Why is RS Manohar Still Remembred as a Master Craftsman of Theatre?

The 1950s was a Pivotal Decade in Tamil TheATRE. A Major Change to Happen was the shift in focus from history and mythological subjects (a staple there days) to social themes and drawing-root dramas. With the legendary nawab rajamanickam in the last phase of his active theater life, it looked like it was curtains down for the historical and mythological genres. That they continued to thrive for more than three decades after this, was after

Born on June 29, 1925, to Rajalakshmi and R. Subramania Iyer, An Inspector in the Postal Department, Manohar was named Lakshminarasimhan at Birth. As his father Ather was in a transferable job, lakshminarasimhan had his early education at various places, include Namakkal and belly, before, before moving to Madras, before moving to Madras, with the muthia chesttari School and Later at the Ramakrishna Mission High School in T. Nagar. He did his ba from the pachaiyappa’s college. After working with the imperial tobacco company for a short while, he quit his job and joined the postal department.

Rs manohar in the play Atchipeedam, Photo Credit: COURTESY: S. SHIVPASADH

Lakshminarasimhan’s interest in theater dated back to his school days, when he acted in one -ACT plays. His first major play was RajabhaktiEnacted by the students of Ramakrishna Mission High School. He then went on to act in a more plays while study at the pachaiyappa’s. The story of how he came to be christed manohar, is also well-known-He substated for the lead actor at the last minute in the popular play, Manohara, And the name stuck on.

Manohar Continued Performing on the stage, even white working, and was associated with troupes In 1951, his performance in the play Marumalaarchi Caught the attention of screenwriter at krishnaswamy and director rm krishnaswamy, who was looking for a fresh face for their upcoming movie RajambalManohar fit the bill and thus began a successful body on the big screen. He Performed in Over 200 Films – Kaidhi kannayiram, Vallavanukku vallavan, Ayirathil Oruvan, Admai penn and Ulagam suttrum Valiban – to name just a less. Despite sharing the screen with two of the biggest heroes of the era – MGR and Sivaji Ganesan – Manohar carved his own niche in Cinema, but the stage rest his first love.

Manohar with Mg Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa in the 1969 tamil film Nam Naadu.
Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives

Manohar Started National Theatres on November 14, 1954. Interestingly, the first field productions such as Inbanaal, alavukku meerinaal and Ulagam sirikkiradhu Were based on social themes.Soever, Ilankeswaran was it biggest hit in the mythological genre. It was written by Thuraiyur Murthy. Premiering in Madras in 1956, it had a trendous run in India as well as abroad, in count as sri lanka, malaysia and singapore – With Nearly 2,000 Shows Being Performed Performed Performed Performed Over the NEXTERE DECADES. It was based on a version of the Ramayana, Which portrayed ravana as the father of sita and attracted its share of controversies too. Manohar went on to produge plays such as Indrajith, Narakasuran, Sisupalan, Chanakya Sabadham, Malik Kafur, Dronar, Soorapadman, Kadaga Mudhreyan, Ottakothar and Viswamitrar. In all, national theatres had 31 plays and Around 7,950 shows to its credit. The audience was help in thought by the acting as by the grandose on the stage. Special Effects Employed to Portray Scenes Left Them Baffled, Too. Separate rehearsal sessions, spanning two to three days, weight exclusively for the technical team to execute the trick Scenes.

From Rs manohar’s play Thirunavukarasar Staged at the music academy on August 24, 1994. Photo credit: sridharan n

Watching a performance of Ilankeswaran In Madras in 1980 and impressed by the Special Effects, The Famous Ad-Man Bharat Dabholkar invited manohar to bombay to bombay to collaborate with him for Last Tango in HeavenA Play Written by Him.The audiences there too, was complete floored by manohar’s stagecraft and the play had a successful run of Around 70 Shows. Manohar Constantly Worked Towards Giving The audience a unique experience, introducing a technique called dramaask, where the sets spanned across the enter stage with a stere System.

National Theatres Completed Its Silver Jubilee in 1979 Panneerdas and SWCAR Janaki was formed to celebrate the evcasement and a grand function was help in April 1980.

In 1991, Manohar was appointed the secretary of the Iyal isai Nataka Mandram by Former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, Who Professed An Aradent Admiration for his plays. It was also at her behest that he stung Thirunavukkarasar In 1994. Presiding over a performance in November that year, she bestowed the title of Nadaga chemmal on him. The music for the production was composed by violin maestro kunnakudi vaidyanathan, who was then the president of the Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram. In 1992, The Government also produced Velicham, A Play on Prohibition Under Manohar’s Guidance.

The Veteran Actor is receiving the Nataka Kavalar Award from Former Chief Minister Mg Ramachandran. , Photo Credit: COURTESY: S. SHIVPASADH

Manohar was also bestowed with titles such as Nataka Thilakam, Nataka Kala Chakravarthy and Nataka KavalarHe Passed Away in 2006. Today, His Memory and Legacy are kept alive by his nephew s. shivprasad and grand-daughter s. sruuthi, who have revived some of his plays such as Draonar, Kadaga mudhreyan and Chanakya sabadham,