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Is the real Sundar C still around?
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Recently,
Superstar’s Arunachalam was telecast on
TV and it was watched with interest by diehard
Superstar fans as if they were watching it for
the first time. The magic of Superstar holds sway
like no other. But, this is not about the evergreen
Superstar charisma. That is when it struck me
that the director of this super hit flick was
Sundar C. By the way, he had also appeared in
a small cameo in the movie.
The moment Sundar C’s name is mentioned
these days, everyone tends to conjure up the image
of an actor who stars in unabashedly commercial
flicks. He has given the impression of trying
to be a mass hero who always serves up one kind
of entertainment. This seems to have overridden
the image of a successful director that we had
in our minds not till too far back. The fact is
that there was once a time in Tamil cinema when
Sundar C could have perhaps walked in a top 10
list of directors in the industry. Now, many would
think of that of as an overstatement. But, think
of this. How many directors in the industry have
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worked
with Superstar, Kamal Haasan and Ajith? Very few; in
fact the number could be less than five. K.S. Ravikumar
is the first name that will strike everyone’s
mind. Sundar C is also one among them. It is with Kamal
that he created perhaps the most lasting impression
of his career; Anbe Sivam.
A small note on Anbe Sivam: I think
that this movie is the single most quoted one in articles
relating to Tamil cinema in the last decade. Everyone
has something or the other great to tell about the movie.
And, even now, nearly 8 years after its release, we
are yet to get fed up of expounding its positives. That
proves that the movie is definitely in the league of
evergreen, all time classics. Talking about Anbe Sivam
with so much interest is both happy as well as sad.
Happy, because we have witnessed a product that is worth
so many years of discussion. Sad, because the eight
years between Anbe Sivam and today have failed to produce
one movie that can replace it in such discussions.
Getting back to Sundar C. We know that he directed Anbe
Sivam. Even if not many people are ready to credit him
with being the helmsman of this movie, the fact remains
that he was the director. And, besides Anbe Sivam and
Arunachalam, Sundar C was a director of 25 other films,
many of which created good impressions at the box office.
One can clearly remember associating Sundar C’s
name with hilarious comedy. It was his signature and
he almost always delivered the goods in his films.
In fact, his comedy was the kind that could be enjoyed
by all classes of audiences. Hits like Ullathai Allitha
are testimony to his ability to handle comedy as a director.
The biggest proof however lies in Winner; containing
perhaps the most watched comedy scenes of the decade.
There is almost no single day when the sequencees of
comedy scenes featuring Kaipulla are not telecast on
TV. It is almost like a staple diet. The comedy scenes
of Winner have already climbed to the status of evergreen
moments in Kollywood; one supposes.
The good thing about Sundar C was that he directed movies
that could be enjoyed by families. Yes, there was the
occasional dose of glamour and violence. But, they basically
remained clean entertainers. And, there is no denying
the fact that even he has had duds at the box office;
every director has that. But, there was never any doubt
over his potential.
But, since 2006, we have been searching for Sundar C,
the director. Not that he has gone into retirement;
he stepped in front of the camera. Not that one feels
that this man is unskilled or unfit to be a lead actor.
But, he seems to be underutilizing his abilities by
subjecting himself to some below par stuff. As an actor,
Sundar C has not been associated with producing clean
entertainers that can be seen by families. Almost inevitably,
all his movies, barring his first few as actor, have
had oodles of glamour and are almost incomplete without
an item song. His latest release going by the name of
Guru Shishyan was perhaps the furthest one can go in
the name of commercialism.
It is not very heartening to see a man of proven potential
underselling himself; settling for stuff that does not
do any justice to his abilities whatsoever. Now, we
hear that he is set to direct a film again in which
he will also be starring. Perhaps, that will tell us
whether the skilled and popular director is still alive
within the ‘mass’ star that Sundar C is
now. Kollywood is more in need of Sundar C the director
who produces neat and clean family entertainers and
great comedy rather than Sundar C the actor who stars
in films that try to pull off anything in the name of
commercialism.
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