Farewell dear Aachi
Left to right, scene from movie 'Policekaran Magal', Manorama, and scene from movie "Onne Onnu Kanne Kannu"
She could make you laugh or cry at will. In her heyday she could sing and dance and was a scene stealer par excellence. With well over a thousand films to her credit, she was the toast of the Tamil film industry. And she could hold her own against a whole array of male comedians with whom she shared screen space for nearly six decades.
Manorama, also known as ‘Aachi’ (grandmother), in her latter days was one of a kind, a performer the like of which the industry had never seen. Her sad demise at the age of 78 when she appeared to have conquered another bout of ill health and seemed all set to resume her innings, has benumbed an industry which cannot even dream of a replacement for her.
From humble beginnings as a street artiste and later a stage performer, Manorama yearned for film roles for quite some time before she first got a break in ‘Malayita Mangai’ produced by poet laureate Kannadasan. On the advice of her seniors in the industry, Manorama took the momentous decision to switch to comedy and the rest, as they say, is history.
Although she did manage to land different roles on and off, it was as a comedienne that she stole a million hearts and carved out a unique niche for herself. Fortunately for her, the Tamil film industry during the last few decades has had exceptionally talented comedians such as Thangavelu, V. K. Ramaswamy, Nagesh, Cho,‘Thengai’ Srinivasan and Surulilajan and Manorama proved a perfect foil for all of them, as well as establishing a fine rapport with the Goundamani-Senthil pair.
There was a time when M. R. Radha, the ace villain, ruled the roost in Tamil cinema and the common refrain was that a film without Radha was ‘saada’ (ordinary). The same was true for Manorama and producers and directors vied with each other to cast her in their films. Both the matinee idols of yore – M. G. Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan - had a soft corner for her and never failed to acknowledge her talent.
Sivaji, with whom she worked in a number of films including hits like ‘Thillana Mohanambal’, was wary of her stealing his thunder and took extra care to polish his craft whenever he had to act alongside her.
Manorama never left anyone in doubt about her versatility and though she did multiple films and was at times saddled with routine roles, it was to her credit that she was never stereotyped nor was she ever repetitive.
Another factor that won her mass adulation was that she never believed in risqué comedy or double entendre and remained dignified in every role that she enacted right though her long career. Manorama had fans of both sexes and her popularity never waned at any point of time. It was only ill-health that forced her to stay away from the limelight, especially in the last stages of her career.
Apart from Tamil films, she also acted in films in all the south Indian languages and even in one solitary Hindi film with the king of comedy, Mehmood, titled ‘Kunwara Baap’. One of Manorama’s strong points was her felicity in speaking in several dialects and this enabled her to further consolidate her hold over the industry. The lady was a gifted singer as well and many of the numbers she rendered turned out to be chartbusters.
Throughout her career, though, her domestic life was in a shambles after a short lived marriage with a stage actor and the sadness of seeing that her only son, though a gifted actor, could not find his true calling in life. But she kept these scars carefully hidden because she had made it her sole mission in life to entertain audiences the world over. The tears being shed by millions of her fans is ample proof that ‘Aachi’ really ruled their hearts.