Vellore: 

Stunt master Judo Rath­nam of Gudiyattam, who performed stunts for more than 1,500 films, has now found time to pen his biography in Tamil — Thama­raikulam Mudhal Thalain­agaram Varai which is set  be released on May 3 in Chennai.

“Thamaraikulam was my first film in which I appeared in a small role, and Thalainagaram was my last film, though I am working for two or three films now. Modern Thea­tres Sundaram gave me the chance to become stunt master in Vallavan Oru­van, Vallavanukku Va­ll­a­van and many other films produced in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. I wanted to write my memoirs and it took two years to share them with the public,” said K.K. Rathnam, who was given the title ‘Judo’ by Modern Theatres owner T.R. Sundaram.

Rathnam has done 49 films with Rajini, 16 with Kamal Hassan, 69 with Kannada Rajkumar, 4 with Amitabh Bachchan, 16 with NTR and had worked in a couple of English films. But, he laments, he didn’t get to work with MGR.

“Writer Manohar has written dramatically the instances in my life. As I found the work tedious, I wanted to give up the idea of writing half-way, but my wife R. Govindammal (73) forced me to complete the book.”

His wife Govindammal interrupts, “My husband is very shy. I used to ask him to act in films, but he was adamant about stunt direction.” Rathnam (84) is still agile because he does yoga every day. He has eight, well-settled children.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / by N. Thygarajan , DC / April 27th, 2013