He won two national awards for the songs “Ananda Yazhai Meetukiral” in “Thanga Meengal” and “Azhage Azhagu” in “Saivam”.
Two-time national award-winning lyricist Na. Muthukumar succumbed to jaundice in Chennai on Sunday. He was 41 and is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.
He first won the award for the song Aananda Yazhai Meetukiral in the filmThangameenkal and the second award was for the song Azhage Azhagu inSaivam.
“In my opinion he had the calibre to achieve great heights in Tamil literature. But film industry reduced the space for his creativity,” said director N. Alagamperumal. Na. Muthukumar wrote most of the songs for his film Dum Dum Dum and all of them were hits.
“He is a friend and we would have a chat over phone once a week. I love his lines Un Perai Sonnale Ul Naaku Thithikkume, Nee Yenkey Nee Yenkey and Desingu Raja Desingu Raja,” said Mr. Alagamperumal.
Later, he wrote for films of Selvaragahavan and the song Niniathu Ninaithu Parthen in 7G Rainbow Colony became one of the evergreen film songs. His Anil Aadum Mundril, a poetic narration published in Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan, proved his grip with the language and close observation of Tamil life.
“It was writer Sujatha who first introduced his poem Thoor in a meeting organised by Kanaiazhi magazine. He introduced images of modern poetry in films songs, which is achieved by very few writers. He excelled both as a lyricist and a poet and he achieved great heights in a short span of life in a highly competitive world,” said poet Manushyaputhiran.
He further explained that at a time when music directors dominated the film world, Muthukumar secured a space for poetry and meaningful lines and also an identify for himself.
Muthukumar entered the film world with a dream of becoming a director and worked as an associate for Balumahendra. “But his knowledge in Tamil language and literature led him to the area of song-writing and he first wrote for director Seeman’s film Veeranadai,” said writer Suka, who also worked with Balumahendra.
A native of Kancheepuram, Muthukumar is also a distant relative of DMK founder C.N. Annadurai, “He studied in Pachaiappa’s college and was shaped by his father Nagarajan who was a voracious reader and had a great collection of books,” said lyricist Palaini Bharathi.
DMK leader M. Karunanidhi condoled his death, saying he was shocked by the sudden demise of the lyricist.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – August 14th, 2016
She was elected to the Tamil Nadu Assembly from the R.K. Nagar constituency in 1989 and again in 1996
Former DMK minister S.P Sarguna Pandian, passed away in Chennai on Saturday. She began her political career as a platform speakerwhen she was a school student, She was 76 and is survived by her two sons and daughter-in-law, Shimla Muthuchozhan. Ms. Muthuchozhan had unsuccessfully contested against Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency in Chennai.
“She was not well for quite some time, especially after she underwent a bypass surgery,” said Ms. Muthuchozhan.
“DMK founder Anna would call her ‘Sollin Selvi’. She was in the forefront in all the struggles organised by the party and was nominated to the Chennai Corporation in 1971,” said DMK leader M. Karunanidhi in his condolence message.
Born in a family of followers of Dravidar Kazhagam and its founder Periyar in Thalavaipuram in Thoothukudi district, she was encouraged by her father Ponnusamy and cousin Dravidamani to address public meetings. She had a meteoric rise in the party organisation and held the post of deputy general secretary in the last ten years.
She was elected to the Tamil Nadu Assembly from the R.K. Nagar constituency in 1989 and again in 1996. As a minister she held the portfolio of Social Welfare between 1996 and 2001. In the 2006 Assembly elections she had contested unsuccessfully from the Royapuram constituency.
“She played a crucial role in organising the party’s women’s wing conferences in Chennai, Tiruchi and Madurai and was conferred Kalaignar award in 1990 for her contribution to party work,” said Mr. Karunanidhi.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – August 13th, 2016
Four students from The Good Shepherd International School in Ooty won one gold and three bronze medals in Tamil Nadu State Rifle Shooting Championship for the year 2016.
Over 500 contestants from various parts of the state participated in the competition that was held for five days from August 3 to 7, 2016 at the Coimbatore Rifle Club.
About 11 students, including four girls from the Good Shepherd International School took part in the rifle shooting championship, while four secured medals.
Aditya Bhavesh Vaghasia won the gold medal with 358 points in youth men with 10M air pistol category, while Anushka Agrawal, Alice Deswal and Danielle Luzanne D’souza won bronze medals under youth women category in the 10M air rifle team event scoring a total of 1032 points together.tnn
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / August 09th, 2016
E. Gnanam, chairman, Muthu Group and S. Srinivasan, managing director of the company. Photo: R. Ravindran
From a modest 300 sq.ft. shop set up 45 years ago, Muthu Pharmacy has grown into 51-outlet enterprise. Its founder E. GNANAM talks to LIFFY THOMAS about the spectacular journey
A 1970-model blue Vespa kept in a glass enclosure greets me as I set foot in the corporate office of Muthu Group in Egmore.
On the wall, right above the classic scooter, there is a note.
“We don’t sell banned drugs here,” it says.
The scooter and the note serve two different purposes.
“While the former reminds me of my beginnings, the latter apprises visitors of the value on which the company is built,” explains E. Gnanam.
He set up his first pharmacy 45 years ago in a 300 sq.ft. space in Perambur.
“This is the first vehicle I bought from my earnings; it costed me Rs. 3,000 then,” says Gnanam.
It was with this vehicle that he would go on his business rounds.
From that humble beginning, his enterprise Muthu Group has grown into a Rs. 300 crore business, consisting of five companies — Muthu Pharmacy Pvt. Ltd., Muthu Pharma Pvt. Ltd., Pearl Medicals, Shell Pharmaceutics Pvt. Ltd. and Rao and Co. Pharma Pvt. Ltd.
Gnanam, who is Chairman of Muthu Group, says he has built the brand over the years based on ethics, trust and hard work.
“We stick to the brand prescribed by the doctor, and don’t suggest any other. We don’t sell expired goods,” says 65-year-old Gnanam.
Starting from scratch
So, how did his journey begin?
When he was 16, Gnanam left his village in Tanjore and came to Madras, where he worked at his uncle’s pharmacy shop.
“My work involved sweeping the shop and cleaning the shelves where medicines were kept. My first salary was Rs. 60, a major portion of which would go towards buying food,” says Gnanam who simultaneously did a diploma in pharmacy at the Kilpauk Medical College.
No, this is not what you are thinking: there is no rags-to-riches story here.
Gnanam did not have to put himself through such deprivations, but chose to. His family has always been financially sound and he subjected himself to menial work at a pharmacy because he wanted to learn the ropes of the profession.
By 1970, Gnanam knew what is took to run a pharmacy and set up his own enterprise. His first shop was called Sangam Pharmacy, which he opened borrowing Rs. 60,000 from his mother. It was located near Lourdes Mada Church in Perambur.
For the next two-and-a-half years, Gnanam would be the only employee at the shop.
“I was making sales worth Rs. 250 per day. When it reached Rs. 700 a day I hired an assistant,” he says.
Since then, the business has been steadily growing.
From 1974, Gnanam opened one outlet every two years, giving a fancy name to each of them.
“In 1978, I decided to stick to one name and re-branded all the outlets as Muthu Pharmacy,” he says.
In 1982, he forayed into the wholesale pharmacy business.
“It took me 14 years to find my feet in the business,” he says.
As the brand started expanding, Gnanam was faced with other challenges. Not knowing English was a stumbling block for Gnanam who would later go on to become the general secretary of Tamil Nadu Chemists and Druggists Association and joint secretary of All India Chemists and Druggists Association.
“I picked the nuances of English at work, especially from many of my Anglo Indian customers. It did not matter that my grammar was wrong,” says Gnanam, who spoke to me in halting English.
On the subject of competition, Gnanam says it has not affected the brand in any way. “We never give any discounts, which are a lie,” he says. “Also, name the medicine, and we’ll have it.” From 1990, Muthu Pharmacy started looking beyond expansion, and began to offer value-added services. It introduced door-to-door delivery of medicines.
It added a doctor’s chamber to its pharmacy. Currently, 10 shops in the city have a room where customers get to consult a doctor and get the medicine from the same roof.
Muthu Group now has over 500 employees. While his daughter takes care of the HR and finance aspects of the business, his cousin takes care of the retail units.
It currently has 51 pharmacy stores and 19 wholesale outlets. They deliver to 3,500 chemists in and around the city in a day. The company plans to stop expanding its stores when it reaches 100 outlets.
“We have around 46,000 formulations in our retail outlets,” says S. Srinivasan, managing director and relative of Gnanam, who has been helping him run the business since 1981.
Reaching out
In the initial years, the pharmacy built its brand conducting blood donations camps.
“Our campaigns were a huge hit. The blood we collected from donors was given only to government hospitals,” says Gnanam.
Through Muthu Pharmacy Charitable Trust, the company has been funding the education of underprivileged children. It has also instituted an achievers award. The Muthu Hospital at Pulianthope is also reaching out to many people.
(A column about entities that started in a small way in a neighbourhood and grew bigger)
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Downtown / by Prince Frederick / Chennai – August 06th, 2016
It was a black day for Tamil cinema. The death of K N ‘Panchu’ Arunachalam on Tuesday of cardiac arrest has robbed the industry of one its most celebrated scriptwriters, producers and filmmakers. He was 76.
He wrote down almost 1,000 songs that his famous uncle, the inimitable Kannadasan created, before making a mark.
Known as the man who introduced Illayaraja in ‘Annakilli,’ Arunachalam was a voracious reader who thought differently and came up with scripts that were big commercial hits in 70s and 80s.
While director S P Muthuraman, a distant relative, said his unit grew on a pillar like ‘Panchu’, Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan became commercially successful through his movies. Tamil cinema, dominated till the late 1970s by Sivaji and MGR flicks, changed after his entry. Folk music and village themes became the rage. In ‘Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri’, he practically reinvented Rajinikanth, known until then for negative roles.
It was his scripts that made ‘Bhuvana Oru Kelvikuri,’ ‘Mullum Malarum’, ‘Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai’, ‘Engeyo Ketta Kural’, ‘Sri Raghavendra’ and others blockbusters. Kamal Haasan, till then considered an A-centre star, in 1982 became popular in B and C centres with Arunchalam-scripted ‘Sakalakala Vallavan,’ the first Tamil film to do a business of Rs 1 crore.
Director Bharathiraja said: “Today, Illayaraja, Gangai Amaran and I are having three square meals only because of Panchu. He was not just a good script-writer, but an amazing personality as well. A good human being, he could be approached for anything at anytime. In fact, for close to 40 movies, I used to run my screenplays through him.”
“He belonged to the golden era of the industry. He studied cinema, breathed cinema. The best gift he got in life is his peaceful death, and friends and well-wishers like us. Respecting artistes was his forte, he took suggestions from one and all… added the director.
Film critic Vamanan said Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth were lucky to have subjects scripted by him. “Take ‘Kalyanaraman’ or ‘Netrikan.’ Such roles could be pulled off with ease only because of his screen-play and scripts.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / TNN / August 10th, 2016
Jyothilakshmi in “Vichitra Dampathyam” (Telugu). PHOTO: THE HINDU ARCHIVES
Yesteryear actor Jyothilakshmi who was famous for playing the ‘bad girl’ in the ‘70s, passed away in Chennai on Monday midnight.
The 63-year-old actor breathed her last at a hospital in Chennai . She was said to be undergoing treatment for cancer. She made her film debut, starring in T.R. Ramanna’s Tamil film ‘Periya Idathu Penn’ that had actors Saroja Devi and M.G. Ramachandran in the lead.
She has over 300 movies to her credit, in all the four South Indian languages. A trained dancer, her skills on the dance floor were used to the best of her advantage by filmmakers and she soon became a constant fixture in most films.
She faded into oblivion around the late 80s but the fact that people still remember her speaks volumes about her popularity. Starting off as a child actor, she did her bit as a heroine in some films, but what established her in the industry were roles that were akin to that of a gangster’s moll and her ‘item’ numbers.
All through the 70s and a part of the 80s, Jyothilakshmi appeared to dominate in most South Indian films and her screen presence went on the vane when her sister Jayamalini made her entry on the celluloid screen. Telugu movies that became popular include ‘Gandharva Kanya (1979), ‘Sitaramulu’ (1980) and the hugely-successful film starring Akkineni Nageswara Rao, ‘Prem Nagar’.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Cinema / by Suresh Krishnamoorthy / Hyderabad – August 09th, 2016
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has given Rs. 1.45 crore to five sportspersons in the State, including a differently-abled woman who won honours in international contests.
Ms. Jayalalithaa presented a cheque for Rs. 25 lakh to Jenitha Anto of Tiruchirappalli for winning an international chess tournament held in Serbia last month. This is the fourth time she had won the tournament.
The Chief Minister gave Rs. 1.20 crore incentive to four other sportspersons, C. Ajith Kumar, R. Naveen, L. Samayasri, and S. Priyadarshini who had won medals in different events at the World School Athletics Championship in Turkey in July.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – August 08th, 2016
Desikachar practicing yoga, while his teacher and fatehr T. Krishnamacharya looks on.
T.K.V Desikachar, son of Indian yoga master T.Krishnamacharya , passed away in Chennai on Monday. He was 78. TKV Desikachar is the son and student of T. Krishnamacharya, popularly known as “the father of modern yoga.”
The Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram trust in Chennai was founded in 1976 by Desikachar as an ode to his father’s teachings.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Internet Desk / Chennai – August 08th, 2016
Global recognition isn’t new to Chennai, as namma people have made headlines time and again. The latest to join the list of achievers from Chennai is Dr Mas Subramanian , who has created the world’s newest shade of blue, called YInMn Blue. This vibrant shade is creating quite a buzz among artists ever since it has been licensed for commercial use. We caught up with Subramanian who is currently a chemist at the Oregon State University. He spoke to us about the YInMn Blue, his Tamil roots and more. Excerpts…
Tell us about the discovery of YInMn blue…
It was a serendipitous discovery because we were clearly not looking to create a new pigment. All this happened in 2009 when my team and I were researching on finding new materials for electronic applications. As part of the research, one of my students was doing studies on the magnetic properties of some compounds. And that’s when I noticed the formation of stunningly blue powder while doing experiments. During further tests, we realised that its compounds have properties to keep the colour from fading at all, even when exposed to high temperatures and other conditions. We named it YInMn blue as it is a combination of the names of the elements that make it up — Yttrium, Indium, and Manganese. It needs to be noted that the last commercially viable blue pigment Cobalt Blue was developed in France in 1802, more than two centuries ago.
Why did it take this long for the pigment to be commercialised?
The firm which has obtained the license to commercialise YInMn blue is called Shepherd Color Company. It took couple of years for them to do further tests to confirm that it is durable before commercialising it.
During a time when new colours are created using computer and technology, how do you known that YInMn blue is not a colour which has already been there without anyone actually identifying it?
Colours can be generated by computers, but not colour pigments. Colour pigments are made in laboratories and factories. You can’t make it on a computer and use it to paint buildings.
What are your other areas of interest?
Although I did not learn music formally, I do like Carnatic music. Otherwise, my areas of interests are mostly scientific stuff — designing new materials for electronics, environment and energy conversion.
Have you heard about MS Blue?
I know that MS Blue is named after late Carnatic vocalist MS Subbulakshmi, for, she used to wear saris in that particular colour. I am quite familiar with her music also. My grandmother, too, was a Carnatic vocalist and I remember attending one of the concerts of MS Subbulakshmi in Chennai, while I was young. I still listen to her Sri Venkateswara Suprabhatam recording regularly.
Tell us more about your Tamil roots…
I do visit south India often. I was born at Vallioor in Tirunelveli district, but grew up in Chennai. I went to Ramakrishna Boys High School. I did B.Sc at AM Jain College and MS at the University of Madras. Later, I completed my Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, before I moved to Texas for post-doctoral research in 1984. I am a vegetarian and still follow Tamil customs at home.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / Ashish Ittyerah Joseph / TNN & Agencies / August 06th, 2016
A man dressed as MGR standing near an exhibit at the Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair | Sunish P Surendran
Chennai :
THOUGH the Tamil Isai College was established 60 years ago, only about 150 students have enrolled. The college offers courses in ancient Tamil musical instruments. College authorities decided to spread awareness about the school at the Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair on Wednesday. N Padmini, a Bharatanatyam lecturer at the college, said, “This is the first time we are setting up a stall here. We feel that nobody knows that such a college exists.”
The college was started in 1932 by Rajah Sir Annamalai Chettiyar in Chidambaram and eventually found its place at the Raja Annamalai Mandram. Besides music and dance, the college has classes in Tamil history and literature. The college is on the top floor of the hall, but the teacher claimed that not many know of its existence. “People attend shows there, but don’t know what happens at the hall. We don’t have a proper board too because the Metro barricades and settlements outside hide the signs,” said Padmini.
Tamil musical instruments like veena, mirudhangam, nagaswaram and thavul are taught at the college. Moreover, the college has rare instruments from the 18th and 17th centuries like the kinnari yazh, mayura veena and pancha muga vadhyam. “We have instruments that only some museums might have; we restore them, but don’t have students willing to learn or even try their hand at them,” said another teacher at the stall.
The institution also has an evening college for students, who are interested, but cannot afford to attend the day college. The college offers three-year diploma courses and invites students of all ages. Padmini said that since the youth are hesitant to pursue music as an immediate career choice, many do other courses and then come back to music, while others wait their whole lives and choose to learn music or dance much later in life. “We have no age bar; anyone can choose to learn. No restrictions,” she added.
Apart from the music college stall,another stall at the fair displayed over 25 Tamil musical instruments collected from around the State, from a cow-horn to several types of mirudhangam. S Sivakumar, who runs the stall, said the display was an effort to get visitors to learn about the instruments and get a idea of how vibrant Tamil music was. “It is believed that there was less illness and there were fewer health issues in the past because there was music to listen to and music healed diseases. Nowadays no one listens to anything classical,” he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / August 04th, 2016
