K Sarangkapani

K Sarangkapani was a famous Tamil supporting actor. He was born in the year 1904 at Kumbakonam to an Isai Vellalar family. He had three brothers- Periya Rajanna, Chinna Rajanna (Nadaswara Vidwaan) and Thambusamy (Miruthangam Vidwaan). He also had an elder sister named Ambammal. He was youngest among his siblings. His father's name was Soundararajan and mother's name was Jagadambal. He got married to Thayalnayaki and had three sons and a daughter. Inspired by the freedom movement political icons, he named his sons- Gandhi Padmanabhan, Subhash Chandra Bose Click to look into! >> Read More... while he named his daughters- Vijayalakshmi Pandit and Bhaskara Patel respectively. Since his early childhood, the actor trained himself in acting, dancing, and singing.

Also, during his early days, he used to perform the role of women and post that he went on to perform comedy and lead roles in many dramas. He also travelled frequently around the state and neighbouring country Sri Lanka while working with Nawab Rajamanikam Pillai Company. Sarangkapani got his first big break in the movies while performing at Devi Bala Vinodha Sangeetha Sabha in Coimbatore. He mainly performed comedy roles in the movies and seldom performed leading hero oriented roles. He made his debut with the movie 'Bhaktha Ramadas' in the year 1935. This film had no female actors and all the roles were played by men cast members. He starred in many short films which during that time were known as ‘farces.' These used to be played along with the main movie.

He played the lead role in many movies, like "Rambaiyin Kaathal" and he was also one of the lead stars in AVM production "Sabapathi". In spite of being engrossed in doing Tamil movies, he continued to work in many successful dramas. In his entire career span, he worked in whopping twenty-two films. His films ranged from devotional to family drama genre. He was very religious and used to visit temples and other holy pilgrimages quite frequently. He was a committed supporter of Congress party but he shared good relations with the members of the rest of the political parties. He used to show his support towards Mahatma Gandhi by wearing khadi clothes and Gandhi cap. He was also awarded the Tamil Nadu State Award – Kalaimamani for the year 1964.In the year 1982, he was also given "Raja Sando" Award for his lifetime contribution to the Films by His Excellency Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy. His last movie was "Thilana Mohanambal" in which he played the role of Sakthivel who was just another Thavil player in Sundaram's troupe. He died in the year 1968 in Chennai.