Sayee and Subbulakshmi's extended family had many members who were involved in the film industry at that time as actors, playback singers, and technicians behind the scenes. As we learned from the relatives that posted rare details on Richard's blog, the extended family was a closeknit group with connections and bonds in the industry that still last to this day. As I searched for more information to "flesh out" the details of these connections, I discovered that Sayee and Subbulakshmi were closely related to the singer-actresses P.A. Periyanayaki and R. Padma and to AVM Studios sound engineer V.S. Raghavan who did pathbreaking work in Tamil cinema dubbing and syncing. In a twist of fate, some of the films these relatives were involved in had dance direction by Muthuswami Pillai years before P.A. Periyanayaki introduced him to Sayee and Subbulakshmi. And to top it all, a present-generation relative is a talented singer who sang for a just-released Telugu film!
Continuing on from the Muthuswami Pillai series Part 1 and Part 2, here in Part 3, I want to highlight the little information I've been able to find about these relatives and feature some of R. Padma and P.A. Periyanayaki's on-screen singing and dancing performances, one of which is choreographed by Muthuswami Pillai!
My research for this post began when I found the following post on the Facebook account of Nithya Bayya, a Madras-born talented singer and cricketer in the San Francisco Bay Area:
Continuing on from the Muthuswami Pillai series Part 1 and Part 2, here in Part 3, I want to highlight the little information I've been able to find about these relatives and feature some of R. Padma and P.A. Periyanayaki's on-screen singing and dancing performances, one of which is choreographed by Muthuswami Pillai!
My research for this post began when I found the following post on the Facebook account of Nithya Bayya, a Madras-born talented singer and cricketer in the San Francisco Bay Area:
"Came across this wonderful blog post regarding my aunts Sai-Subbalakshmi who were India's famous dance duo in 1940s. Read through the comments and discovered so many facts about my family that i didnt even know. They were actors, singers, sound engineers, cinematographers, dancers ..but most importantly they were pioneers who contributed so much to the world of cinema. I am proud to be a part of such a huge legacy. http://roughinhere.wordpress.com/2008/10/24/sai-subbulaxmi/ Thanks Raghavendra Ganesh, Mom and Dad & Ratchagan for your active participation in proividing so much information. It is also a very humbling experience to see how much they have achieved and how much we need to strive to do something remotely close to what they have done." (Facebook)
