Smt. Rajee Narayan's father was the late Sri S. Narayana Iyer of Srirangam. He had joined the HMV music company as the first representative of the Tamil Nadu region. To popularise the 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 in those days. 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 performances.
Sri Narayana Iyer in association with Sri Ponnambalam, Sri Viswanathan and Sri J. C. Chinna had produced the movies 'Ekanathar', 'Sakthi Maya' and 'Bala Bakthan' respectively.
[ Guru Rajee acts in the movie "Sant Eknath", as the saint's daughter - 1937 ]
He not only produced these films, he also did the screenplay, dialogues and songs himself. 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.
Smt. Rajee's mother, Smt. 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. Smt.Gangammal was well known for being the only housewife, who knew the maximum number of St. Thyagaraja's compositions, padams and javalis.
Smt. 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 the 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 had acted in some 10 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 Adheenam.
One of Smt. 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 fine arts run in their blood, so to speak. The next generations of Sri Narayana Iyer's family continue their involvement in the performing arts. Smt. Rajee's niece, Smt. Gowri Rajagopal was recently honoured with the title of 'Kalaimamani' for Harikatha Kalakshepam, in Chennai. Another niece, who is also her adopted daughter and student, Mala Murli is a reputed Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher in New Delhi.
