Kalaivanar N S Krishnan's drama days

N S Krishnan can be called a management guru. To be proactive is an imperative laid down by personality development trainers today, which Krishnan practiced in those days not only did he sing and act well, he rose up to an occasion in crisis. He was able to produce back drops when the artist of the troupe quit the company. He learnt to play harmonium, mridangam and nadaswaram. Whenever the need arose, owing to someone falling sick or quitting the company, krishnan was always there to save the situation. He became indispensable to the company.

But due to a difference of opinion with Chellam Pillai (relative of TKS brother), he quit the company and joined Jaganatha Iyer's "Madurai Bala Meena Rangani Sabha" but soon due to circumstances he rejoined the TKS Brothers.

On January 18th, 1931, his family arranged his wedding with Nagammal in Nagercoil.

It was customary for all drama companies to include Madurai before there original names even though they were started in
different cities because madurai was the birth place of tamil culture and tradition

On March 23rd, 1931 Bhagath Singh, Sukh Dev and Rajaguru were hanged to death in the Lahore conspiracy case. The mood of the nation was one of high national fervor and anger against the British. TKS brothers now in Tanjore decided to stage patriotic plays. They decided to stage "Panna Purathu veeran" written by Somnath Sharma, which was banned by the British. But they were keen on enacting the play with some changes, new scenes and a different tittle "Desa Bhakthi". On May 19th 1931, the play was staged.

It was Krishnan's innovative idea to introduce the life of Gandhi in form of Villu Pattu in the play. It was well received among the people. Villupattu, a folk art of Thirunelveli district was introduced on stage for the very first time. Krishnan was adept at coming out with his own dialogues spontaneously which echoed the pent up emotions of the people. For instance,he referred to the Rattai as the weapon that is going to destroy the British. British convinced that such dialogues provoked the commoners, banned the play. The troupe rolled back to enacting plays like "Bhatha Ramadas"

This was the time when talkies began to appear and interest in drama began to wane. As the company was not well financially, TKS brothers leased their company to Govindaswamy Naidu, who owned the Golden company. They decided to continue in this situation for 3 years. There arose some difference of opinion between TKS brothers and Govindaswamy Naidu. So TKS brothers cancelled their agreement and returned to Nagercoil. Govindaswamy Naidu tried to tempt the other artistes by offering a very high salary but the principled Krishnan went away with TKS brothers.

His hopes of TKS brothers restarting the company was dashed as days turned to months. Due to Krishnan's poor financial situation and the burden of his family he was forced to join the Golden Company again with much reluctance. He did so after informing TKS brothers in 1934.

It is an interesting fact that krishnan's voice was recorded in a gramaphone even before he entered the world of cinema. AVM had started a recording company in the name of saraswathi stores in 1932. A V Meiyappan's observance on krishnan speaks volumes for his talent. He said that the boy of 25 years was calm, cultured and responsible. He added that even though he was new to the artistic world his interest and enthusiasm was evident in his behaviour.

The four hour drama 'Kovalan' was recorded as a 3 minute capsule in the typically comical style of N S Krishnan ofcourse. When the record was released Keerthana Chariar C R Seenivasan, reviwed the content. In those days Keerthanachariyar's reviews were something to be reckoned with. In this review which was unusually long he averred that the boy whom the voice belonged was going to become a great artiste transcending time.

he old order was changing yielding place to new. About 1931 talkies began to appear and Kalidas was the first talky. Fascinated by the novelty, people started thronging the theatres. The new media beckoned N S Krishnan too, soon, in which he reigned as The King of Comedies for many years to come.

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