February 03, 2009
 

On Nagesh's death

Less than a month after I wrote about Apoorva Sahodarargal, the superb actor Nagesh died a couple of days ago.

I can never forget his ability to have the audience in so many moods perhaps in the same scene. He could make you laugh (several!), cry (Edhir Neechal), enjoy (his dancing) and reflect ('Server' Sundaram).

I guess an indication of how enthralling I found him is that he's one of the few actors in Indian cinema whose scenes I stop & watch, dropping just about anything I'm doing. This, mind you, is even if I've seen the same scene dozens or hundreds of times before!

There are probably around a dozen other Indian movie actors who make me stop & watch them in action (listed in ascending order of first name) - Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan (1970s-1980s), Kamal Haasan, Manorama, Mohanlal, MR Radha, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Savitri, Sivaji Ganesan, Smita Patil & Utpal Dutt.

I'd say Nagesh is no less than any of the other names on that list!

Labels: death, movies, nagesh, tamil