CHENNAI: This is the centenary year of MGR — a great man whose contribution to politics and society is remembered till today. But before that , he was a great entertainer and his roots were music, dance and drama,” shares Subhasree Thanikachalam, veteran TV director, producer and script writer, who will be staging a live retro show — a tribute to the late actor-politician MG Ramachandran, as part of Bharat Sangeet Utsav.
Subhasree began her career in 1990 as an entertainment manager and later went on to become the brain behind famous music shows like Swapthaswarangal and Aboorva Raagangal. Walking down the memory lane, she recalls, “I had the courage to pursue a dream, despite wanting to be a doctor. I knew my heart was somewhere else,” she shares. In 2000, she began her company Maximum Media (Maximum International INC). “It has been over two decades since I entered the media industry. After I started my own organisation, I began focusing on ground events apart from TV,” she shares.
With an instinctive understanding of what the audience wants, she showcases concepts that are aesthetic and creative. “I focus on a lot of shows both here and abroad. But, retro shows have been my prime focus,” she says. Why? “I don’t want the current generation to forget where we got these treasures from. So, I do shows with young artistes who present old songs, making sure that these old gems don’t die,” she opines.
Rueing that shows on radio and TV hardly play old songs except at night, she wants to bridge the gap between the old and new. “I do contemporary shows too, but focus on retro and classical has been more,” she points out.
She gushes over the charisma of MGR and reveals that she is one among the millions of devoted fans. “He was possibly the only artiste to have given so many hits. His songs are considered both revolutionary, youthful and extremely meaningful. And moreover, for people like me, who grew up listening to his songs, it’s extremely relatable. We learnt about him from these songs and I chose this stage to celebrate his centenary,” she explains, talking about the Iyal Isai Natakam.
The show will feature an array of 18 of MGR’s popular songs, which will be performed by artistes like Saindhavi Prakash, Santhosh Subramaniam, Hari Ravi and Krithika Shurajith. “The show will be presented in a different way — there will be dance, music and drama, and will be on the lines of a Broadway musical. There will be influences of both light music and classical,” she explains.
She points to G Ramanathan as her ‘any time, any day’ music composer and says that he opened her eyes to all forms of music. “He gave me the light to all forms of music, through film music. But, the list of other musicians I admire is big. People only know the popular composers like Viswanathan Ramamurthy and so on. But, there were other small-time music directors too,” she says.
Ask her how young musicians react, when put in a retro arena and she shares: “I can’t give an open statement saying everyone likes it. Some artistes don’t and I don’t approach them. But, there are artistes like Saindhavi and Santhosh Subramaniam, who are dedicated and open to learning.”
Subhasree will also be doing an exclusive tour in the US with her show Paatum Bharathamum in February-March 2018. “It will be a collaboration of singer and dancers from here with Indian-American dancers from the US. We will yet again be presenting retro songs and dance styles on stage,” she adds.
The MGR Tribute will be staged today at Narada Gana Sabha from 7 pm onwards.
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