Those were the days: Kothamangalam Subbu — A subdued genius who cherished filmdom

NOT getting beyond the 8th standard, Subbu was working as an accountant in a timber shop in Chettinad, but within him, a creative genius was getting stifled among logs of teak. He would gather the courage to throw away the job and find his way to Madras where he worked as an assistant to director K Subramaniam. He was also involved in radio, which was getting popular and Subbu’s vivid screenplays struck a chord with many listeners. Kalki, then with Ananda Vikadan, reviewed Subbu’s play but ended it with a jab, “that such a writer should be confined to the garbage dump of cinema breaks my heart.”

To Subbu, however, cinema seemed the brightest of options for the prolifically inventive intellect that he possessed. But just then, the studio he worked with, MPCC caught fire and burnt a hole in the management’s pocket. K Subramaniam had to sell the studio to SS Vasan who was already a publishing mogul. Vasan’s grandiose style of executing any project was well known and the market was agog with speculations.

Subbu approached Kalki to recommend him for involvement in his boss Vasan’s plan, but to his shock was informed that Kalki himself had just been fired. Cursing his luck, a weary Subbu walked back home. However, halfway, fate whispered in his ears and he turned in the direction of Vasan’s residence. Vasan had already learnt about Subbu’s resourcefulness and gave him a job proposition. (Subbu was astonished to know Vasan even had details of his last drawn salary and had offered 50 rupees more.)

However, Gemini was an ocean of talent and to scramble up the corporate ladder was arduous. But fate favours the creative too, and when a humour scene done by another writer in a Gemini film did not evoke any laughter from the boss, Subbu lay down on the office lawn and dreamt of an alternative scenario. Vasan was visibly awestruck and thereafter for two decades very little in Gemini scripts (even Hindi ones) were okayed without Subbu’s inputs. Soon Vasan realised that Subbu was the man who could bring to screen the flamboyant imagery that he dreamt of. Subbu would go on to direct, write scripts and songs for many Gemini movies. He would also act but chose mostly negative roles to portray.

Writer Ashokamitran, who worked in the studio, would say that the most important men in Gemini were the writers. It was very apparent when SS Vasan took them in tow for dinner at the famous Gemini canteen. And soon people knew who the number 2 in the studio was when it was Subbu who was often dropped at home late in the night with the boss at the wheel.

For the musical Nandanar movie, Subbu would pen songs on par with the legendary lyricist Papanasam Sivan. Ace marketeer Vasan would set a 10,000 rupee prize contest for the audience to choose the best three songs. The contest and the box office success made Subbu a household name.

Miss Malini, the only screenplay written by RK Narayan was directed by Subbu. In one of the songs that Subbu wrote, he would depict a mother dreaming of how her unborn baby should be — a son as brave as Gandhi, Netaji or Kattabomman. It’s challenging to imagine today, but Kattabomman was almost forgotten in history by then. Subbu’s song was the spark that set off a forest fire. Huge public interest was developed in Kattabomman and within a decade, he was termed the valiant of freedom fighters from the presidency.

Entrusted with bringing Avvaiyar on-screen, Subbu would spend several years to unearth ample material on the poetess (including the fact there were many Avvaiyars, and some may have been very young women). He would direct the most expensive scene in Tamil till then with several thousand junior artists and costing Rs 1.5 lakh just to create the sets. Kalki’s rave review of this film led to a rapprochement between Vasan and him, something which Subbu had indirectly achieved.

But what Padma Shri Kothamangalam Subbu is best remembered today is a novel he wrote under a pseudonym Kalaimani. Thillana Mohanambal was conceived as a serial by him to lift the sagging fortunes of Ananda Vikadan. So sure was Subbu that it would soon be filmed that he created a villainous character, Vaithi, which he hoped to play.

But then the studio culture was deteriorating and Vasan, no longer needing a story department, disbanded it. Subbu would spend the rest of his years writing novels, poetry and columns and performing Villupattu, a folk art form of musical storytelling.

A great devotee of the Mahatma, Subbu’s biography, Gandhi Mahaan Kathai, was down to earth. In fact, when Gandhi’s ashes were rendered into the Kaveri, Trichy radio station broadcast a live commentary by Subbu.

Vasan would sell the film rights of Thillana Mohanambal without informing Subbu. When comedian Nagesh was chosen for the Vaithi role which Subbu must have visualised himself playing, he was offended. When the film got the best storyline award, Subbu would collect, but many in the audience did not know the novelist on stage had stubbornly refused to see the movie in the theatres.