As it turned out, the character came very close to the man himself. An ardent devotee of Swamy Ayyappan, Nambiar had been making the annual journey to Sabarimala for 65 years. At least the title of Maha Guruswamy had been bestowed upon him.
In truth, no one who saw him in real life could deny that his life, far from the excesses which he brought to films, was anything but one of iron discipline.
His penchant for health conscious diets, yogic practices and almost spartan living made their way out largely after he'd started playing so-called 'good' characters. What a marked departure for a man who had come to redefine Tamil cinema's screen villain so perfectly!
He'd acted in more than 1000 films, Hindi and English included (Jungle in English), but very few knew what he really wanted to play, or his idea of the role of a lifetime.
Many might consider his movies with MGR capable of satisfying every creative urge. But considering what M N Nambiar was truly capable of, you'd have to wonder if our cinema really did get the best of him.
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