A fitting tribute to the legend

HUNDREDS WERE transported to the ``Sivaji era'' when stars of the Tamil film industry came on to the stage to pay their tributes to the legend on Friday evening.

An evening that went past mid-night in the timezone of Indian Airlines grounds when Raj TV organised `Immayathirku Indiya Anjali' in aid of the Shivaji Prabhu Charities Trust.

Co-stars of one of India's most compelling and unforgettable actors walked up on to stage one by one, to say those `few words' that somehow were not enough to sum up the man's greatness.

The tribute, interspersed by song and dance routines from the Sivaji era, went on endlessly and most of the audience stayed back patiently for six hours.

Such was the tribute Chennai paid to the ``Iraivan'' of acting, as Superstar Rajnikant described him in a message read out by director K.S. Ravikumar in his conspicuous absence. S.S.Rajendran, Nagesh, Sivakumar, Sarojadevi, Manorama, Vairamuthu, Parthipan, Arjun, Satyaraj, Y.G.Mahendran were among those who walked up to talk about the late legend, striking an emotional chord with the crowd.

Huge sets were erected at the grounds, with the best of lighting and sound. Apart from a live light music band playing out the best from the times of Sivaji Ganesan, there were screens on either side of the stage, showing clippings from scenes that brought tears to many. And there were performances too as veteran Vijaykumar re-enacted the famous Kattabomman scene to pay his respects. Mohanlal came on to say he was short of words to describe the artiste and concluded saying that ``we belong to the Sivaji era, such has been dominance in the hearts of millions''.

Raghavendra Rajkumar, son of the veteran Kannada artiste Rajkumar, saying he was too small to talk about the legend, added that it would be impossible to sum up actor's achievements in a few words. And that run into hundreds of episodes, like the soaps on TV do, he said.

Among the performers were the veteran playback singer, P.Suseela, Devayani, actor Rajesh who did a bit of mimicry, Malaysia Vasudevan, Maheshwari, Mumtaaz, Swathi, Abhirami, Malgudi Subha and actress Vindhya. There was also a mimicry presentation by Chinni Jayanth and team that had the audience in splits.

By Sudhish Kamath

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Section  : Entertainment