50 Years Of Rajapart Rangadurai: Sivaji Ganesan Impressed Fans With His Dual Roles In This Film

Sivaji Ganesan was one of the acting stalwarts in Tamil cinema. He is remembered for his remarkable contributions to the film industry. Some of these films include Thevar Magan, Rajapart Rangadurai and Andha Naal. Rajapart Rangadurai was released on December 22, 1973, and completed 50 years of release yesterday. This film is remembered for evoking family sentiments, showing the life of a theatre artist and Sivaji Ganesan’s dubbed voice. He played the dual roles of Rajapart and Rangadurai. There are some scenes in which Rangadurai is seen speaking Shakespearean English. During these scenes, Shakespeare Sundaram was roped in to dub for Shivaji Ganesan’s voice. Cinegoers were surprised to see that Sivaji Ganesan, despite being proficient in English, was okay with someone dubbing for his voice. Sivaji Ganesan may have chosen Sundaram for the dubbing part because he was well-versed in English.

Nadigar Thilagam, as Sivaji Ganesan is prominently known, received accolades for his acting credentials for his body language in Rajapart Rangadurai. As per The Hindu, there were some scenes from Rajapart Rangadurai, in which he stole the limelight with his acting skills. The first one is where he casts a look upon the groom, who cheats his sister. He passed off that look with such subtle expressions that left an indelible mark on the audience. Other scenes include his emotional outbursts in front of the sister’s funeral pyre. The third one was the shocking expression with which he reacted to his young brother’s request. The younger brother wants Rangadurai to pose as his rich brother, to impress his sweetheart’s father.

Rajapart Rangadurai boasted of a stellar cast starring Usha Nandini, B Jaya, Aachi Manorama, MN Nambiar, and others. This film revolves around a group of theatre artists who are not given respect. Due to this, they feel dejected when their performances are rejected by the modern audience.

Sivaji Ganesan ruled the screen space in Tamil cinema during the 60s and 70s. He died on July 18, 2001, due to heart and kidney-related ailments.