The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Manorama casts a magical spell

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Manorama casts a magical spell

Staff Reporter

“The only job I know is acting. I want to die while acting”.

Actor Manorama

KOCHI: “Nan oru pattu padattuma” (Shall I sing a song), the versatile and vibrant Tamil actress Manorama asked the audience at a packed Ernakulam Press Club on Friday morning.

Television cameramen who had switched off their equipment thinking that the press conference was over screamed: “Aachi (as Manorama is popularly known in tinsel town, grand mother in Tamil), one minute,” they said. The evergreen comedienne who acted in about 1,300 films obliged. “Thudangattuma” (Let me start?), she asked before rendering a song beautifully in Tamil.

For one-and-a-half minutes, there was pin drop silence inside the Press Club hall that later transformed in to a thunderous applause. Five decades after she entered the industry, the quintessential Manorama continues to mesmerise the audience with her wit and intense portrayal.

With no formal experience in acting, singing and dance, the actress had went on to create records by acting in about 1,300 films, 100 stage performances and roles in television serials and advertisement films.

“The only job I know is acting. I want to do it till my last breath. I want to die while acting,” Manorama, the only actor to have shared screen with five Chief Ministers said. “Yes, I was lucky to have acted with Annadurai, M. Karunanidhi, MGR, N.T.Rama Rao, and J. Jayalalithaa,” she said.

Winner of Padma Shri (2002), National Award for best supporting actress for Puthiya Pathai (1988) and Tamil Nadu Government’s Kalaimamani Award, Manorama is happy being loved by everyone in the industry and outside. Her passion for the screen remains even after working in thousands of films.

“I would now like to do the role of a transvestite. It is not just a desire for doing a different role. But I want to do that role as transvestites, whom I had come across several times in life, told me that people look down upon them. They also fail to get the respect given to other individuals in our society,” she said. Manorama is proud of being a comedian on screen. “Comedy is not an easy job . I had the luck of acting with some of the greatest comedians in both Tamil and Malayalam including Nagesh, Adoor Bhasi, and Bahadur,” she said.

When asked to name the better actor among Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan, she said that both are great artistes.

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