In
fact, in my entire career as a film journalist, I never came across a lady like
Devika, the mother of actress Kanaka. (Remember Kanaka in Karakattakkaran and Malayalam film Godfather ? ). It also
surprises me that nobody is even asking the question about where Kanaka is now?.
The actress whose Tami debut film `Karakattakkaran’ created
box office history by running for a full one year and her Malayalam film
`Godfather’ ( remember theater actor N N Pillai in it ?) ran for 404 days.
Coming back to Devika. I went to her house to interview her daughter Kanaka.
Devika has acted as heroine opposite S S Rajendran , MGR, Sivaji Ganesan and
Gemini Ganesah. She had memorable roles in Sridhar directed films. The younger
lot can watch her in the song Sonnadhu Nee Thaana in Nenjil Oru Aalayam.
So, I was introduced to Devika by Filmnews
Anandan as Screen correspondent. Devika said that though she acted with Stars
like Rajendra Kumar, Kishore Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar in Hindi, it was the
Bombay heroines like Nargis, Sadhana and Asha Parekh who got the write-up in
Screen. She acknowledged that that her South outings were well covered. Now to
correct the historical imbalance done by my predecessors decades back in
Screen, I was commanded to do an
elaborate interview of her. So it was
that I interview the mother to get her daughter to talk.
It started with her grandfather being the first
to produce a Telugu film and how an uncle of her as Mayor of Madras changed the
face of the city. She spoke about the standing ovation she got from likes of
Rajendra Kumar and the heroines got jealous, her undying love for Tamil cinema
and director Sridhar kept her away from Bombay. In between, her hubby Devadas
came in to listen. After the interview was published ( it came in nostalgia column)
I was given the opportunity to interview Kanaka. The girl started off saying
something but to be interrupted by Devika. It turned out to be a Kanaka
interview as told by Devika. I said that a photo shoot was needed and Devika
agreed.
After that, I and Devika became friends. Her
house was in R A Puram, I think. It had
Telugu speaking workers and a bossy Devika shouting at them. The last I saw
Kanaka was at locales of Narasimham, the Mohanlal film that was a blockbuster
hit. She had several hits in Malayalam including Vietnam Colony and quite a few
opposite Prabhu in Tamil. Soon after Karakattakkaran , the same
pair came together in Thangamana Rasa ( which did fairly well). However, they
never came together again. One reason said was that Devika asked heavy amount
to act opposite Ramarajan ( hero of Karakattakkaran )
One day I came across Devika. I told her that
Kanaka has easily merged wth Kerala industry and she is considered a lucky
mascot. This was her reply –“Malayalam directors do not have the expertise to
utlise an actress dates. A big production manager came and said that they need
20 days call sheet. They want a week gap between. I told them to bring the
director and I will them him how to manage without disruption.” So what happened,
I asked. They did not come back, she said. I was told that the film was
`Akashdhoothu’. Murali was a very busy actor and hence a slight gap in dates
was needed. Madhavi did the role and got Kerala State Award for second best
actress. Also the best actress award from FilmFare. The director who did not go
to learn how to utilze dates of actors was Sibi Malayil.
Some say that she got hitched to a cameraman in
Hyderabad. Another person claims that she is in Chennai and manages her real
estate holdings.
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