CHENNAI : If cricketer Anil Kumble was called the ‘Smiling Assassin’ in the way he cleaned up the top order batting might, Malathi Sampath earned a similar coinage in a different field where she did not have the luxury of a cricket ball for the telling blows.
A new play from the House of Gurukulam Original Boys Company ‘95 is good enough to warm the cockles of theatre buffs. Starved of family fare, the die-hard fans happily walked the extra mile even if the venue stretched the city limits. And they did not mind the additional yards, much like in the marathon race, if the female lead answered to the name of Malathi Sampath.
After the legacy passed hands from the evergreen Poornam Viswanathan, a few bankers joined hands to keep the show going in the most earnest ways. A family drama interspersed with meanings of substance and of the keepsake variety had the audience hooked to the proceedings.
A constant in all the plays — from the coinage of the new name till date — Malathi recalls the time when her experience in inter-bank competitions came in handy when the call came from Gurukulam. “Way back in the late 1980s, I started acting with Indian Bank’s cultural troupe, before I joined Gurukulam, founded by M Boovaragha Murthy in T Nagar, under the guidance of seasoned artiste Poornam Viswanathan,” she says.
Under this banner, Malathi bagged several awards like best actress, character and supporting artiste from sabhas like Karthik Fine Arts during their Kodai Nataka Vizha, Mylapore Academy, Chrompet Cultural Academy, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha and more.
Stage to screen
Malathi’s fruitful stint in theatre includes acting in plays and television serials of legendary director K Balachander. “I had the great opportunity to be directed by KB sir in the serial Shanti Nilayam, an experience which I will never forget,” she states. Another moment of reckoning for the stage delight was when KB gave her an unforgettable role in his last play Oru Koodai Pasam, where he played the role of her father. If that was the mother of all roles in her sojourn, Malathi considers herself blessed to come under the wings of ace directors like Cho Ramaswamy, Bombay Chanakya, Marina, TV Varadararajan, Bombay Kannan, Bagyam Ramaswamy, KS Nagarajan, KSN Sundar, Vadhyar Raman, Devan and others. “They all nurtured me with the fondness of a father to a new-born right through with varied roles. The beauty of it being the diversified roles each different from chalk to cheese,” she says.
Apart from plays and tele-serials, Malathi has also performed in few short films (one of which bagged an international award) and acted in a movie Satham Podadhe, directed by Vasanth. “Offers rained in after my debut film, little realising the silent impact my character had created. But, holding a responsible bank job came in the way of a film career, which had all the trappings to take off and zoom to a different level,” she shares.
Not nurturing any regrets, Malathi feels she is destined and happy to play the mother roles, where she is the fulcrum of the plot. “Raised in a joint family, I knew the nuances and joy which brings in such an ambience. When the little ones in the family are in the growing phase, there could be no substitute for a mother’s love, which comes unconditionally. A father may meet the financial needs, but it is the mother who willingly shoulders the family responsibilities. Happy are the children to lean on the mother’s shoulder when the going gets tough. The joy has no limits, when the mother musters courage to meet the demands. The unbridled joy overflows when peace is ensured in all quarters,” she explains.
A smashing debut
Poignantly, Thodarum Payanangal was her debut play, the journey having seen a good 25-plus summers. Malathi feels it was the divine blessings that gave her the entry in Gurukulam. “There was nothing I did not learn from the master of the art, Poornam sir. Matching strides with him in family-drenched scripts was not a tall order, once I got the hang of it. Besides, there was generous help from the likes of MB Moorthy, V Ramesh, VPS Sriraman, Gowri Shankar and like-minded friends in the theatre world,” she says. Moorthy recalls the time when Gurukulam was scouting for a lady artiste for its second production. Getting to know of an inter-bank competition, Moorthy saw the emergence of a talent bank, albeit, in a small role.
For Malathi, the road to fame began with her debut where she stood tall to match strides with some of the illustrious names. The icing was when Poornam viewed the play. “A crowning glory came so early in my innings, when Poornam lavishly heaped praise in front of a generous and appreciative audience,” she adds.
In an era, where the media reported each and every play, Malathi recounts the review in a leading English daily, which pointed out the ease with which she had essayed that seemingly difficult role. “The mother, though played with admirable restraint by Malathi, is an unbelievably saint character. She never once disagreed with the husband and is a perpetually smiling martyr”, wrote the reviewer.
For Malathi, it is a stark reminder even today to remember the writer, who had paid tributes in the way she brought the realism not just to the character but to the playwrights, projecting women characters with the respect they deserved. “I will be out of place in characters, playing tune to a dominant husband. A woman has her right and is entitled to her opinions. It hardly matters if the menfolk turn a deaf ear to, as in most of the middle class homes,” she says.
Accolades galore
In that moment of her life, Malathi says, an inner voice slipped in the note that theatre will be her world till the last breath. Another co-artiste Calcutta Ramesh Subramanian, who played Malathi’s husband in the latest play Andrum Endrum, says the USP of the ‘smiling queen’ is in the way she transpires the character with her intelligence and body language. It is in her capability of understanding what the director visualises, separating her from the rest, he opines.
A seasoned member of Gurukulam, VPS Sriraman recounts an instance where Malathi made light of her fractured leg to be part of a much revered play. “No way, she could have been substituted, such being the powerful character and in the way Malathi had given a sheen to that. The hallmark of her persona, in not letting her professional and personal issues to come in the way of a team victory has no parallel,” he says.
Awards and records have piled up for Malathi, much like the century of tons from Sachin Tendulkar. Even as you wonder, what could have been the most treasured and revered moment, Malathi guesses the probing lines and slips out the answer. “Unquestionably, the audience love had bowled me. After each play, the seasoned and matured section point out the defining and fulfilling moments of the mother character. When the younger section look forward to lean on my shoulder during their turbulent career phase, there is that feeling only the mothers know. Being a mother of two children, I know what it means to be looked upon by the ones in front of you, while on the performing act,” she says.
It is not ethical to ask the formula of one’s success. But that glowing smile of Malathi was an open invitation to not hold anything. “There is that experience of life, be it in the profession or in the daily vagaries of a middle class family. The bottomline is to see the issue from the other person’s shoes. I guess, half the battles are won then and there,” says Malathi rounding it off with her trademark smile, you wish it was yours.