The dances were also a delight, with Yakub and Gope, despite the latter’s portly figure, being so agile in their movements. The acting was mediocre at best but the song, oh the songs! I can still recall, 40 years later some of them – Piya Gaye Rangoon, O Dilwalon, Pyar Ki Jahan Ki Nirali Sarkar and Namaste Namaste (which incidentally is not a Dikshitar kriti). In many ways this was a movie that like Thillana Mohanambal, very theatrical, more so because the characters were all part of a drama troupe and many of the songs were in a stage setting, complete with audience, curtains and the proscenium arch. Patanga (1949) starring Nigar Sultana (one of Thatha’s favourites), with Shyam, Yakub and Gope, was one film that he and I saw together when it was telecast on Doordarshan in the 1970s. A railway doctor, he was good fun to hang around with, especially as we grew up, for he had a fund of ribald stories of the past, knew most of the scandals of his time, enjoyed Hindustani music and above all, loved old Hindi and Tamil films. ![]() ![]() Unlike my paternal grandfather who was a serious man devoted to Sanskrit and his library of 5,000 books, my maternal grandfather was, like Ol’ King Cole, a merry old soul.
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