K. D. Santhanam

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K. D. Santhanam was an Indian actor, writer and lyricist who worked mainly in Tamil films.^[1][2]

He was a teacher at Madurai Sri Mangala Bala Gana Sabha training young boys in dramatics. He was known as a strict disciplinarian. He punished erring boys beating them with a cane, sometimes chasing the running boys. One of his students became a renowned actor later who acknowledged to his friends that it was due to the discipline of his tutor he was able to reach heights. The actor is Sivaji Ganesan. Later Santhanam has done minor character roles in which Sivaji Ganesan featured as the hero. This information has been recorded by writer Aroordas in his biography.

He is a character artiste and has featured in more than 100 films.

In Pasamalar, he featured as Rajaratnam, a village senior who arranges the marriage of Sivaji Ganesan with M. N. Rajam.

"Ahaa Enna Porutham" is a hit song from the film Ragasiya Police 115. In between the verses one can hear a commanding voice asking "Ange ennamma saththam?" (What is the noise there?). The voice is of Santhanam, who featured as Dhanapal Muthaliar (a filmmaker), father of Neela (Jayalalithaa) in the film.

He featured as the father of M. G. Ramachandran in the film Aasai Mugam.

During the 1950s, Tamil Cinema had a number of classic lyricists who enriched the films with their variety of songs. Udumalai Narayana Kavi and Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram wrote leftist oriented songs. A. Maruthakasi specialised in agricultural songs. Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam wrote melodious songs. Kannadasan wrote on life and philosophy. Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass wrote songs that appealed to the common man. Santhanam made his mark by writing songs with rhythmic flow known in Tamil as Santham.

A classic example of his "santham" song is "Thamizh Maalai Thanai Chooduvaal" from the film Ambikapathy. The sequence is: a poet takes up a challenge thrown by the King to sing 100 songs without referring to earthly pleasures, in order to win his daughter, the princess. Practically, in a film, it is impossible to sing 100 songs at a stretch. Santhanam wrote five songs for this scene. It was shown on screen using the running notation method. The fifth song becomes the 99th song. The poet gets excited. He sings the last five lines of the last verse in one breath. The word flow was such that it made the audience spellbound. This song is said to be the stamp song of Santhanam.

Music director Ilaiyaraaja once said that he got the inspiration for his song "Vaa Vennilla" from the film Mella Thirandhathu Kadhavu (1986) was a song written by Santhanam – "Vaan Meedhile Inba Thaen Maari Peyudhe" from the film Chandirani (1953).

His dance song "Laalu Laalu", written for the film Vijayakumari (1950) was rendered by Vyjayanthimala and became popular.^[3]

There are many noteworthy songs written by K. D. Santhanam.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2017)

Actor and Lyricist

Year	Film	Lyricist	Actor	Notes
1948	Gnana Soundari	Y		1 Song
1948	Vedhala Ulagam	Y
1949	Kanniyin Kaadhali	Y		2 Songs
1950	Parijatham	Y
1950	Vijayakumari	Y
1951	Kaithi	Y
1951	Mohana Sundaram	Y
1951	Sudharshan	Y
1952	Chinna Durai	Y
1952	Kaadhal	Y
1952	Velaikaran	Y
1953	Velaikari Magal	Y
1953	Azhagi	Y
1953	Chandirani	Y
1953	Devadas	Y
1953	Marumagal	Y
1954	Kalyanam Panniyum Brahmachari	Y	Y
1955	Gomathiyin Kaadhalan	Y	Y	as Sinnavely Zamindar
1955	Menaka	Y
1955	Mudhal Thethi	Y	Y
1957	Ambikapathy	Y	Y	as Sadayappa Vallal
1957	Chakravarthi Thirumagal	Y
1957	Manamagan Thevai	Y		as Ponnambalam
1958	Pathi Bakthi		Y	as Nallasivam Pillai
1958	Engal Kudumbam Perisu	Y
1959	Thaai Magalukku Kattiya Thaali	Y
1960	Aadavantha Deivam		Y	as Singaram Pillai
1960	Aalukkoru Veedu	Y
1960	Kadavulin Kuzhandhai	Y
1960	Kairasi		Y
1960	Kavalai Illaadha Manithan		Y	as Paramasivam
1960	Vijayapuri Veeran	Y
1961	Kumara Raja	Y
1961	Nallavan Vazhvan	Y
1961	Palum Pazhamum		Y	as Paramasivam
1961	Pasamalar		Y	as Paramasivam
1962	Aadi Perukku	Y	Y	as the publisher
1962	Senthamarai	Y
1963	Ezhai Pangalan		Y
1963	Kaanchi Thalaivan	Y
1964	Pasamum Nesamum		Y
1965	Aasai Mugam		Y	as Siva Shankaran Pillai
1965	Kalangarai Vilakkam		Y	as Neela's father
1968	Poovum Pottum		Y
1968	Ragasiya Police 115		Y	as Dhanapal Muthaliar
1969	Akka Thangai		Y	as Judge (Guest appearance)
1969	Vaa Raja Vaa		Y	as the elder sculptor
1970	Thirumalai Thenkumari		Y	as Chokkalingam, Tamil Professor
1971	Kankatchi		Y
1971	Kulama Gunama		Y
1972	Agathiyar	Y
1972	Sange Muzhangu		Y	as Judge in the final scene
1973	Karaikkal Ammaiyar	Y	Y	as Wealthy Leprosy patient
1973	Rajaraja Cholan	Y	Y	as the chief sculptor
1973	Thirumalai Deivam	Y
	Ilaya Thalaimurai
1977	Sri Krishna Leela	Y

1. Chinna Durai (1952)^[4]

• Film News Anandan (23 October 2004). Sadhanaigal Padaitha Thamizh Thiraipada Varalaru [History of Landmark Tamil Films] (in Tamil). Chennai: Sivakami Publishers.
• G. Neelamegam. Thiraikalanjiyam — Part 1 (in Tamil). Manivasagar Publishers, Chennai 108 (Ph:044 25361039). First edition December 2014.
• G. Neelamegam. Thiraikalanjiyam — Part 2 (in Tamil). Manivasagar Publishers, Chennai 108 (Ph:044 25361039). First edition November 2016.

• Krish. "Konjam Arattai Konjam Sharing" [Some Chat, Some Sharing] (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 14 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.

• K. D. Santhanam at IMDb