CHENNAI: The renditions of Suprabatham, Kurai Ondrum Illai and Bajagovindam, can immediately make any music lover reminisce the face of M S Subbulakshmi, fondly known as M S. On the 100th birth anniversary of MS, artists, archivists, many stalwarts of the film industry and young musicians came together to pay homage to the legendary icon, at the visual presentation – ‘Tamil Icons and Tribute MS 100’. City Express caught up with artists from different walks who had gathered for M S amma.
“No combination of letters A to Z can completely describe the greatness of what Subbulakshmi was. She was truly remarkable and enthralled everyone. Schools in villages are named after her and why, even Tirumala Tirupathi installed a bronze statue of her!” claimed 80-year-old Sundararajan, an advocate who was associated with MS for years. “She was a very good family friend and I always listen to her songs,” he said picking up his smart phone and immediately swiping right to play the song Katriniley varum geetam.
The walls of Ambrosia Gallery, Mount road, were decked with 55 paintings that were works of eight different artists in different mediums. CE had a chat with a few who were available. A Jothi, the senior most artist who had contributed 13 paintings for the exhibition, said, “I am extremely fond of MS Amma’s music and I listen to it every time. I think her songs inspired me to draw her,” he smiled.
From water colour, pen and ink, pencil sketches, oil paintings, charcoal to even caricatures, the artists had displayed a plethora of art works depicting the life of the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award.
“As a child I had never seen her. But I grew up listening to her Suprabatham…and later, when I started working for this exhibition, I realised that she looked different in every dimension. I feel privileged to be a part of this,” explained Manavalan.
From art works of MS diligently designing a Kolam to her playing a Veena, and the classic image of her closing her eyes during the recital adorned the ‘wall of art’, solely dedicated to the ‘Nightingale of Carnatic Music’. The event, presented by M Venkatesan, a director and digital image archivist and curated by A Udhay Shankar, also had a display of an array of vintage images of Ellis R Dungan’s movies including that of Subbulakshmi’s Meera.
Venkatesh said that it’s high time we start archiving films. “Films are not private property; it should be archived for the use of the public in future. It reflects the technology we had and also our culture. Many of our old films are now inaccessible due to ignorance. Right now, I’m trying to archive as much as possible and, with the help of my team, I’ve archived around 6,000 images so far!”
Cinematographer B Kannan, Sethu Chockalingam, producer Dhananjayan, film theoretician Venkatesh Chakravarathy and filmmaker Arun Mozhi, were also part of the event. “The songs of MS are beyond a particular culture and religion. It’s universal and this homage is apt for her!” shared Venkatesh.
The exhibition is on until today at Ambrosia Gallery, Mount road.