''Server Sundaram'' is a 1964 Indian
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
-language
comedy drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...
film directed by
Krishnan–Panju
R. Krishnan (1909–1997) and S. Panju (1915–1984), collectively referred to as Krishnan–Panju, were Indian film directors. The duo directed more than 50 films in South Indian languages and in Hindi.
Early life
R. Krishnan was born on 18 ...
and produced by
A. V. Meiyappan. The film stars
Nagesh
Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor, mostly remembered for his roles as a comedian in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 fil ...
as the title character.
Muthuraman and
K. R. Vijaya
Deivanayaki better known by her stage name K. R. Vijaya is an Indian actress who has featured in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films. She started her career in 1963 and has been acting for more than five decades in South Indian cinema. ...
play the other lead roles while
Major Sundarrajan,
S. N. Lakshmi
Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...
and
Manorama play supporting roles. It focuses on a hotel waiter who strives to reach greater heights after he becomes an actor to attain the love of his restaurateur's daughter.
The film was adapted from a 1963 play of the same name written by
K. Balachander
Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...
, with the play also featuring Nagesh himself in the title role along with Sundarrajan and Lakshmi who reprised their roles in the film. Balachander also wrote the screenplay for the film.
Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy
Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's '' Panam'' to 1965's '' Aayirathil Oruvan''. After their split, Ramamoorthy wo ...
composed the film's
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
and
background music
Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...
, while
Kannadasan
Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...
,
Vaali and V. Seetharaman wrote the lyrics for the soundtrack's songs.
''Server Sundaram'' was released on 11 December 1964. It received critical acclaim, with praise directed mainly at Nagesh's performance and Balachander's screenplay. The film went on to become a commercial success, with a theatrical run of over 100 days. At the
12th National Film Awards, it won the
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil
The Indian Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several aw ...
under the Certificate of Merit category, and the
Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil
The Filmfare Best Film Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil (Kollywood) films.
Winners
Nominations 1970s
*1972 - '' Pattikada Pattanama''
*1973 - '' Bharatha Vilas''
*1974 - ''Dikkat ...
.
''Server Sundaram'' earned Nagesh and Balachander their breakthrough in Tamil cinema and led to many successful collaborations between the two. It became the first Tamil film to show numerous
behind-the-scenes looks at various processes involved in film-making such as the studio interiors and
song recording. The film was remade into
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
as ''
Main Sunder Hoon
''Main Sunder Hoon'' () is a 1971 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by R. Krishnan and Nazir Hussain. The film stars Mehmood and Leena Chandavarkar. It is a remake of the 1964 Tamil film '' Server Sundaram''.
Plot
Sunder works in a ho ...
'' (1971) and
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
as ''
Server Somanna
''Server Somanna'' is a 1993 Indian Kannada-language film directed by K. Vasu.The film is an official remake of the 1964 Tamil film ''Server Sundaram''. This film stars Jaggesh and Abhijeeth along with actress Rambha making her debut in actin ...
'' (1993).
Plot
Sundaram, a poor man, comes to
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
with aspirations of becoming a film actor. However, he ends up getting a job as a hotel waiter. While catering for a group of people who were going on an excursion to
Mahabalipuram
Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is o ...
, he meets Radha, the daughter of his restaurateur, Chakravarthy and misinterprets her friendly nature as love and falls in love with her. In the meantime, Sundaram happens to meet his friend Raghavan, an influential businessman, in the restaurant. During their subsequent meetings, Sundaram tells Raghavan about his ambition to become an actor as well as his love for Radha, without mentioning her name. Raghavan genuinely believes that the girl reciprocates Sundaram's feelings and motivates Sundaram to express his love.
When Raghavan is about to leave his house for a marriage proposal, Sundaram comes there and describes the girl he was talking about to Raghavan. Raghavan realises that Radha, whom he intends to marry, is the same girl Sundaram is in love with. Raghavan, believing that Radha loves Sundaram, decides to help Sundaram attain his love and get a chance to act in films, which he does successfully.
Sundaram becomes a
star
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
after his debut film becomes a success and believes that his stardom and popularity will help him in attaining his love. When Radha comes to Sundaram's house to congratulate him, he introduces her to Raghavan, who had come to visit Sundaram. As Sundaram goes to prepare snacks for the two, Radha asks Raghavan why he did not show up for the marriage proposal. Raghavan states that he thought Radha loved Sundaram. Shocked, Radha tells Raghavan that she likes Sundaram for his innocence, although she does not love him. Raghavan is pleasantly surprised, but to ensure that Sundaram's film career does not suffer from discovering the truth, he asks Radha to keep it a secret.
Sundaram's mother is pleased with her son's popularity but misses his presence due to Sundaram's busy acting career. She expresses to Sundaram her desire that she should die in his arms. When Raghavan believes that Sundaram will gradually forget Radha so that he and Radha can get married, he discovers that Sundaram's love for Radha is stronger. Raghavan then informs Radha that she should marry Sundaram, as Raghavan does not want to backstab his friend. Radha instead decides to personally express her feelings to Sundaram. When Sundaram expresses his love to Radha, she tells him that she never imagined that he would assume her friendly affection towards him as love and that Raghavan is her fiancé. Sundaram, shattered on losing his love, is also happy on hearing that Raghavan would marry her and congratulates Raghavan.
While Sundaram is busy shooting for the climax scene of a film, his mother falls down the footsteps of her home and is badly wounded. Sundaram's manager tries to convey the news to Sundaram, but is blocked by the studio authorities who inform him that the director has instructed them not to allow anyone inside. After finishing his shot, Sundaram hears of the news about his mother and rushes home, only to learn that she has died. He regrets being an actor.
Later at Raghavan and Radha's marriage ceremony, Sundaram changes to his old uniform, that of a hotel waiter. When Raghavan orders Sundaram to remove the guise, Sundaram tells him that only the actor's role was a guise, and he has never felt the peace of mind he had as a waiter elsewhere.
Cast
;Male cast
*
Nagesh
Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor, mostly remembered for his roles as a comedian in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 fil ...
as Sundaram
*
Muthuraman as Raghavan
*
Major Sundarrajan as Chakravarthy
;Female cast
*
K. R. Vijaya
Deivanayaki better known by her stage name K. R. Vijaya is an Indian actress who has featured in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films. She started her career in 1963 and has been acting for more than five decades in South Indian cinema. ...
as Radha
*
S. N. Lakshmi
Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...
as Sundaram's mother
*
Manorama as Kantha
S. V. Ranga Rao guest stars as a film director.
Singer
T. M. Soundararajan
Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan (24 March 1923 – 25 May 2013), popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 fi ...
, composer
M. S. Viswanathan and guitarist S. Phillips make uncredited appearances in the song "Avalukenna".
Goundamani
Subramaniyan Karuppaiya (born 25 May 1939), known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Tamil cinema. He is known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. The pair dominated t ...
appears uncredited as a car driver.
Production
Development
In 1958,
K. Balachander
Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...
, then a playwright, established a theatre troupe named Ragini Recreations. Comedian
Nagesh
Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor, mostly remembered for his roles as a comedian in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 fil ...
asked Balachander to give him a role in his plays, and Balachander assured him that he would write one featuring Nagesh as the main character, which became ''Server Sundaram''.
The play, a
comedy drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...
, was first staged in 1963.
Balachander stated that he wrote the story of ''Server Sundaram'' for Nagesh after watching his dramatic performance in the film ''
Naanum Oru Penn
''Naanum Oru Penn'' () is a 1963 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar. The film stars S. S. Rajendran and R. Vijayakumari, with S. V. Ranga Rao, M. R. Radha, S. V. Subbaiah, C. K. Nagesh, Rajan and C. S. Pus ...
'' (1963). He recalled in 2009 that when he wrote ''Server Sundaram'' with Nagesh in mind, he suffered anxious moments: "I was convinced of the story, but there was a risk in promoting Nagesh, but I pulled it off".
A. V. Meiyappan, the founder of
AVM Productions
AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappan. It is the final oldest survived studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, M ...
, desired to produce the play as a film, but before he could, the director duo
Krishnan–Panju
R. Krishnan (1909–1997) and S. Panju (1915–1984), collectively referred to as Krishnan–Panju, were Indian film directors. The duo directed more than 50 films in South Indian languages and in Hindi.
Early life
R. Krishnan was born on 18 ...
(R. Krishnan and S. Panju), after watching the play once, went on stage and announced that they would direct its film adaptation, and paid Balachander an advance. Nevertheless, the play's namesake film adaptation was produced by Guhan Films, a subsidiary of AVM.
Balachander was recruited as the film's screenwriter, and initially had a keen interest in directing it himself.
He said the script was "tailored" for Nagesh, contrary to AVM's general practice of choosing actors for already completed scripts.
Casting and filming
Nagesh, who starred as the title character in the play, reprised his role in the film along with
Major Sundarrajan and
S. N. Lakshmi
Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...
. Sundarrajan played the restaurateur and the female lead's father, and Lakshmi played Sundaram's mother. After watching the play, Krishnan–Panju said, "If this play is ever made into a film, then Sundarrajan must play the father's role". Meiyappan accepted the inclusion of Nagesh in the film after watching his performance in the play.
Nagesh, who in turn was impressed with Lakshmi's performance in the play, asked Balachander to have Meiyappan include her in the film.
K. R. Vijaya
Deivanayaki better known by her stage name K. R. Vijaya is an Indian actress who has featured in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films. She started her career in 1963 and has been acting for more than five decades in South Indian cinema. ...
was cast as Sundaram's love interest Radha, and
Muthuraman as his friend Raghavan, reprising the roles played by Shobha and Raja on stage.
Goundamani
Subramaniyan Karuppaiya (born 25 May 1939), known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Tamil cinema. He is known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. The pair dominated t ...
, who later became a successful comedian in Tamil cinema, made his acting debut with this film in an uncredited, non-speaking role.
''Server Sundaram'' was the first Tamil film to show numerous
behind-the-scenes looks at the various processes involved in filmmaking such as the studio interiors,
song recording, horse riding scenes and rain scenes.
It was also notable for not featuring an antagonist.
In one sequence,
Manorama is seen as an actress performing a scene for a film directed by
S. V. Ranga Rao's character, using the concept of a
film-within-a-film
A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes c ...
.
Cinematography was handled by
S. Maruti Rao
Shelkey Maruti Rao (25 April 1921–2000) was an Indian cinematographer who worked mainly in Tamil cinema, Tamil films.
Career
Cinematography
Rao was born in Thanjavur on 25 April 1921. He became interested in photography as a student. He ...
, and Panju edited the film under the pseudonym "Panjabi", with R. Vittal as co-editor. ''Server Sundaram'' was publicised with a still of Nagesh holding many cups and saucers, but the film initially had no such scene. After Meiyappan finished watching the final cut, upon his request it was added to the film. The final length of the film was .
Themes
According to historian
S. Theodore Baskaran, the film shows a "persistent theme in Tamil cinema", that of the bond between mother and son. He also compared it to ''
City Lights'' (1931) because in both films, a poor man "pin
for the attention of the woman he fancies". Writing for ''The New Indian Express'', Sharada Narayanan considered ''Server Sundaram'' to be a biography of Nagesh's own life, a view also shared by ''
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia.
It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...
'' Gautaman Bhaskaran. Theodore Baskaran, Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen, and critic
Baradwaj Rangan
Baradwaj Rangan is an Indian film critic, writer, and formerly the deputy editor of ''The Hindu''. He later became a senior editor of Film Companion. Rangan won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2006. Before joining ''The Hindu' ...
noted similarities between Nagesh and
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
.
According to film journalist T. M. Ramachandran, the film tries to convey the message that when a man achieves popularity, the price he has to pay is rather unimaginably high and that peace and happiness are things which could be easily achieved by the humblest and poorest rather than by one in a state of material prosperity.
Writing for ''
Daily News Sri Lanka'', S. Jegathiswaran noted that in ''Server'' ''Sundaram'', Nagesh showed that "after having gained the social status one shouldn't forget one's past." TT Srinath wrote for ''The Hindu'' that the film tells viewers to "distance the problem or challenge and see it from afar, thus helping us recognise that what we are experiencing is perhaps not as daunting as we tend to believe."
Music
The film's soundtrack was composed by
Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy
Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's '' Panam'' to 1965's '' Aayirathil Oruvan''. After their split, Ramamoorthy wo ...
(a duo consisting of
M. S. Viswanathan and
T. K. Ramamoorthy), with lyrics written by
Kannadasan
Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...
,
Vaali, and V. Seetharaman.
Philips, an
autodidact guitarist, performed the guitar portions for "Avalukkenna". The music troupe for the song consisted of Noel Grant (
drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
s), Mangalamurthy (
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
), Nanjappa (
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
), Fobes (
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
), Henry Daniel and Joseph Krishna. Violinist T. Samuel Joseph, popularly known as
Shyam Shyam is a name of Krishna and an Indian masculine given name and surname. Notable people with this name include:
;Shyam
*Shyam (actor), Indian Hindi film actor
*Shyam (composer), an Indian music composer from Kerala
* Shyam Benegal, Indian film di ...
, also took part in the recording of the song. Balan, a member of the troupe, claimed in 2015 that Viswanathan came up with the tune for "Avalukenna" in ten minutes, while Anand Venkateswaran of ''
The Wire
''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...
'' believes that Viswanathan set the song to tune in 15 minutes, and it took T. M. Soundararajan the rest of the day to record it. According to Gopal Krishnan, in his book, ''Chords & Raaga'', "Avalukkenna" involved a "complicated arrangement of
mambo
Mambo most often refers to:
* Mambo (music), a Cuban musical form
*Mambo (dance), a dance corresponding to mambo music
Mambo may also refer to:
Music
* Mambo section, a section in arrangements of some types of Afro-Caribbean music, particul ...
and
bossa nova
Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...
." Sadan, a mimicry artiste in Viswanathan's troupe, lent his voice as a parrot for the song "Thattai Nenjam".
The soundtrack received positive reviews, with "Avalukkenna" being particularly well received. M. N. Bhaskaran of ''
Hindu Tamil Thisai'' appreciated the clarinet interludes in the song. Baradwaj Rangan, writing for ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'', said, "Listen to the lazy drawl with which certain words taper off in 'Avalukkenna,' an antidote to the
rock 'n' roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
bounce in the rest of the song." Live versions of "Avalukenna" have been performed by various Indian singers including
Karthik,
Haricharan
Haricharan Seshadri, known mononymously as Haricharan (born 20 March 1987), is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, playback singer, and musician who predominantly works in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu music and cinema. He sung 2000 songs in films, albu ...
,
Shweta Mohan
Shweta Mohan (born 19 November 1985) is an Indian playback singer. She has received four Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer, one Kerala State Film Award and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award. She has recorded more than 700
so ...
and
Rahul Nambiar
Rahul Nambiar is an Indian playback singer and live performer. An MBA and M.Com-graduate, he won the Swapthaswarangal show in 2001 and began singing live. He sung more than 2000 songs in movies,He later ventured into playback singing, performin ...
.
Release
''Server Sundaram'' was released on 11 December 1964, delayed from October. The film became a commercial success and completed a theatrical run of 100 days. It was also dubbed in Telugu under the same title. ''Server Sundaram'' was remade in Hindi as ''
Main Sunder Hoon
''Main Sunder Hoon'' () is a 1971 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by R. Krishnan and Nazir Hussain. The film stars Mehmood and Leena Chandavarkar. It is a remake of the 1964 Tamil film '' Server Sundaram''.
Plot
Sunder works in a ho ...
'' (1971), and in Kannada as ''
Server Somanna
''Server Somanna'' is a 1993 Indian Kannada-language film directed by K. Vasu.The film is an official remake of the 1964 Tamil film ''Server Sundaram''. This film stars Jaggesh and Abhijeeth along with actress Rambha making her debut in actin ...
'' (1993).
On 18 April 2010, the film was screened at the
South Indian Film Chamber Theatre for the Dignity Film Festival held in Chennai; other films also screened included ''
Madhumati
''Madhumati'' is a 1958 Indian Hindi-language paranormal romance film directed and produced by Bimal Roy, and written by Ritwik Ghatak and Rajinder Singh Bedi. The film stars Vyjayanthimala and Dilip Kumar in lead roles, with Pran and John ...
'' (1958), ''
Kadhalikka Neramillai
''Kadhalikka Neramillai'' () is a 1964 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film produced and directed by C. V. Sridhar, who also conceived and co-wrote its script with Chitralaya Gopu. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Balaia ...
'' (1964), ''
Anbe Vaa
''Anbe Vaa'' () is a 1966 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar. The film stars M. G. Ramachandran and B. Saroja Devi, with S. A. Ashokan, Nagesh, T. R. Ramachandran, P. D. Sambandam, Manora ...
'' (1966) and ''
Thillana Mohanambal
''Thillana Mohanambal'' () is a 1968 Indian Tamil-language musical drama film written, directed and produced by A. P. Nagarajan. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, Padmini and T. S. Balaiah, with A. V. M. Rajan, Nagesh and Manorama in supporting r ...
'' (1968).
Reception
The film received critical acclaim.
Positive comments were directed mainly at Nagesh's performance as Sundaram and Balachander's screenplay.
The Tamil magazine ''
Ananda Vikatan
''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India.
History and profile
''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...
'', in its original review of the film dated 20 December 1964, mentioned that the highlight of the film was Nagesh's acting and the film gave the experience of conversing and enjoying with friends in a car journey without living much impact. Writing for ''
Sport and Pastime
''Sport and Pastime'' was a weekly sports magazine published by The Hindu Group from 1947 to 1968. Founded by S. K. Gurunathan, the magazine was eventually stopped in 1968. It was replaced with ''Sportstar
''Sportstar'' is an Indian monthly ...
'' on 9 January 1965, T. M. Ramachandran wrote that filmgoers who had persistently been watching films featuring "top stars in action, singing a duet or doing a romantic scene", would find ''Server Sundaram'' a welcome change, given that a comedian was playing the hero. He considered the story "very thin", but added, "The directors deserve to be congratulated on their ingenuity in presenting such scenes and in creating a sustaining interest in the whole film, especially to those moviegoers who have not witnessed the play." He lauded the performances of Nagesh, Vijaya, Muthuraman and Sundararajan, but criticised the music by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy.
''
Kalki
Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...
'' said no one could have performed the title role better than Nagesh, but felt Vijaya was wasted.
Accolades
Legacy
''Server Sundaram'' attained
cult status
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
in Tamil cinema, and is considered by many critics to be Nagesh's breakthrough role as an actor and Balachander's first success in Tamil cinema.
Actor
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
compared his 2015 film ''
Uttama Villain
''Uttama Villain'' () is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Ramesh Aravind and written by Kamal Haasan. The film was presented by N. Lingusamy in association with Kamal Haasan and produced by S. Chandrahasan for Raaj Ka ...
'' (which also starred Balachander) to ''Server Sundaram'', finding it to be "both emotional and humorous" like the latter. The success of ''Server Sundaram'' led to many collaborations between Nagesh and Balachander, such as ''
Neerkumizhi'' (1965), ''
Major Chandrakanth'' (1966), ''
Edhir Neechal'' (1968) and ''
Apoorva Raagangal
''Apoorva Raagangal'' (; ) is a 1975 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by K. Balachander. It stars Kamal Haasan, Sundarrajan, Srividya and Jayasudha, while Nagesh and Rajinikanth, in his feature film debut, ...
'' (1975).
Film historian
Mohan Raman
Mohan Raman, also known as Mohan V. Ram (born 3 April 1956), is an Indian actor and writer. In 2017 and 2019, he was a Jury member for the National Film Award for Best Writing on Cinema. Raman is a film historian and writes for ''The Hindu''. He ...
noted that by casting Nagesh in ''Server Sundaram'', Balachander "made the comedian a serious actor."
The film also became noted for introducing the anti-hero to Tamil cinema as well as the style of delivering short and fast-paced dialogues. In 2014, Pradeep Madhavan of ''The Hindu Tamil'' called it a trendsetter in Tamil cinema for showcasing scenes involved in filmmaking.
A dialogue spoken by Sundaram, "Long, long ago... so long ago, nobody can say how long ago" became popular. Balachander mentions the dialogue in ''Uttama Villain'' as a build-up to the film his character directs.
Tamil Canadian
Tamil Canadians, or Canadian Tamils, are Canadians of Tamil ethno-linguistic origin. Much of Canada's Tamil diaspora from India and Sri Lanka then majority consist of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who sought to flee the ethnic tensions during the ...
journalist D. B. S. Jeyaraj stated that the film gave Nagesh "another dimension as an actor who could evoke tears from the audience through his emotional performance" and that ''Server Sundaram'' was one film in which he "provided stellar displays of his histrionic talents".
Actor
Appukutty
Sivabalan, better known as Appukutty, is an Indian actor and comedian, who mainly appears in Tamil films. He became recognized following his performance in ''Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu''. His role as Azhagarsami in ''Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai'' was prai ...
worked in several hotels and restaurants as a cleaner and server before making his debut as the lead actor with ''
Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai'' (2011) which won him the
National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor
The National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Supporting Actor (), is an honour presented annually at India's National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), an ...
; Kumar Chellappan of ''
Daily News and Analysis
Publications established in 2005
Newspapers published in Mumbai
English-language newspapers published in India
Daily newspapers published in India
Essel Group
2005 establishments in Maharashtra ...
'' compared this to the plot of ''Server Sundaram''. Following Nagesh's death in 2009,
Sify
Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology company providing end-to-end ICT solutions including telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation in ...
ranked ''Server Sundaram'' fourth in its list, "10 Best Films of late Nagesh", commenting, "A hotel waiter becomes a superstar and the transformation is shown brilliantly by the actor." Sri Lankan historian
Sachi Sri Kantha
Sachithanantham Sri Kantha (born 8 May 1953) is a Sri Lanka-born scientist, historian and bilingual author. He has been residing in Japan since 1986, and became a naturalised Japanese citizen in 2016.
Education
A native of Point Pedro, Sri ...
included ''Server Sundaram'' in his list compiling "the ten landmark Tamil movies, spanning all genres, which delighted the multitude of fans immensely". The sequence where Sundaram balances several vessels in one hand, referred to by Gautaman Bhaskaran as the "dumara-tumbler" sequence, attained popularity,
as did the scene where Sundaram's mother realises that he is not a hotel manager but a waiter. On the scene where Sundaram auditions in front of the film producers introduced to him by Raghavan, Baradwaj Rangan, writing for ''
The New Indian Express
''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naid ...
'', said, "Audiences that grew up with Nagesh will cotton on to the slyness of this apparently ungrateful gesture as the most identifiably Nagesh-like among everything that's transpired during these five minutes of ''Server Sundaram''".
Director
Radha Mohan
Radha Mohan is an Indian film director of the South Indian film industry. He is known for his work in the films '' Mozhi'' (2007), ''Abhiyum Naanum'' (2008), '' Payanam'' (2011) and ''Kaatrin Mozhi'' (2018).
Career
Radha Mohan began work on ...
expressed a desire to remake the film but decided against it: "If there is one film I want to remake,
'Server Sundaram''will be the one, but I know I will not, because I believe classics should be left alone." A restaurant named "Hotel Server Sundaram" is located in the
Thuraipakkam
Thoraipakkam (Tamil: துரைப்பாக்கம்) also spelt Thuraipakkam, also known as Okkiyam Thuraipakkam or Oggiyamduraipakkam, is an area of Chennai, India. It is one of the stops on what is called as the IT expressway, on Ol ...
area of Chennai. Clips from ''Server Sundaram'' were screened along with clips from other films such as ''
Iru Kodugal
''Iru Kodugal'' () is a 1969 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Gemini Ganesan, Sowcar Janaki, Jayanthi, Nagesh, V. S. Raghavan, S. N. Lakshmi and others. The story revolves around one man who was mar ...
'' (1969), ''
Arangetram'' (1973), ''
Aval Oru Thodar Kathai
''Aval Oru Thodar Kathai'' () is a 1974 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by K. Balachander. The story revolves around a working middle-class woman, who sacrifices her desires to support her large family. The lead role was played by S ...
'' (1974), ''
Avargal
''Avargal'' () is a 1977 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Sujatha, Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth and Ravikumar. A triangular love story, it revolves around a woman who is caught be ...
'' (1977) and ''
Azhagan
''Azhakan'' () () is a 1991 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by K. Balachander and produced by Kovai Chezhiyan. It stars Mammootty, in lead role with an ensemble supporting cast. The film, released on 25 August 1991, was critically ...
'' (1991) at a function held in Balachander's honour at
Tiruchirappalli
Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...
in January 2015, a month after his death. Actor
Vikram, who became popularly known by the moniker "Chiyaan" after the release of ''
Sethu'' in 1999, stated in August 2016, "After Nagesh sir
n ''Server Sundaram''becomes something else, he still holds his server uniform close to his heart as a memento. Chiyaan is something like that to me."
References
Bibliography
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External links
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{{NationalFilmAwardBestFeatureFilmTamil
1960s Tamil-language films
1964 comedy-drama films
1964 films
AVM Productions films
Films about actors
Films about filmmaking
Films directed by Krishnan–Panju
Films scored by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy
Films set in hotels
Films with screenplays by K. Balachander
Indian comedy-drama films
Indian films based on plays
Tamil films remade in other languages
Tragicomedy films