JUNE 15- Popular actor-director Manivannan, who struck a chord with Tamil film audiences over the past two decades as a comedian who excelled in political satire, passed away at his residence in a Chennai suburb on Saturday following a cardiac arrest. He is survived by his wife, son and daughter.
Prior to making his mark as an actor, Manivannan was also a highly successful director in the 1980s until the mid-1990s, straddling different genres in Tamil cinema. He started his career as an assistant to veteran director Bharathiraja, writing the story and dialogues for landmark Tamil films as “Nizhalgal” and “Alaigal Oiyvathillai”.
After he made his directorial debut in “Gopurangal Saivathillai” in 1982, he continued to write his own stories, and went on to become one of the few multi-faceted personalities in the Tamil film industry, who successfully transitioned to becoming a full-fledged character actor.
And much like the film sets of his ‘guru’ Bharathiraja becoming the training grounds for successive generations of film makers, Manivannan’s assistants too went to make a mark in Tamil film industry – a list that includes Vikraman, R.K. Selvamani, Sundar. C and Seeman.
Political satirist
Though as a director he made movies in different genres — from romance to thrillers to drama — he is best remembered in recent years as an actor who brought political satire into the many roles he played. In several interviews, he cited legendary actor M.R. Radha as his inspiration for political satire. He however, noted in a recent interview that he was not even scratching the surface of what M.R. Radha had achieved.
He is best remembered for his roles as the side-kick politician in ‘Amaidhipadai’, the tongue-in-cheek assistant to the Chief Minister in “Mudhalvan” and the bumbling landlord in “Avvai Shanmugi.”
Off screen, Mannivannan is known for his firebrand speeches in political forums and even openly challenging the views of the industry leaders — including his own ‘guru’ Bharathiraja, with whom he had a blow-hot-blow-cold relationship. He was also an ardent supporter of the Tamil Eelam cause, and openly supported the LTTE.
His closest association was with fellow Coimbatore actor Sathiyaraj, who acted in his last film “Amaidhi Padai 2,” which was also his 50th directorial venture.
Manivannan was known to be a voracious reader and was never far away from a wisecrack even in a casual conversation. He epitomised what is colloquially known in Tamil as ‘nakkal’ (lampooning).
