S. V. Sekar

10-15 years ago, S. V. Sekar was a rage down in Tamilnadu and elsewhere in Tamil-speaking world with his witty and on-the-spot humorous jokes. He was something close to a stand-up comedian successful in stage drama, and to some extent in films too. His jokes were very timely, and cheeky at times.

Along with songs, full-length movie dialog cassettes (like Tiruvilayadal, Capt Prabhakaran, Saraswathi Sabatham), all S. V. Sekar drama cassettes were selling in full swing.

If I remember right, Crazy Thieves in Palavakkam was his first drama cassette to be released. It was such a big hit. And then, many of his dramas were hit. It was the time when private serials were being made for TV Channel (Note there is no plural, we had only DD), and his 'Vana kolangal' was a completely hilarious TV serial that was a major hit. I remember recorded video cassettes were being sold then, and many people bought them.

In our house, every night before going to sleep, we will play a S. V. Sekar drama audio cassette and go to sleep laughing all the way.

His dramas up to recent times till Periappa were quite good and attracted audiences to the drama halls despite the invasion of private channels. That was S. V. Sekar.

While S.V. Sekar was very timely, he also had good script writers with him – initially Gopu-Babu and then Venkat. After doing Periappa, I think he parted ways with Venkat also. He wrote his own script and story which were bordering on being frivolous and lacked the witty storyline, he used to have. He was a phenomenon for nearly 15 years in stage drama.

Now-a-days we don't get to see much of S.V.Sekar, we hear a lot about Ess. Vee. Shekhar not in drama field or movie, but on political front. But his drama and some of his characters are still admired by many.

Some of his good dramas, which I like, are:
-- Vaal Paiyan
-- 1000 uthai vaangiya aboorva sigamani
-- One more exorcist
-- Crazy thieves in Palavakkam
-- Mahabarathathil mangatha (Kunthikinay remmy vilayadalaam…enna, kunthi deviyaarudana?)

Can't recollect more, but there are many more, am sure.

And the movies,
-- Simla Special
-- Poovay poochuda vaa
-- Thangamani Rangamani
-- Another movie with Mohan – totally hilarious – forgot the name
-- And with Pandiarajan – ''Gaja ka dosth'' – name again forgotten

He was also highly timely and gave Kamalhassan an equal performance.