Superstar Rajini and Kamal commended actor Y.Gee.Mahendra and his UAA troupe on the occasion of the 100th show of its play ‘Swadeshi Aiyar’ here on Friday.

Lauding Mahendra for conveying a valuable message in an entertaining manner, actor Rajinikanth recalled the late seventies and early eighties when they worked together in several films.

“My friend Mahendra was the only comedian then. But, despite the demand for him in films, he was passionate about theatre,” he said.

Observing that it was a very interesting time for Tamil theatre, he said: “Even our guru KB sir [K.Balachander] has recently staged a play. It is a great feeling, because that is where we belong,” he added.

Actor Kamal Haasan also said that “everybody was in a mood for theatre.”

On the play, which is on a contemporary family being transported to 1945 through a time machine, he said all actors performed remarkably well.

Thuglak editor ‘Cho’ S. Ramaswamy lauded Mahendra for his dedication to theatre. Director Balumahendra said that after watching the play, he was tempted to go back in time, particularly on seeing Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Gowthami and Mahendra, with whom he had earlier worked .

N.Murali, Managing Director, The Hindu, said that Mahendra’s father Y.G.Parthasarathy had revolutionised Tamil theatre and explored a new genre with good humour and caste-less subjects. “Mrs.YGP’s work in the field of education and fine arts is legendary.”

He commended Mahendra for his “magnum opus Swadeshi Aiyar”.

The play has been scripted by ‘Chitralaya’ Sriram, and directed by Mahendra, who plays the lead role.

Tamil Stars dominating in Tollywood!

Nowadays Tollywood is becoming as the most flexible and tolerable industry which encouraged regional crossovers.

Maharashtrians, Bengalis, Malyalees, Kannadigas – actresses and actors from almost all over India have tested waters in the industry, but the most successful lot, especially when it comes to breaking the male bastion, have been the Tamil stars.

Actors like Superstar Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and Kartick tasted big success in Tollywood and now Gen Z Tamil stars – Arya and Shaam – have arrived to try their luck.

Shouldn’t be a daunting task, for among the newer crop of Kollywood imports, actor Siddharth has already shown the way. The actor who debuted in Tamil with Boys arrived in Tollywood with Nuvvu Vasthanante Ne Vadhantana and carved a niche for himself.

“With my sixth film Oye, all set to release, I think I am qualified to be branded a Tollywood actor,” says Siddarth. “Audiences were craving for a particular kind of cinema and I fitted into their scheme of things and apparently they gifted me stardom,” he says.

New entrant Arya cites a similar reason but then we heard he was paid a bomb. Was money the prime reason? He quickly rebuts, “More than the money, I was impressed by the role that was well-crafted.” He also says that it is too early for him to plan an innings in Tollywood. “First, let me gauge the response from the audience and then I will decide,” he adds.

Director Gunasekar, who cast Arya as an arch rival to hotshot Allu Arjun in the film has his reasons for casting the Tamil star. “The role shaped up into a prominent one, so I was reluctant to sign a familiar actor. I lost a couple of months but I eventually found my actor, after watching the Tamil film Naan Kadavul. Arya is good-looking as well as talented and fits the role to the T,” he explains. Well, good roles or otherwise, Tollywood seems to be the chosen destination for Tamil actors.

For quite a few decades, Tamil stars have been dabbling in Tollywood films to expand their horizons. Ace actor Kamal Haasan made waves in Telugu with hits like Maro Charitra, Sagara Sangamam and Swathi Muthyam. Now after a long hiatus, he is making a Telugu film Eenadu with Venkatesh as his co-star to regain his stardom. Superstar Rajinkanth did a couple of Telugu films like Jeevana Poratam and his ‘special appearance’ in Peddarayadu created ripples, but his last Telugu film Kathanayakudu bombed. Even Tamil star Kartick had his share of success with Anveshana and Abhinandana.

Keeping up with this trend, Tamil star Shaam is all geared for his debut on the Telugu screen with racy entertainer Kick. “I play a cop and I enjoyed doing the anger-driven role,” he says, without giving a hint of his plans.