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Late S. Narayana Iyer of Srirangam, father of Rajee Narayan was a man of many talents. He had joined HMV Music Company as the first representative of the Tamil Nadu region. To make popular the musical ‘LP’ records of the company, he had formed The Shining Star Society with his children, i.e. seven sons and four daughters and many other artistes.
It is to his credit that he released several Tamil plays in records, which became extremely popular. The first record was a play called Parvathi Parinayam which was recorded at a studio in Mumbai, since there were no studios in Chennai then. When a studio was set up in Bangalore, he recorded a few plays there, before starting to record in his own city. The Shining Star Society released about 35 full-length plays, comprising three to five records each. Also to its credit are 8 small plays in single records, some bhajans, miscellaneous songs and music recitals.
Narayana Iyer in association with Sri Ponnambalam, Sri Viswanathan and Sri J. C. Chinna produced a few movies, like Ekanathar, Sakthi Maya and Bala Bhaktan. Rajee played the role of the saint's daughter in Sant Eknath, 1937. He not only produced these films, but also did the screenplay, dialogues and songs. His assistants were Sri E.S. Sethumadhava Rao and Sri Rajappa. Alongwith various artistes of those times, his children would involve themselves in his productions as actors, whilst his second son became a music director. Six of his sons had already been doing leading roles in many plays, with the renowned troupes of Sri V.C. Gopalaratnam, Sri Sambanda Mudaliar and the theatre group of Suguna Vilasa Sabha.
Rajee's mother, Gangammal was a well-known singer of her times. She would sing alongwith Dharma Chandrika Smt. Kadappai Lakshmiammal, the first lady Harikatha exponent. Before she started to sing independently in her discourses, Smt. Saraswatibai would also join them. Gangammal was well known for being the only housewife who knew the maximum number of Thyagaraja's compositions, padams and javalis.
Rajee's eldest brother, studying for his FRCS in London in 1932, was the first Tamilian to sing Tamil songs in praise of Mahatma Gandhi for BBC and at the HMV headquarters in London. Her third brother had enacted and sung his own compositions in the title role in Prahalladar, alongwith artistes like golden Saradambal and Sri T.S. Parthasarathy. In later years, he acted in a few movies like Gemini Productions' Madanakamarajan as the mantri kumaran, En Magan, Thyagi etc. Smt. Rajee's fourth brother, Sri N. Ramamurthy played the Khol in HMV's Orchestra, under the direction of Sri Chinnaiya and Sri C.R. Subbaraman. He has played several instruments in movies like Meera, which had Smt. M.S. Subbalakshmi in the title role and Nandanar by Sri M.M. Dandapani Desikar. In later years, he became a prolific singer of Tevaram, Tiruvachakam etc. for the Dharmapura Aadheenam.
One of Rajee's sisters, Smt. Neela Balasubramaniam was the founder-director of Nataraja Natya Niketan, Chennai. Another sister, Smt. Sulochana Mahadevan gave vocal concerts on the radio and television, until her demise at the age of 80. Both these sisters were honoured with titles like Natya Nadiga Tilakam and Spashta Gana Kalamani respectively, by Smt. Vy Mu. Kodainayagiammal and Smt. Saraswathibai.
The next generation of Narayana Iyer's family continues its involvement with the performing arts. Rajee's niece, Smt. Gowri Rajagopal was recently honoured with the title of Kalaimamani for Harikatha Kaalakshepam, in Chennai. Another niece, who is also her adopted daughter and disciple,
Mala Murli is a well known Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher in New Delhi.
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S. Narayana Iyer
Gangammal
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