Nambiar, a villain with a divine personality
The on-screen bad guy was a spiritual mentor of impeccable credentials in real life. Remembering M.N. Nambiar in his centenary year
Villain on screen, hero off it — that was M.N. Nambiar, who acted in 1,000 films, and a Hollywood film too. Nambiar was guruswamy to hundreds of Ayyappa devotees, including those from the film industry — Amitabh Bachchan, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, M.S. Viswanathan, Kannada actor Rajkumar, director Sridhar and his brother Rajendran, Nagesh, Srikanth, Thengai Srinivasan, V.K. Ramaswamy, Rajinikanth and a host of others.
Both his film career and spiritual journey took off because of Nawab Rajamanickam Pillai. Nambiar, who lost his father at the age of eight, went to live with his sister in Ooty, where he saw Nawab’s troupe doing a Surya Namaskaram. Drawn by this, Nambiar joined the troupe and was cast as a comedian in ‘Bhakta Ramadas,’ the play that had earned for Rajamanickam Pillai the title of ‘Nawab.’
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The on-screen bad guy was a spiritual mentor of impeccable credentials in real life. Remembering M.N. Nambiar in his centenary year
Villain on screen, hero off it — that was M.N. Nambiar, who acted in 1,000 films, and a Hollywood film too. Nambiar was guruswamy to hundreds of Ayyappa devotees, including those from the film industry — Amitabh Bachchan, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, M.S. Viswanathan, Kannada actor Rajkumar, director Sridhar and his brother Rajendran, Nagesh, Srikanth, Thengai Srinivasan, V.K. Ramaswamy, Rajinikanth and a host of others.
Both his film career and spiritual journey took off because of Nawab Rajamanickam Pillai. Nambiar, who lost his father at the age of eight, went to live with his sister in Ooty, where he saw Nawab’s troupe doing a Surya Namaskaram. Drawn by this, Nambiar joined the troupe and was cast as a comedian in ‘Bhakta Ramadas,’ the play that had earned for Rajamanickam Pillai the title of ‘Nawab.’
Read more at:
Nambiar, a villain with a divine personality
The on-screen bad guy was a spiritual mentor of impeccable credentials in real life. Remembering M.N. Nambiar in his centenary year