Unforgettable screen mother

It was not a cakewalk for veteran actress Santhakumari in showville. M.L.NARASIMHAM traces the career of the octogenarian.

SHE WAS the perfect screen mother everyone would love. Warm, affectionate and soft spoken. Even in real life, her `screen sons' like Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Muthuraman, A. Nageswara Rao and Jaggiah, to name a few, address her as `mummy', and her husband veteran director P. Pulliah as `daddy'.

Such was the persona of veteran actress-singer P. Santhakumari. The Andhra Pradesh Government has chosen her for the Raghupathi Venkiah Award for 1999, for her rich contribution to Telugu cinema for nearly five decades. Santhakumari has acted in about 250 movies which include over sixty in Tamil. Incidentally, her husband was the first recipient of this coveted award way back in 1981. Born in a well-to-do family as Subbamma, in Cuddapah district, Santhakumari's father Srinivasa Rao, an ardent lover of fine arts, enrolled her with Prof. Sambamurthy for Carnatic vocal and violin classes at Madras. D. K. Pattamal was her co-music student here.

At 13, Subbamma passed Carnatic vocal and violin with a first class. By 15, she was performing kutcheris all over the South and was also a music teacher at the Vidyodaya School. At one of the kutcheris, producer-director P. V. Das met her and offered her Sasirekha's role in ``Maya Bazaar'' (1936). The film was a big hit.

But it was not a cakewalk for her in showville. ``My grandmother strongly objected to my joining films. P. V. Das and his make-up artiste Mangiah convinced my granny. Finally, she saw me dressed as Sasirekha and permitted me to act. P. V. Das felt that Subbamma was an old fashioned name, mind you, in 1936. So he changed my name to Santhakumari''.

``Maya Bazaar'' was remade by K. V. Reddy for Vijaya Productions. The new singing sensation's next movie was ``Sarangadhara'' where she played a negative role, Chitrangi, with equal elan. The film was directed by P. Pulliah.

Santhakumari was 17 and she had found her man. ``I was attracted by his goodness. I thought if I married him, I could continue acting'', smiles the octogenarian actress.

That was in 1937. With marital bliss, films too followed, mostly mythologicals - ``Rukmini Kalyanam'', ``Parvathi Kalyanam'', ``Bhaktha Jayadeva'', ``Markandeya'' and ``Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam''. Later, her first social film ``Dharmapatni'', was produced in which, A. Nageswara Rao made his first screen appearance in a student's role.

Santhakumari's foray into Tamil films came with ``Bhakta Jana'', produced and directed by her husband, with B. Narasimha Rao under the banner of Ragini Pictures. Honappa Bhagavathar played the male lead opposite her. The film and Santhakumari's songs became so popular that P. Pulliah later remade almost all his Telugu productions in Tamil. ``Tirugubatu'' as ``Veettukkari'' and the bilingual ``Dharmadevatha'' come under this genre. But the most successful film for Ragini Pictures was ``Ardhangi'' based on the popular Bengali Novel, ``Swayamsidha''.

Santhakumari by then had graduated to character roles. She played stepmother to A. Nageswara Rao and Jaggiah, and to Sivaji Ganesan and Gemini Ganesan in the Tamil version, ``Pennin Perumai'', which was also a big hit.

Santhakumari's foray into Hindi films came through ``Bhagwan Balaji'', the dubbed version of the 1960 edition of ``Venkateswara Mahatyam'', produced and directed by P. Pulliah with N. T. Rama Rao and Savithri in the lead. Santhakumari rendered ``Nandagopala'' and ``Ennallani Kannulu Kayaga Eduruchuthura Gopala'' in the Hindi version too.

Padmasri Pictures' memorable movies with Nageswara Rao in the lead include ``Sirisampadalu'' which won the President's Award, ``Pranamithrulu'', ``Muralikrishna'', ``Koduku Kodalu'' and ``Preminchi Choodu'', the remake of ``Kathalikka Neramillai'' (Tamil). ``I played the grandmother in ``Talla Pellama'', produced and directed by N. T. Rama Rao''.

``Krishna Prema'', ``Rechukka'', ``Ardhangi'', ``Jayabheri'' and ``Premnagar'' are some of the movies that won her accolades in Telugu. In Tamil, she was appreciated in ``Bhaktha Jana'', ``Pennin Perumai'', ``Manampola Mangalyam'', ``Sivandha Mann'', ``Nenjil Oor Alayam'' and ``Vasantha Maligai''.

She says she played the heroine opposite Nageswara Rao in ``Mayalokam'', and was his sister-in-law in ``Jayabheri'' and his stepmother in ``Ardhangi''. An actor or actress should accept any challenging role, opines the veteran actress.

According to veteran musicologist V. A. K. Ranga Rao, ``At 75, five years ago, she was teaching her ardent fan Lalithakumari dance to songs from the films, ``Krishna Prema'' and ``Gunasundari Katha''. Mind you, the disciple was 60 then''. He says Santhakumari has her own inimitable style of singing.

Her memorable numbers include - ``Mohananga Rara'' and ``Evaroyi Evaroyi'' (Mayalokam), ``Ooduma Krishna'' and ``Ide Anandamu'' (Krishna Prema), ``Kalakala aa Kokilemo'' and ``Chakkani Doralele Chandamama'' (Gunasundari Katha), ``Gopala Nanda Gopala'' and ``Ennallani Kannulu Kayaga'' (Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam), ``Manasu Telisina O Nanna'' (Talla Pellama) in Telugu, and in Tamil, her songs from ``Bhaktha Jana'', ``Matsyarekha'', ``Piriavidai'' (remake of Talla Pellama by L. V. Prasad) are some of her best.

As an actress, she had done a good job as a stepmother in ``Premnagar'' and as a shrew in ``Sankranthi''.

After quitting films, she took to writing and composing devotional songs which have been sung by Balamuralikrishna.

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