Krishnamachari Kannan more popularly known as Bombay Kannan (74) is a multi-faceted theatre personality who has acted in more than 3000 stage shows, written over 20 plays some of which he directed. He was also active in AIR and Doordarshan early in his stage career. He was running a regular stage troupe called NAADAHAKKAARAN staging plays first in Bombay and later in Chennai. After foraying into telefilms he got into producing audiobooks in 2010.
I asked him how he got `Bombay` prefixed to his
name though he had spent only 8 years in Bombay. His answer: “I went to Bombay
on transfer to the Central Bank of India which I had joined in 1972. After 8
years in Bombay when I came back to Chennai in 1984 there were many
Kannans in the theatre and for easy identification I was called Kannan
from Bombay. One morning I saw in the Hindu engagement column my name
being referred to as Bombay Kannan. Since then I have been known as Bombay
Kannan. Nowadays even my close relatives only identify me over the phone
as Bombay Kannan.”
Kannan`s life story is one of mad pursuit of a
passion for the stage at the cost of a successful career as a banker. He was
born as the youngest of four siblings. His father was working with Parry
& Co. Kannan had his schooling in Nagapattinam and went to Vivekananda
College in Chennai to get a degree in Botany.
“I was interested in acting right from my school
days. My debut on stage took place at the age of 8 when I danced with my
sister as Lord Krishna. My full-fledged stage appearance happened inside a
Perumal Koil in Nagapattinam when I was 12. It ended up sadly as my throat was
choked and I could not utter a single word “
The real break came when he took on the role of
the heroine in a play staged by his college in an inter-collegiate drama
competition held at Guindy Engineering College.
Kannan says, “In Guindy Engineering College some
of the students mistook me to be a girl and were hesitant to shake hands with
me while appreciating my acting. That was the first reward for my acting. Then
came my first stage appearance in public at Puttaparthi before Sathya Sai
Baba on his birthday in 1968. I owe this to T S Narayansamy of Doordarshan fame
who had immense confidence in me to give the title role in his play Krishna
Vijayam when I was only 17. He was my first mentor and guru”
Since then the stage has become his passion. He
joined UAA, the famous troupe of YGP in 1970. His debut play was Flight 172.
His mentors there were YGP and ARS, the director. He acted in many plays of
this troupe before he became a writer.
“My first script was for Doordarshan, Chennai in
1977. The play was titled KANAVU KANDA KAATCHI. A suspense thriller in
which ARS acted in the lead role and Shri Gopalie was the
producer/director”
His first stage play script was SAKTHI PIRAKKUTHU
MOOCHINILEY produced and directed by him and was staged in Bombay in 1981. His
hilarious play IRU VEEDU ORU VAASAL written & directed by him was staged
over 75 times. Kannan got the Best Director award for this play from Mylapore
Academy
Kannan is also proud of his play JUST A
SECOND PLEASE, which was a 50% autobiography in which he portrayed God
differently. This play was appreciated by many stalwarts and won him the Best
Play Award from Mylapore Academy.
While playing Sherlock Sharmaji, a tele serial
won him the `best all-rounder on stage award` `Chakravayugam` a play by
the popular writer K.K.Raman, fetched him the best director award- both from
Mylapore Academy.
While he was busy leading a double life as a
banker and a stage artist, he got married to Subhadra in 1976. She was fresh
out of college and had not taken up any job. Their first daughter was born in
1977 and the second in 1985.
After spending 24 years in the bank, where he was
working as a branch manager, he took voluntary retirement at the age of 45 in
1996 and plunged full-time into the creative field hoping to make it big in his
chosen field.
Kannan stopped acting in stage plays in 2005 and
started producing Teleplays based on his own and other popular stories and sold
them in the market in DVD/VCD formats. He claims to be the first person to
produce exclusively for home video segment teleplays with popular artists like
Delhi Ganesh, Achi Manorama, Kathadi Ramamurthy, Meera
Krishnan, Vaiyapuri, Sonia, Kamlesh, Manager Cheena etc. He also
converted novels of Bhaggiam Ramasami’s `Appusamiyum Africa
Azhagiyuum`, Sujatha’s `Mama Vijayam`, Komal Swaminathan’s `Atchi
Maatram` etc. into teleplays.
Hearing about his teleplays Pooram
Sathyamurthy, a literary writer requested him to make an audio version of his
short stories as he had lost his vision and could not read his own
stories. That was the beginning of his reputation as a pioneer in
producing audiobooks in Tamil using multiple voices with music scores and surround
sound effects.
“The appreciation I got for the three volumes of
Pooram's short stories was a catalyst for continuing my audiobook initiative. I
decided to make Kalki`s Sivagamiyin Sabatham into an Audiobook as my
attempt to make it into a Telefilm had failed “ says Kannan.
“Sivagamiyin Sabatham Audiobook was a big hit and
hearing the audio Mr C K Venkataraman of Bangalore, an ardent fan of Kalki,
wanted me to produce Ponniyin Selvan in audiobook form and was willing to
invest his money in the project. Later he joined me as a partner giving birth
to the production house called ` Ponniyin Selvan and Friends` “
Ponniyin Selvan was a marathon project in which
60 popular artists lent their voices. Sathyaseelan was the music director who
tuned 15 songs of Kalki as well as Ilango Adigal to suit the audio
format. It took six months of hard work by Kannan. The audiobook was split into
293 chapters ( episodes) so that the buyers could stop listening to the
story after any chapter and continue listening from the next chapter, later.
Ponniyin Selvan audio book was launched at a mega
function on 14th June 2013 at Narada Gana Sabha with Nalli
Kuppuswamy Chettiar as the chief guest, attended by many other luminaries from
the creative world. The hall was overflowing with enthusiastic readers of Kalki
prompting the Chief Guest to comment “ I have never seen this kind of crowd for
any book launch” The complete set was priced at Rs 600 per set. 150 sets were
sold at the launch function. Since then it has sold over 2000 sets.
“Our major clients are visually challenged people
who cannot read Tamil and others who do not have time to read printed
books”
Motivated by the phenomenal success of PS
audiobooks, Kannan produced audiobooks based on stories of many other popular
writers earning him the reputation as `A Legend of Tamil audiobook
industry`
“ In recent years the audiobook industry has seen
a downward trend. Besides, mine is a one-man show because of which I have no
time or budget to promote the books aggressively. I discontinued producing
audiobooks two years ago” says Kannan.
What made him produce his first documentary
`Arangayanam`, which is receiving wide appreciation from invited audiences to
which it is screened?
“ When I produced the audiobook based on Sri
Venugoplan`s `Thiruvaranga Ula`, the history behind the novel moved me. It
talked about how thousands of people sacrificed their lives over 48 years to
safeguard the idol of Ranaganatha during the invasion of Srirangam by Thuglak
700 years back.I decided to make a full-fledged documentary based on this story
and visited all the places where Ranganatha`s idol was taken to protect it from
the invaders. Extensive research on the subject helped me come up with an
interesting story for my documentary. I funded the entire cost of production
from my savings. This documentary which took 18 months to produce runs for 2
hours and 45 minutes and is shown to invited audiences at Sabhas, Clubs, and
other institutions that have members who are interested in the subject. The
documentary is also available as Pendrives which are sold at the venues
of the shows.”
“ It is interesting that I though I visited Srianagm several times during the
shooting of Aranagayanam, for some reason or the other I could not get the
darshan of Lord Ranganatha, though my wife who accompanied me got
the darshan every time,” says Kannan
“When I quit my job to pursue a creative
career, I was not sure if I was making the right decision. But my wife
encouraged me and was a pillar of strength to me. Without her active
support and tolerance, I would not have been able to face the ups and
downs I went through and achieve whatever I did in the last three
decades. I lost her 2 years back and my confidence & enthusiasm for
my work have been shaken up. However I am continuing to keep myself busy
with new projects,`
Kannan`s next documentary project is on the life
and preachings of Ramanuja, the much revered social reformer, the shooting for
which is almost complete. He is also planning to revisit the tele serial on
Sivagamiyin Sabhatham, a project which he had abandoned earlier.
His two daughters, both brilliant students with
successful careers are living with their families- one in the
Australia and another in Chennai who are providing the moral support he badly
needs.
Let us wish Kannan all the best in his new
projects.
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