Sakthi T. K. Krishnasamy

Sakthi T. K. Krishnasamy
Born	T. K. Krishnasamy (1913-03-11)11 March 1913 Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India
Died	8 November 1987(1987-11-08) (aged 74) Chennai, Annanagar West
Occupation	Screenwriter, lyricist
Years active	1950s–1970s

Sakthi T. K. Krishnasamy (Tamil: சக்தி கிருஷ்ணசாமி) was a Tamil film writer from the 1950s through until the 1970s.^[1][2][3] He wrote stories, screenplay and dialogue for films starring M. G. Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan.^[4][5] He has authored historical, mythological and social Tamil films spanning over 3 decades. He was considered as one of the best film script writers of Tamil Cinema, and was hailed as such by noted screenwriters like C. N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi publicly. His most acclaimed works are Veerapandiya Kattabomman and Karnan.^[6]

Career

Sakthi Krishnasamy began his literary career as a playwright and ran his own drama troupe called Sakthi Nataka Sabha.^[4] His first play was staged at the Nagapattinam Baby Theatre and from then on he continued to write a wide variety of plays. Bhayankari was a James-Bond type thriller while Vidhi was a love story. He was one of the earliest to have three different stages set up and when the scene was over in one the action would shift to another stage by the side. One of his most popular plays was Kaviyin Kanavu. Sakthi's plays were so popular that the Railways ran "Sakthi" special trains from Trichy to Nagapattinam and Trichy to Kumbakonam when they were staged.^[7] Many artistes from his troupe like Sivaji Ganesan, V. K. Ramasamy, S. V. Subbiah and A. P. Nagarajan^[8] went on to become noted actors in the Tamil film industry. The troupe consisted of about 60 members. Every member of the cast had to learn the lines of all characters in the plays as they played different roles every day.^[9] M. N. Nambiar, an other member of the troupe also made his breakthrough into films after his performance in one of the plays impressed a producer^[10]

Sivaji Ganesan, Kalingar Karunanidhi, Sakthi TK Krishnasamy (100th day film function)

Sakthi Krishnasamy first wrote Veerapandiya Kattabomman as a stage play in 1957. The play was staged all over Tamil Nadu and received critical acclaim and commercial success.^[11] It was made into a highly successful film two years later, with Sivaji Ganesan in the lead and Sakthi Krishnasamy handling the script and dialogues. Sakthi Krishnasamy's powerful dialogues played a large part in its success.^[12] The film won awards in the Second Afro-Asian Film Festival at Cairo (1960) for best acting, music and a special jury award.^[13][14] In Tamil movie industry, his Veerapandiya Kattabomman film dialogues are still used as aspiring actors' auditioning test script. Many of the other films for which Sakthi Krishnasamy wrote the story and screen play, were box office hits.

Apart from writing screen plays for many popular Tamil films, he was also a lyricist for a number of movies in the 60s.^{[15] [16][17]}

He was a Gandhian, who Patron for more than 30 years for the Mahatma Gandhi Library in Saidapet for the economically weak and helped it grow from 20 books to 20,000 books in his lifetime. He died after a brief illness on 8 November 1987.

Notable Filmography

• Veerapandiya Kattabomman^[18]
• Karnan
• Ambikapathi (1957)
• Thozhan (1960)^[19]
• Aalukkoru Veedu (1960)^[20]
• Arunagirinathar ^[21]
• Sangili Devan^[22]
• Periya Idathu Penn^[23]
• Kungumam
• Nee
• Parakkum Paavai^[24]
• Panakkara Kudumbam
• Padagotti^[25]
• Enga Veettu Pillai^[26]
• Panam Padaithavan^[27][28]
• Dharmam Enge^[29]
• Ennai Pol Oruvan ^[30]
• Thanga Surangam ^[31]
• Sorgam
• Ponnunjal^[32]
• Punniya Bhoomi

Awards

• Kalaimamani Award from Tamil Nadu State Government^[33]
• Best Tamil Dialogues Writer award given by Government of India for the film Karnan

Further reading

• http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/the-power-of-the-pen/article4594630.ece

References

Bibliography

• Anandan, "Film News" (2004). Sadhanaigal padaitha Tamil Thiraipada Varalaaru (A history of record making Tamil films) (in Tamil). Chennai: Sivagami Publications.