Server Sundaram
Server Sundaram is a 1964 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Krishnan–Panju and produced by A. V. Meiyappan. The film stars Nagesh as the title character. Muthuraman and K. R. Vijaya play the other lead roles while Major Sundarrajan, S. N. Lakshmi and Manorama play supporting roles. It focuses on a hotel waiter who strives to reach greater heights after he becomes an actor to attain the love of his restaurateur's daughter.
The film was adapted from a 1963 play of the same name written by K. Balachander, with the play also featuring Nagesh himself in the title role along with Sundarrajan and Lakshmi who reprised their roles in the film. Balachander also wrote the screenplay for the film. Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy composed the film's soundtrack and background music, while Kannadasan, Vaali and V. Seetharaman wrote the lyrics for the soundtrack's songs.
Server Sundaram was released on 11 December 1964. It received critical acclaim, with praise directed mainly at Nagesh's performance and Balachander's screenplay. The film went on to become a commercial success, with a theatrical run of over 100 days. At the 12th National Film Awards, it won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil under the Certificate of Merit category, and the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil.
Server Sundaram earned Nagesh and Balachander their breakthrough in Tamil cinema and led to many successful collaborations between the two. It became the first Tamil film to show numerous behind-the-scenes looks at various processes involved in film-making such as the studio interiors and song recording. The film was remade into Hindi as Main Sunder Hoon and Kannada as Server Somanna.
Plot
Sundaram, a poor man, comes to Madras with aspirations of becoming a film actor. However, he ends up getting a job as a hotel waiter. While catering for a group of people who were going on an excursion to Mahabalipuram, he meets Radha, the daughter of his restaurateur, Chakravarthy and misinterprets her friendly nature as love and falls in love with her. In the meantime, Sundaram happens to meet his friend Raghavan, an influential businessman, in the restaurant. During their subsequent meetings, Sundaram tells Raghavan about his ambition to become an actor as well as his love for Radha, without mentioning her name. Raghavan genuinely believes that the girl reciprocates Sundaram's feelings and motivates Sundaram to express his love.When Raghavan is about to leave his house for a marriage proposal, Sundaram comes there and describes the girl he was talking about to Raghavan. Raghavan realises that Radha, whom he intends to marry, is the same girl Sundaram is in love with. Raghavan, believing that Radha loves Sundaram, decides to help Sundaram attain his love and get a chance to act in films, which he does successfully.
Sundaram becomes a star after his debut film becomes a success and believes that his stardom and popularity will help him in attaining his love. When Radha comes to Sundaram's house to congratulate him, he introduces her to Raghavan, who had come to visit Sundaram. As Sundaram goes to prepare snacks for the two, Radha asks Raghavan why he did not show up for the marriage proposal. Raghavan states that he thought Radha loved Sundaram. Shocked, Radha tells Raghavan that she likes Sundaram for his innocence, although she does not love him. Raghavan is pleasantly surprised, but to ensure that Sundaram's film career does not suffer from discovering the truth, he asks Radha to keep it a secret.
Sundaram's mother is pleased with her son's popularity but misses his presence due to Sundaram's busy acting career. She expresses to Sundaram her desire that she should die in his arms. When Raghavan believes that Sundaram will gradually forget Radha so that he and Radha can get married, he discovers that Sundaram's love for Radha is stronger. Raghavan then informs Radha that she should marry Sundaram, as Raghavan does not want to backstab his friend. Radha instead decides to personally express her feelings to Sundaram. When Sundaram expresses his love to Radha, she tells him that she never imagined that he would assume her friendly affection towards him as love and that Raghavan is her fiancé. Sundaram, shattered on losing his love, is also happy on hearing that Raghavan would marry her and congratulates Raghavan.
While Sundaram is busy shooting for the climax scene of a film, his mother falls down the footsteps of her home and is badly wounded. Sundaram's manager tries to convey the news to Sundaram, but is blocked by the studio authorities who inform him that the director has instructed them not to allow anyone inside. After finishing his shot, Sundaram hears of the news about his mother and rushes home, only to learn that she has died. He regrets being an actor.
Later at Raghavan and Radha's marriage ceremony, Sundaram changes to his old uniform, that of a hotel waiter. When Raghavan orders Sundaram to remove the guise, Sundaram tells him that only the actor's role was a guise, and he has never felt the peace of mind he had as a waiter elsewhere.
Cast
;Male cast- Nagesh as Sundaram
- Muthuraman as Raghavan
- Major Sundarrajan as Chakravarthy
- K. R. Vijaya as Radha
- S. N. Lakshmi as Sundaram's mother
- Manorama as Kantha
Production
Development
In 1958, K. Balachander, then a playwright, established a theatre troupe named Ragini Recreations. Comedian Nagesh asked Balachander to give him a role in his plays, and Balachander assured him that he would write one featuring Nagesh as the main character, which became Server Sundaram. The play, a comedy drama, was first staged in 1963. Balachander stated that he wrote the story of Server Sundaram for Nagesh after watching his dramatic performance in the film Naanum Oru Penn. He recalled in 2009 that when he wrote Server Sundaram with Nagesh in mind, he suffered anxious moments: "I was convinced of the story, but there was a risk in promoting Nagesh, but I pulled it off".A. V. Meiyappan, the founder of AVM Productions, desired to produce the play as a film, but before he could, the director duo Krishnan–Panju, after watching the play once, went on stage and announced that they would direct its film adaptation, and paid Balachander an advance. Nevertheless, the play's namesake film adaptation was produced by Guhan Films, a subsidiary of AVM. Balachander was recruited as the film's screenwriter, and initially had a keen interest in directing it himself. He said the script was "tailored" for Nagesh, contrary to AVM's general practice of choosing actors for already completed scripts.
Casting and filming
Nagesh, who starred as the title character in the play, reprised his role in the film along with Major Sundarrajan and S. N. Lakshmi. Sundarrajan played the restaurateur and the female lead's father, and Lakshmi played Sundaram's mother. After watching the play, Krishnan–Panju said, "If this play is ever made into a film, then Sundarrajan must play the father's role". Meiyappan accepted the inclusion of Nagesh in the film after watching his performance in the play. Nagesh, who in turn was impressed with Lakshmi's performance in the play, asked Balachander to have Meiyappan include her in the film. K. R. Vijaya was cast as Sundaram's love interest Radha, and Muthuraman as his friend Raghavan, reprising the roles played by Shobha and Raja on stage. Vijaya was chosen after many actresses refused to pair with Nagesh. Goundamani, who later became a successful comedian in Tamil cinema, made his acting debut with this film in an uncredited, non-speaking role. Balachander, who portrayed a small part as cleaner in the play, reprised his role in the film; however his scenes were deleted to accommodate the film's length.Server Sundaram was the first Tamil film to show numerous behind-the-scenes looks at the various processes involved in filmmaking such as the studio interiors, song recording, horse riding scenes and rain scenes. It was also notable for not featuring an antagonist. In one sequence, Manorama is seen as an actress performing a scene for a film directed by S. V. Ranga Rao's character, using the concept of a film-within-a-film. Cinematography was handled by S. Maruti Rao, and Panju edited the film under the pseudonym "Panjabi", with R. Vittal as co-editor. Server Sundaram was publicised with a still of Nagesh holding many cups and saucers, but the film initially had no such scene. After Meiyappan finished watching the final cut, upon his request it was added to the film. The final length of the film was.