Distinguished Tamil film artist M.N. Nambiar passes away

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 2008, 00:02 GMT]
M.N. Nambiar, the celebrated ‘villain’ of the silver screen passed away on Wednesday in Chennai at the age of 90. Started acting in films since 1935, his distinguished career in Tamil cinema and lately in TV serials spanned for nearly 7 decades. He was shot to limelight in the role of the villainous royal preceptor ‘Gurusamy’ in Mandrikumari of 1950, which was the first for MGR in the role of hero and first for Kalaignar Karunanidhi, the present Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu as the screenwriter.



Gurusamy became the nickname for him in the film circles till the end of his life.

Admiringly called as the ‘original villain’ of the Tamil cinema, Nambiar was a highly respected, pious and disciplined man in his life.

Many film viewers secretly felt that the villain was much smarter than the heroes.

Manjeri Narayana Nambiar (M.N. Nambiar) was born in Kannanoor (Kanur) in northern Kerala on 7th March 1919.

He started acting in stage at the age of 13, and acted with seven generations of actors in his career. His first film Bhakta Ramadas produced in 1935, in which he acted a villain, was one of the early films of the talkies era.

He acted in more than 1000 films predominantly in Tamil besides in Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi. He also acted in an English film in 1952.

Some of his much remembered films were, Thigambara Saamiyaar, Missiyamma, Maayaa Bazzaar, Ambikaapathi, Thean Nilavu, Aayiraththil Oruvan, Negncham Ma'rappathillai, and lately Thoo’ral Nin’ru Poachchu.

He has in fact made a mark in every film he acted and was known for his excellent Tamil pronunciation.

TamilNet joins the millions in paying tributes to the legend of Tamil cinema, which is one of the oldest and the largest of the film industries in the world.