved around 6-7 heroes as only their films had buyers. The choice of heroine was mostly done in concurrence with the hero then