Going back in time to fix the location of a film song in Madras

Still well maintained: The song, O Bak Bak Bak Bakum Bakum Mada Pura, of the film Annai was
shot at the residence of A. Nagappa Chettiar, a businessman, on Spurtank Road. J. Prasad Davids
| Photo Credit: J. Prasad Davids

Long long ago, so long ago, nobody knows how long ago, as Nagesh said in (I think) Ethir Neechal, my dear friend Mohan V. Raman, the actor, made a presentation during Madras Week on the city as seen in old Tamil films. The programme was a hit and since then, Mohan has been a fixture at the Madras Musings Lecture Series each year. “Let us start with his name,” fellow-organiser Sushila Ravindranath will say. “He will come up with something new.” And he has, each year.

The reason I bring that up is that ever since that presentation, it has been a hobby of mine to view old Tamil films and try and identify where in the city certain portions were shot. And in that, one of my favourites is the song Azhagiya Mithilai Nagarinile from the film Annai (AVM, 1962). While much of the film is dominated by P. Bhanumathi and Sowcar Janaki, the song (lyrics Kannadasan, music R. Sudarsanam, voices P. Susheela and P.B. Srinivas) is picturised on Sacchu and Harinath driving about the beach, Poonamallee High Road, NSC Bose Road, and Rajaji Salai. In the background is a complete pageant of the colonial buildings of the city. I have counted up to 18 monuments, including statues, in all. I don’t think this record is bettered by any other film song.

Which brings to mind another song from the same film, O Bak Bak Bak Bakum Bakum Mada Pura (voice P. Susheela), picturised on Sacchu, Harinath, and J.P. Chandrababu on the rooftop of what is clearly a garden bungalow of the city. The song itself incidentally is a straight lift, tune, situation and all, from a Bengali favourite of mine, O Bakum Bakum Payra, sung by Sandhya Mukherjee for the 1960 film Maya Mriga. For that matter, Annai itself is based on the same film.

I always wondered as to which house it was in which the Tamil song was shot. Even as Sacchu and Chandrababu dance as only they could with a dovecote in the foreground, the camera takes in quite a bit of the neighbourhood. The house itself seems to be of colonial vintage, with a two-level terrace, a wooden stairway, and across the garden is a neighbouring bungalow, which has clearly seen better days. And rising ominously at the rear, as a sign of things to come, is a block of flats, still under construction.

Last week, I casually asked Mohan as to where this song was shot. He immediately swung into action, messaging Sacchu herself and then M. Kumaran, A.V. Meyyappa Chettiar’s son. The answer was swift — it was the residence of A. Nagappa Chettiar, on Spurtank Road. And so, the block of flats to the rear was the RBI Quarters on Poonamallee High Road.

The mention of Nagappa Chettiar had me looking up J. Prasad Davids’ biography on this businessman who was known as the leather king in his time. In it is featured a photo of the residence, Uma Bhavanam. But what surprised me was that this was very much an art deco bungalow, the kind that was popular in the 1960s while the house in the song is clearly a colonial structure. Did Nagappa Chettiar make structural alterations to the building after 1962 and give it an art deco façade? The house, incidentally, still survives, lovingly tended to by the family. Annai was made in Hindi as Ladla, which unlike the original, was a failure. It is, however very interesting, to see a film shot with a lot of Madras where everyone speaks Hindi!

(V. Sriram is a writer and historian.)