A colossus among actors of Tamil cinema, the passing away of Manorama marks the end of a saga that radiated brilliance and was punctuated by originality, beginning with the days of ‘touring talkies’ and ending in digital cinema.
Born Gopi Shanta in 1937 in the sleepy temple town of Mannargudi in Tamil Nadu, she assumed the name ‘Manorama’ when she began acting in stage plays in Chettinad, when she was barely 12.
She first sang for a drama Andaman Kathali and donned the role of a heroine in later plays. Subsequently, she entered the reel world debuting with Malayitta Mangai , produced by acclaimed poet Kannadasan in 1958.
A unique dialogue style, body language and an innate ability to perform any role with perfection were her forte. For this strength, she was hailed often as the “Woman Sivaji Ganesan (Pombalai Sivaji).” As she hailed from Chettinad, she was called ‘Aachi’ (Mother) in tune with the practice in that region. She could effortlessly speak any dialect of Tamil or variants of specific communities, be it the highly colloquial ‘Madras Tamil’, those of Chettinad, Coimbatore or that of Brahmins or Gounders.
Though she aspired to be a heroine, the advice rendered by Kannadasan that “you may be successful as a heroine for some years, till you are a youngster, but as a comedian you could go on all your life,” was a turning point.
Her comedy role pairing Kaka Radhakrishnan was a success in Malayitta Mangai . A similar role followed with Abalai Anjugam (1959), helping establish her firmly as a comedian. However, she went on to do almost all characters from villain to heroine (as in the 1963 movie Konjum Kumari ).
Among her most memorable roles are that of a lovelorn, old landlady in Nadigan , a maid in Samsaram Athu Minsaram an amateur nadaswaram player in the legendary movie Thillana Mohanambal .
Remarkably, Manorama has acted with all top stars of Tamil cinema for over 50 years, beginning with MG Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Jai Shankar, SS Rajendran, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, and also Vijay, Ajith and Surya. She has also shared screen space with the top comedians, including MR Radha, Chandrababu, and KA Thangavelu.