January 31 marks the 89th death anniversary of Nagesh, the legendary comic and character artist in Tamil cinema. He entertained the audience with his rib-tickling comedy in over 500 films. His finesse in performing a variety of roles and humour-filled punchlines earned him the sobriquet — Jerry Lewis, the noted American comedian.
Nagesh was born on September 23, 1933, in Dharapuram, Tamil Nadu, India. As stated in the reports, Nagesh had to leave his home at an early age and start his career as a clerk in the Indian railways. Nagesh secured a job but his heart aspired for something else — acting. Not putting his dreams on the back burner, Nagesh decided to take a plunge and started focussing on theatre. Many of his films like Naan Valartha Thangai, Thamarai Kulam and others remained unreleased due to some or other reasons. Still, these failures could not deter the aspiring actor, who continued to polish his skills in theatre and finally embarked on his journey in the film industry with the Kannada film Makkala Rajya (1960). Makkala Rajya was a hit but Nagesh shot to prominence with the Tamil film Nenjil Ore Aalayam (1962) directed by C. V. Sridhar.
Nenjil Ore Aalayam narrates the story of Dr Murali (Kalyan Kumar), who finds out that Venu (SP. Muthuraman), the patient he is treating, is his former lover Sita’s (Devika)’s husband. Knowing that Sita would die by suicide if Venu passed away, Murali left no stone unturned to save Venu. Nenjil Ore Aalayam was successful to such an extent that it was remade in Hindi (Dil Ek Mandir), Telugu (Manase Mandiram) and Kannada (Kunkuma Rakshe).
Apart from these films, Nagesh is also known for frequent collaboration with the Dadasaheb Phalke Awardee director K Balachander, filmmaker Sridhar and actor Kamal Haasan. In an interview with a portal, director Balachander reminisced about their friendship and once said, “He would think through me, and I would act through him.”
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