Hi,

This article is written as an attempt to remember the great artist Janakaraj from a fans perspective.

In the recent few weeks, I happened to see some of the timeless classics of Tamil cinema and was fascinated by an actor who was present in many of them and more importantly, he played varying characters in most of them. Janakaraj is the actor I am referring to and his antics on screen cannot be forgotten by many, as he his relived by many a mimicry artist to the date. A special mention must go to his dialogue delivery and body language when he appears in a comic role, he comes across as someone who could carry through any character with ease and seldom seen using unhealthy language in his movies. 

I started off with Nayagan and his role was quite sweet to say the least and it goes without saying that his performance was only second to the great man KamalHaasan. I then moved onto watch a light hearted movie and hence decided to watch Nethiyadi and teaming up with Pandiarajan, his performance was subtle and hilarious. I could go on with the list, but what made me sit up and notice was his ability to transform into any mode at ease and go on full swing with the mood of the character. Films like Sindhu Bairavi, Nizhalgal, Baasha, Roja, Kizhaku Vaasal are all examples where he has portrayed roles which never hogged the limelight in the context of the movie, but they cannot be restricted to comic tracks alone. My knowledge of cinema is not vast, but whatever I have seen of him, I truly feel he had a whole generation happy with his stellar performances. His impact is underlined by the dialogues mouthed by him which are echoing even today by budding actors/mimicry artists, for their uniqueness with which he delivers them.

It was also noticeable that he was almost a regular in Mani Ratnam's movies along with another legend VK Ramasamy. Janakaraj has been seen in his best when he paired up with our Super Star and the movie list is almost unending. Tamil Cinema I feel, is truly blessed with great comedians from the early days and many of whom will never be forgotten. Janakaraj is one such actor who cannot be copied and he never tried to imitate anyone during his heydays. He was almost always second to theGoundamani/Senthil combo and was a part of a great era of comedians. This great actor has sadly been forgotten and we hardly get to see actors like him who could do variety of roles with command. I do not know if we will get to see him again on screen and I only wish him good health and peace.