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A Kennedy connection?
S. MUTHIAH
Ellis R. Dungan
Film historian Randor Guy was at his best as a raconteur the other evening – and, as usual, I learnt something new about a once well-known old name listening to Randor storytelling. On this occasion, his subject was his friend Ellis R. Dungan,
the American film director who made several Tamil film classics in the 1930s and 40s. As the organisers, the now revived and active Indo-American Association, had made the common error of calling Dungan ‘Duncan’ in their invitation, it provided Randor the opportunity to dwell on the name.
When Randor had once asked him, shouldn’t it have been Duncan, Dungan had replied “certainly not.” And he narrated that when John F Kennedy went to Ireland, he visited a village called Dungansville to stop at an old thatch-roofed cottage to pay homage to the Kennedy patriarch who had lived there and who had migrated to America during the potato famine. In fact, Dungan had added, there were several more ‘Dungan’ villages in Ireland, like Dungannon. Obviously it was an Irish variant of the Scottish ‘Duncan’.
Another language issue was Dungan not knowing Tamil at all, yet making some of the most successful Tamil movies of his time. Dungan had an instinctive feel for good cinema and what would have been said in a particular situation, so his uncanny feeling about what a shot should be, explained Randor. But, he added, having an Assistant Director like S.K. (Kasi) Sadasivam would have helped much. As did having every word written or spoken in the film translated for his benefit.
Dungan’s last film made in India was that 1950 hit Manthri Kumari, whose script firmly established Mu. Karunanidhi as “a star writer”. Dungan, however, missed the import of much of the Dravidian political innuendo, according to Randor, and when he heard about it later he was quite horrified that he had let it pass. So, obviously, translations did not always help; but that he nevertheless got splendid performances out of his actors was thanks to his sure-fire instinct for a situation.
When Dungan passed away in America a few years ago, he left behind a $25 million estate and an autobiography ready for release. But the squabbling over the estate made the publishers decide not to release the book. And so Randor Guy gets his chance to complete the Dungan story.
Pointing out that it was Dungan who made Tyagaraja Bhagavathar a star, Randor recounted how he was surprised to find in Philadelphia in 1997 a Tyagaraja Bhagavathar Film Society going strong. “Yet we have forgotten all about him.” It was also Dungan who first spotted MGR’s potential. Dungan’s first film in Madras was Sathi Leelavathi in 1936. It was also a first film for many who went on to become stars. One of them was M.G. Ramachandran. His performance, was, however, not rated highly by either the critics or film-makers. But Dungan was sure he would make it big and expressed his view to many a film-maker. Eventually, a decade later, he was proved right.
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