UAA and Y. Gee. Mahendra
In 1952, Y.G. Parthasarathy (YGP) and N. Padmanabhan founded United Amateur Artistes (UAA), branching off from Suguna Vilasa Sabha. Y. Gee. Mahendra, son of YGP, says, “It was chaste, literary Tamil in theatres then. To reach the common man, they wanted to create plays in normal spoken Tamil, with an occasional English word thrown in.” Padmanabhan was the writer and YGP the director. As UAA gets set to enter its 70th year, Mahendra, at UAA’s helm since 1975, is celebrating his own 60th year in theatre, 51st in movies and 46th in Television.
A version of this article appeared in The Hindu newspaper dated November 12, 2021. All photographs courtesy Sri. Y. Gee. Mahendra.
Several now renowned individuals obtained their starts in UAA. Cho Ramaswamy, Mouli and Visu began at UAA, subsequently branching off on their own. Former Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha was in two UAA plays, Under Secretary (1964) paired with Cho, and Malathi the Menace (1966). “Her mother wanted her to get trained in theatre before introducing her to the movies,” says 72-year-old Mahendra. Some of UAA’s plays subsequently became hit movies featuring stars like Sivaji Ganesan. Pen Paduththum Paadu (1954) featuring Sandhya, Jayalalitha’s mother, became the 1963 movie Arivaali. Vietnam Veedu Sundaram’s Kannan Vandaan (1968) became the 1973 movie Gauravam.
1961’s Petralthan Pillaiah (which became the 1963 movie Paar Magale Paar) signalled Mahendra’s entry as a professional theatre actor and he has been part of every UAA play since. He mentions the excellent writers UAA has had through its long innings – Padmanabhan, ‘Vietnam Veedu’ Sundaram, Mouli, ‘Vennira Adai’ Murthy, PVY Raman, Venkat, ‘Chitralaya’ Sriram and many more.
A. R. Srinivasan (ARS) joined YGP in 1962 when Padmanabhan left. “ARS brought in a lot of young talent including Mouli and Visu.” ARS’ other discovery, Suppini (T.M. Subramanian), has been a fixture at UAA since joining 48 years ago. Mahendra adds, “My ‘God of Acting’, Sivaji Ganesan Sir, who watched all our plays until his death, would unfailingly ask if Suppini was in each one.”
UAA’s Valibam Thirumbinal was the first Tamil drama to air on the inaugural day of Doordarshan Madras on August 15th, 1975. Mahendra’s first movie was Navagraham by K. Balachandar in 1970. He has since acted in more than 250 films including 33 with Sivaji Ganesan. He has also acted in over 15 TV serials, producing and directing some as well. “While there might be some who have straddled theatre, film and television, I don’t know anyone else who has done so as continuously as I have, without any interruptions,” he remarks.
Premiering at Narada Gana Sabha tomorrow (and on Sunday, followed by shows in many other venues – tickets on Bookmyshow.com) UAA’s latest play, Charukesi, is inspired by the late Crazy Mohan. Mahendra explains that Mohan had envisioned a powerful script enlaced with humour, with Mahendra in mind, but passed away before writing it. “Balaji (Mohan’s brother), Venkat and I brainstormed and Venkat completed the script in barely ten days. It is about a star Carnatic singer who gets Alzheimer’s.” The title music is by Rajhesh Vaidhya with background score by ‘Hindu’ Bala. Mahendra says he is conversant in music being a trained percussionist who played with Ilaiyaraaja and co. in his earlier days.
Mahendra states, “UAA is the most travelled Tamil theatrical troupe.” Besides 15 trips to the USA alone since 1989, the troupe has visited Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, many Gulf countries, UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Kenya, Canada and Thailand. UAA has a Chicago branch now, Triveni Arts, which supplies the actors for North American shows for all but the lead roles. “My goal is to put Tamil dramas wherever there is a Tamil diaspora,” concludes Y. Gee. Mahendra.
Too many credits to Mr.Y.G.Mahindra rightly, and he highly deserves it. He has the best average as in the game of Cricket not many are capable of.
Tamils remember his father Mr.YGP, and UAA and they dont need any push or advertisement of any kind. YGM is always plain speaking, and will not hide anything. His ‘take it easy policy ‘probably is keeping him young in look and thoughts. His UAA has not only gave drama stage many writers and actors, but also some of their Dramas made as Cinemas subsequently. It is always difficult to keep the members of the group within UAA umbrella for over 5 decades, and UAA remained as well knit family is laudable indeed, and how can we forget Mr.Suppini as his comedy dialogues and body language are always exemplary. YGM is among very few artists like Kamalhassan whose actions !! were watched with interest by Chevalier Dr.Sivaji Ganesan continually. In the Tamil film “Parichaikku Neramaatchu”, YGM left viewers in doubt as to who acted well Sivaji Sir or YGM. Ofcourse it was Sivaji Sir, fitting perfectly the role of a orthodox Iyengar. It is always a priceless gift for Tamil drama stage as UAA has identified and made Messrs. Visu, Mouli and others as Stalwarts in multiple fields of fine arts. YGM not only handles successfully the artists , but also some of the percussion instruments to his comfort. I wish to thank sincerely Mrs.Lakshmi Anand here for highlighting the contributions of YGP, YGM and UAA at a time the Curtains were down on Sabhas, and also in staging dramas as Social Media has encroached Sabhas role, and OTT for Cinema theatres.
Thank you for reading and sharing your own insights, Sir. I am sure Mr. Y. Gee. Mahendra will also appreciate your support and appreciative comments.
I have always favoured theatre over the movies, probably due to my stint in drama during my school days, and it’s so heartening to read about the UAA that is still going strong. Kudos to Mr YGM for continuing to stage such dramas and keeping his passion alive.
I recently had the pleasure of watching ‘Idhu Nyayama, Sir’ and thoroughly enjoyed it. Mr YGM and Mr Suppini’s banter and punch lines were hilarious and dialogues relating to the scenario in the state today were spot on! Hope to see many more such troupes bring us good theatre.
Thank you for reading and sharing your comments, Dr. Aruna. There is a palpable energy in theatre undoubtedly.
Very much honoured and at the same time humbled. Thank you… But I still have ” Miles To Go Before I sleep”
Thank you for reading and responding, Sir.