MKT — Numero uno of Tamil talkie that ran uninterrupted for three Deepavalis

MKT was the unquestioned numero uno of the Tamil talkie. His voice glided to high levels of pitch that his rivals dared not even attempt. But he knew very little less other than singing and hence all his talkies were musicals with several songs.

MKT had come from a humble background, a starving family of goldsmiths. And it was ironical he became the modern equivalent of an alchemist. All he touched turned to gold. But he never strained himself and did only a few films. Haridas was just his ninth film in 10 years.

Haridas was a typical Hindu fable; a story picked from Maha Bhakta Vijayam, a Marathi tale of a sinner-turned-saint with generous dollops of sensual scenes in the first half to explain the hero’s moral descent.

Complying with wartime restrictions, it was made at 10,994 feet, just six short of the mark. While other movies of that time pruned the number of songs to meet the wartime limit on the raw stock of film, Haridas did not. Mainly because MKT knew very little else to do on screen. Even the heroines had their fair share in this musical. Vasantha Kokilam, who was en route to becoming a real challenge to MS Subbulakshmi herself in the Carnatic field, played a shrewish wife. She even sang a song in her own voice on how she was determined to put her aged inlaws in the medieval-equivalent of an old-age home. Sensual Tr Rajakumari played the vamp and was perhaps the actress of the decade. Rajakumari’s flying kiss aimed at MKT was the highlight of the movie.

A young girl acting in a Kannada movie in the same studio was employed to play a young damsel chased by the lusty hero MKT. Though a very small scene in which she runs and runs, she was noticed and would go on to act in a 1,000 films. Notably, Pandari Bai was the heroine in the debuts of two superstars, Rajkumar in Kannada and Sivaji in Tamil. She would have a long-lasting career in which she played their mothers too in later films.

MKT had just become the Tamil cinema industry’s highest-paid star and was getting a lakh per film. Following the success of Haridas, he was immediately booked for as many as 12 films (One should remember he had done only nine till then and would do only 14 spread across a career 25 years). MKT even gave full front-page advertisements in newspapers with himself riding a white horse and all new films mentioned in stars. MKT usually did one picture at a time and this was a big move to cash in on his popularity at its peak.

Twenty days after the release of the movie, a man travelling in a rickshaw in Kilpauk was stabbed. So thoroughly had the assailants did the job that they had literally disembowelled him. But then the man Lakshmikanthan had too strong a mind and he stuffed back the entrails into his slit belly, walked to the police station and gave a complaint. He died the next day in the general hospital.

Rumours started flying across the town as Lakshmikanthan was a known blackmailer. He ran a newspaper which satisfied the curiosity of the people on the ways and whims of the rich and famous. Juicy stories on scandals initially with identities concealed (subtle to strong hints were given, however) filled the Indu Nesan paper.

Soon Lakshmikanthan became a megalomaniac. He started imagining he was the knight in the shining armour to cleanse society of its moral degradations. He mentioned the names of heroes, heroines, business magnates and even religious heads in his scandalous columns. In one of his stories, he mentioned MKT (along with his caste name of Achary, mentioning his goldsmith origins) had taken a second wife. MKT was used to doing saintly roles and this would have hurt his image among the cinema-going public. MKT did not offer hush money to counter the threat but went to the Governor and got Lakshmikanthan’s paper shut down.

Haridas was meanwhile creating waves. Youngsters were singing the ‘Manmadha Leelayai Vendrar Undo...’ (has anyone won in the games of cupid?) and the religious were singing ‘Krishna Mukunda Murare...’

MKT was arrested in November 1944 as a suspect in the Lakshmikanthan murder case. MKT’s misfortune was ironically the mainstay of the movies hit. It was rumoured he faced the gallows or life in prison. So the movie had a rush like never before. Haridas ran for three consecutive Deepavalis at the Sun Theatre in Broadway, Madras. Across the Presidency, it stuck to the projector with an uninterrupted theatrical run of 133 weeks.

The producers and exhibitors laughed all the way to the bank while it was reported that MKT tearfully heard the song from behind jail bars. All his dozen proposed movies were dropped. One could not hope to make a saintly movie a hit with a hero accused of murder. After a long legal struggle, MKT came out in the hope his fans had not forgotten his voice. There were rumours he had gone bald (his Bhagavathar crop was his brand earlier) and that his golden voice had shrivelled. MKT had to suffer the ignominy of pulling his hair to demonstrate it was genuine and also sing in press conferences. But nothing worked. He had to produce his own movies which bankrupted him as well. He died a sad and poor man.

— The author is a historian