History of Tamil Cinema – Part 5: Avvai Shanmugam

Sometimes, in the course of history, the names more documented and better connected earn a permanent place in books, while others – even those who have made significant contributions – are easily forgotten. One person in Tamil cinema history who is undervalued is T.K. Shanmugam.

His direct contribution to films has not been properly recorded and even his Wikipedia page, created only in 2014, does not have his filmography.

TK Shanmugam was born into a family steeped in theatre. When he was 6 he and his brothers were accepted to join a boys’ acting troupe lead by Sankaradas Swamigal – said to be the father of Tamil Theatre, not because of being an earlier pioneer, but because of his structured way of training young boys for the stage. TK Shanmugam would imbibe many of his Guru’s approaches to acting.

Later, Shanmugam and his brothers launched their own boys’ acting troupe, TKS Brothers troupe. This company provided breaks and training for literally hundreds of boys (and included girls later), some of whom would later find fame in films. This list included actors N.S. Krishnan, SS Rajendran, KR Ramasamy, MN Rajam and even AP Nagarajan, who would go on to become a successful film director.

Like many in the acting fraternity, Shanmugam was a close follower of Tamil Nadu’s Dravidian and communist movements. When CN Annadurai (Later Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and the mentor of MG Ramachandran) wrote his first book, Gumasthavin Magal, it was Shanmugam who was chosen to write the forward for this book. Shanmugam predicted then that Annadurai could likely be the future leader of Tamils – This prediction was made in 1943, even before the end of British rule in India. Shanmugam was also closely associated with Periyaar

In 1935, TK Shanmugam and his three brothers all acted in one of Tamil cinema’s earliest talkies, Menaka – which was the film version of TKS Brothers successful play of the same title. Shanmugam also recommended to director PK Raja Sandow, a promising actor called NS Krishnan. The role, which combined humour and a negative character, brought fame to NS Krishnan and he went on to enjoy a very successful film career, later inspiring actor Vivek to use the same brand of humour dealing with pertinent societal issues of the day.

Despite the success of this film, Shanmugam and his brothers chose to concentrate their efforts on their stage productions, believing then that their politically charged stories would enjoy a greater reach to the masses through stage performances. He did , however, continue his film career intermittently and even received the Best Actor award in 1953 for the film Manithan. Eight years later, Shanmugam would share the screen with Sivaji Ganesan in the film Kappalottiya Thamizhan.

TK Shanmugam was a trail-blazer in many ways. In 1934 he began the first Tamil tabloid aimed exclusively at the theatre artists. Titled Arivuchudar, t had a wide range of articles. The publication was quite unspoken and, after only ten issues, was stopped because of resistance to its content.

In 1936, Shanmugam was deeply concerned about the lack of education and general ignorance among theatre artists and revived the publication, using it as a core source to educate his fellow artists in languages, literature and music through the first actors Guild he founded in Madurai, a club called Arivu Abhivrutti Sangam.

Later, in 1950, he became the leader of the formal Actors Guild, and was a regular consultant to organisations like the Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan.

At a time when females would not even consider acting on a stage, Shanmugam’s Guru, Sankaradas Swamigal, used boys to play the female roles and, of his troupe, TK Shanmugam was his favourite. This was because Shanmugam would spend weeks rehearsing body language and voice intonation for each role.

Many years later, TK Shanmugam would receive widespread acclaim for his portrayal on stage of the Tamil poetess, Avvaiyaar. Such was Shanmugam’s dedication to his craft, that he extracted two of his teeth and curved his lips in to create the image of an old woman without teeth. He spent hours off the stage practicing to walk and sit with a hunched back. According to Shanmugam’s son, TKS Kalaivanan, this had a permanent effect on his father’s health, resulting in pain to the jaw and severe spine-related problems – both of which persisted until his death in 1973. Shanmugam’s portrayal of Avvaiyaar made such an impact that he was thereafter known as Avvai Shanmugam.

In later years, the TKS Brothers Drama Company became known as the TKS Sabha. AV Meiyyappan, the founder of AVM Productions and AVM Studios had advised Kamalhaasan to join TK Shanmugam’s troupe. Kamalhaasan, who had made a sensational debut as a child artist in 1960 was finding it difficult to land roles despite a brilliant start to his career as a child artist. Shanmugam took the young Kamalhaasan under his wing and taught him many techniques in acting, make-up and costumes. When Kamalhaasan collaborated with KS Ravikumar to make a film where he would play the role of an elderly woman, he used many of the techniques taught by his mentor, TK Shanmugam and paid homage to him by titling the film Avvai Shanmugi.

TK Shanmugam was conferred with the Padma Shri award in 1971 by the Government of India. He passed away in 1973. The Tamil Nadu Government renamed Lloyds Road in Royapetta to Avvai Shanmugam Salai in the 1980s and in 2023 named a portion of the road VP Raman Salai after a famous lawyer who also lived on the same road.