Sayee and Subbulakshmi's Film-Industry Relatives: R. Padma, P.A. Periyanayaki, and Others (Part 3)

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:

"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)

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9 comments Muthuswami Pillai, P.A. Periyanayaki, R. Padma, Sai-Subbulakshmi

Muthuswami Pillai's Star Students, Sayee and Subbulakshmi, and the "Twin Dance" Phenomenon (Part Two)

The Sayee and Subbulakshmi sisters were the best South Indian "twin dance" duo of Indian cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, and I don't think anyone has matched them since!  Their speed, precision, flexibility, springing leg movements, and most of all their ability to dance synchronized with each other was unparalleled. Unfortunately, they seem hardly remembered today outside of some film/classical dance enthusiasts—and a surprise inclusion in a recent conference on dance and music in early South Indian cinema! A mention of the sisters in a 2011 Indian newspaper article about classical dance in Indian cinema wrongly claimed that they danced only in the Hindi films Azad and Chori Chori "before disappearing." But bloggers and dance enthusiasts such as myself, Richard, Tom, and Lakshmi Subramanian, who have delighted in, discussed, and preserved the sisters' film dance sequences for years now, know better! Sayee-Subbulakshmi specialized in Bharatanatyam and had the heaviest presence in Tamil cinema (at least 13 films), but they also performed Kathak and folk styles and danced in other regional-language and Hindi films. And they were simply spectacular!

Sayee

Back in 2010, Richard's post about Sayee-Subbulakshmi at his lovely Dances on the Footpath blog was graced by comments from Sayee's nephew and son informing readers with details about films the duo had danced in, family relations, that they learned Bharatanatyam from "Shri Muthuswami Pillai," and the sad news that Sayee had passed away in 2010. At the time I had no idea who "Muthuswami Pillai" was and promptly forgot the detail!

Subbulakshmi

But when I found a lengthy feature about V.S. Muthuswami Pillai in Sruti magazine, I was astounded to make the connection back to the comments from Sayee's relatives and even more astounded to learn how involved Muthuswami was. While Muthuswami began choreographing for films around 1938, it wasn't until a few years later that a fateful meeting with P.A. Periyanayaki introduced him to the young girls that would eventually become his star students who would perform "far and wide" and be "among the busiest artists of their time"--Sayee and Subbulakshmi (aka Sayee-Subbulakshmi, Sai-Subbalaxmi, etc.)! While I introduced Muthuswami Pillai and his other film choreographies in Part One and the Piya Milan addendum, here in Part Two I want to celebrate the talents of Sayee-Subbulakshmi by showcasing all of their known film dances, recognize Muthuswami Pillai's training and chiseling of their talent, and analyze his dance style.

Sayee and Subbulakshmi's
Training with Muthuswami Pillai

These priceless photos and excerpts are quoted from musician-dance scholar Sujatha

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8 comments Bharatanatyam, Muthuswami Pillai, Sai-Subbulakshmi, Twin Dance

A Clear Copy of Kamala's Tandava Dance in Sivagangai Seemai

Finally! A clear copy of Kamala Lakshman's dance in Sivagangai Seemai (Tamil, 1957) has been uploaded by the awesome YouTuber Kandasamy Sekkarakudi Subbiah Pillai.  This is my favorite film dance of Kamala's (second place would be her dance in Paavai Vilakku). It's not classical Bharatanatyam-based at all, but her training in the form gives this brilliantly-choreographed tandava-style dance incredible energy, precision, form, and speed.  The cinematography, music, and overall presentation are the icing on the cake.  It is entirely and unusually creative.  Kamala dances in four segments, each about a minute long and separated by scenes of the last speeches of the ruling Marudhu brothers/family before they are hanged by the British.  Behold what I can only describe as FIERCE:

Sivagangai Seemai ("Land of Sivagangai") is set in Sivagangai in Tamil Nadu around the turn of the 18th century "when the East India Company was struggling to establish supremacy over South India" (Guy). It tells the story of the Marudhu brothers who ruled Sivagangai at that time and "took on the British" by issuing a proclamation in 1801 urging "the people of every community to throw out the British" from India (Kolappan). Given that this was decades before the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, some have questioned the claim that the Sepoy Mutiny was "the first war of independence" in India. After the battle in Kalayarkovil near Sivaganga, "the East India Company ultimately destroyed the brothers" by hanging them in late 1801.

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2 comments Kamala, Rhadha, Sai-Subbulakshmi

Rare Dance Songs of Kamala, Sai-Subbalakshmi, Padmini, and More!

I was beyond delighted to come across a number of seemingly-rare or hard to find dance songs from the 1950s and 60s featuring dances by Kamala Lakshman, Sai-Subbalakshmi, Padmini, Lalitha, Ragini, Vyjayanthimala, and a lovely duo whose identity I do not know.  Yay!  Without further ado, I present this fantastic little collection:

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17 comments Bharatanatyam, Kamala, Lalitha, Padmini, Practice Dance, Ragini, Sai-Subbulakshmi, Vyjayanthimala

My Favorite "Twin" Dances in Classic Indian Cinema

I was first introduced to what I call "twin" dances when I saw the song "Aduvome" in Naam Iruvar some time back on the Dances on the Footpath blog. In the song, a young Kamala Lakshman is shown dancing twice in the same frame through some special effects magic.  The film released in 1947 (way before Hollywood's similar effect in The Parent Trap) and I'm intrigued by just how they did it!

As I've been watching more and more classic Indian films I've noticed the "twin" dance, a dance featuring two young women (or one superimposed twice) who perform the same dance movements, was a popular presentation style. In my opinion, the best "twin" dances are those based on South Indian classical dance forms because the crisp moves look stunning when seen in parallel.  I suppose I could call these dances "dancing duos" or something similar, but since they have the specific characteristic of each dancer following similar movements close to each other, I'll stick with "twin dances."

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17 comments Bharatanatyam, Kamala, Kathak, KumKum, L Vijayalakshmi, Malayalam, Mohiniattam, Nimmi, Padmini, Sai-Subbulakshmi, Twin Dance