Actor, artiste and artist par excellence – the versatility of S Rajam

The painting of the Carnatic composer trio of Carnatic music, Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri, adorns every Sabha and Carnatic music lover’s home today. Very few know the story of the one who painted the mummoorthis (the trinity) that has come to become ubiquitous. Even less remember that the artist S Rajam was one of the earliest heroes of Tamil talkies, playing Rama and Krishna in the early days of Tamil cinema.

Decades down the line, Rajam is known for being a distinguished Carnatic musician and painter, and for combining the two loves of his life. He was paid Rs 200 for the most famous painting.

Rajam made his Tamil film debut in the 1934 film Seetha Kalyanam, in which his sister was the heroine. The movie was produced by the ace director V Shantaram, who made a Tamil film just to recoup the losses he suffered in a film that he made previously. Rajam, then a handsome teenager, played Rama, breaking the Shivadhanush (Shiva’s bow) in the court of King Janaka. That his father acted as Janaka and his sister as Sita did cause some consternations in the orthodox Brahmin community then.

Incidentally, the three films that had him as hero were all about marriages in mythology - Sita Kalyanam, Rukmini Kalyanam and Radha Kalyanam. It is rumoured that his wife objected to his film career, and he dropped it. Rajam was born to advocate and music connoisseur V Sundaram Iyer. He lived on Nadu Street in an atmosphere suffused with art. In the upstairs hall of their two-storeyed house, musicians would come to practise and exchange ideas for the upcoming music concerts. Sundaram Iyer got them to do impromptu concert format practise so that the children would be benefited. Rajam grew up surrounded by music offered by many of the premier professional artistes of the day. Sundaram Iyer made it a point that many artistes come home so that the musicians can feel free to practise for the upcoming concerts. Composer ‘Papanasam’ Sivan actually moved in as a resident guru for Rajam and his sister Jayalakshmi. Rajam’s brother was the veena maestro S Balachandar.

As a school boy, he loved painting and even made his own paint with colour powders until a friendly army man gifted him his first paint box. A film star and upcoming musician, he chose to join the School of Art and Craft in Egmore. His vivid colour choices and inspired brushstrokes made characters come alive on painting. He called his unique style of water colours as “water colour wash”.

Western art was the main curriculum in the school but an English poet whom Rajam met in Tiruvannamalai converted him to the beauties of Indian art and encouraged him to look around. He travelled extensively to ancient temples laden with sculptures from long-forgotten dynasties – Ajanta and Ellora, and even the world famous Sigiriya in Ceylon.

As he travelled for about eight years, he was amazed at the work of Indian craftsmen. Humbled by the skills of those ancient and unknown artists whose works mesmerised him during a visit to Ajanta, Rajam laid down his easel and brushes for a few months. Thereafter, experts noted a distinct bias towards the Ajanta style in his paintings.

Once when Saavi magazine asked him to change the style for their Deepavali special, he refused.

His drawings are a rare blend of traditional style, but with his unique touch. He brought the forms of Vaggeyakaras of Carnatic music, epic characters from Puranas, and gods and goddesses to life through his drawings. Besides painting, music was Rajam’s other love. He was such a music lover that he performed a kutchery at his own wedding in Salem.

One of the three inaugural concerts organised in connection with the establishment of the All India Radio, Madras, in June 1938, was by Rajam, along with Govindasami Naicker on violin and ‘Madras’ A Kannan on mridangam. The same team performed a concert on AIR’s golden jubilee celebrations 50 years later. Later, as a music supervisor at AIR, he nurtured talents and spread the reach of Carnatic music during a crucial stage of its development. Unfortunately for him, Rajam bloomed at a time when Carnatic music was producing new singers by the dozen. He was overshadowed by the abundance of vocal talent during his career. However, his knowledge of the technical aspects of Carnatic music made Rajam a sought-after resource at the academic sessions of the Madras Music Academy, where he was a member of the expert committee, and at innumerable lecture demonstrations. Rajam was a very practical man. Once when he sang Amritavarshini, there was an unusual thunderstorm. Many people who witnessed it were amazed at the effect of the rain-making raga. But he said, “I have sung it a dozen times. This was the only time the clouds opened up.” He was a simple man, too. One could see him well past his sixties on the streets of old Mylapore, clad in a lungi riding a moped amid the traffic.