Looking at a human skull on the ground, he comments, ‘hey, look at this, here is someone who has died smiling’! Referring to his Thalai ezhuthu (Tamil equivalent of fate) the guy comments pointing to his forehead, “so little space, but look at how much has been written here.”
The owner of many a comment like these, Nagesh, arguably the best comedian and character actor of all times, is no more. I hope they are just lying. I wish I hadn’t heard the news.
Humour and life seem to have no sense.
Nagesh was the most versatile character I have ever seen. Unless of course, he chooses to be born again and come back with another name. He had the slapstick of Charlie Chaplin; the repartee of Groucho Marx; the flair of P.G. Woodhouse; the breeziness of Author Sujatha; the sarcasm of Cho Ramaswamy; the gentleness of R.K. Laxman; the depth of Sivaji Ganesan; and much more that I don’t find equals.
Simply put, he was reason why I laughed!
He played multiple roles in cinema: comedian, character roles, hero, villain and, my god, even a corpse! Needless to say, he excelled in every one of them. I couldn’t find anyone in the history of world cinema who could parallel that or the man himself.
In Neer Kumizhi, where he played the role of a dying cancer patient, Nagesh constantly runs around and creates comical havoc in the hospital. The chief doctor of the hospital, all along believes that Nagesh doesn’t know that he has cancer and one day loses his temper at the tantrums thrown by Nagesh and screams at him for not resting and listening to his advice. Nagesh smiles and replies, “Relax Doctor, life is sweet,” And with a pause adds, “…when it is short.”
Hard to believe that immortal genius is dead.
Sleep well my dear Nagesh. And thanks a ton for making me laugh all these years.
But for this one moment alone, allow me to cry.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
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