A.S.A.Samy was the legend who brought former Chief Ministers M.G.Ramachandran and M.Karunanidhi on screen together through the famous Jupiter Pictures production " Rajakumari " in the year 1948. While A.S.A.Samy used to felicitate M.Karunanidhi in person on each of his birthdays he maintained a rapport with M.G.R too. Both of them used to call each other " Andavare ". Arul Soosai Anthony Samy, popularly known as A.S.A.Samy was born to Annammal and Soosaiappa Pillai in Ceylon in the year 1915. His father Soosaiappa Pillai was an accountant in a tea estate and the intelligent A.S.A.Samy did his B.A.Hons accredited by the famous Oxford University in Ceylon. The famous movie director spoke top class English and Sinhalese. He was the Charter Member on the Ceylon National Congress while also serving as an office bearer in the Tamil Tea Estate Workers Union but his application for citizenship was rejected on the basis of a flimsy excuse which stated that his parents were not born in Ceylon.
The bright youngster who was never formally taught Tamil but was a good dramatist who presented a number of plays at Ceylon and he continued being so even after settling down at Palayamkottai near Tirunelveli. His 3 hour play " Bilhanan " was made into an 1 hour programme and broadcast by the All India Radio ( AIR ) at Trichy and the T.K.S. Brothers happened to be part of radio audience who enjoyed the play. A.S.A.Samy was approached by them and they wanted a 3 hour script and were pleasantly surprised to learn that it was the original duration. The play became an instant hit and it brought Jupiter Pictures S.K.Moideen and Somu to watch it. They invited A.S.A.Samy to join them as a script writer and providence made him a director while he was assisting Nadkarni during the making of the movie "Rani". A.S.A. Samy had to complete the movie, for Nadkarni had taken ill at the later stage of production. Having seen his good work, the producers at Jupiter gave him the chance to do "Rajakumari" and it became a run away hit. The same combination did amazingly well in the movie "Arasilangkumari" later. Eventually the combination of Jupiter and A.S.A.Samy became very successful and the famous director worked with former Chief Minister C.N.Annadurai in the movie "Velaikari" a social topic but path breaking at a time when movies were made only on historical or mythological subjects. "Velaikari" was a success and laid the foundation for movies like "Parasakthi" that was scripted by M.Karunanidhi.
"Anna used to sit down on the floor and write just 4 or 5 lines on a full scap paper. He used to write fast and push the written sheet off in a frenetic pace. My father used to pick up the papers, number them and pile them up. Those were historic moments when we stayed at the lines of the Central Studios (Singanallur) in Coimbatore. Later Jupiter moved to Chennai, settled down at Neptune Studios and made movies like "Karpukarasi", "Arasilangkumari" and "Thanga Padhumai" with my father. Actress Padmini used to always state that "Thanga Padhumai" had defined her cine career and she had starred with Sivaji Ganesan in the same, "stated a brisk Soundararajan, the Loyola College educated second son of A.S.A.Samy. Thayammal and A.S.A.Samy were blessed with 2 sons and the first one was Late A.S.A.Balarajan.
"Father was a stickler for discipline and if there was a shoot at 9 AM , everyone had to be ready on the spot. He would always stick to his guns and this invariably brought in a lot of trouble for him. He had chosen a trapeze artist for the lengthy action based climax for the M.G.R starrer "Arasilangkumari" but the famous actor insisted on using another one chosen by him. This resulted in a difference of opinion and finally the climax was done without the involvement of my father. On one occasion when "Thanga Padhumai" recieved an award at New Delhi my father was unable to travel and recieve it due to the financial constraints faced by Jupiter Pictures. Finally my father reconciled with M.G.R while directing the movie "Anandha Jothi" by P.S.Veerappa where Devika was the heroine. He made the movie "Ponni " for S.M. Sriramulu Naidu and "Kaidhi Kannayiram" for Modern Pictures during his 25 year career which culminated at "Thirumagal", a Coimbatore production in the year 1969", added A.S.A.Soundararajan. He had served as an assistant cameraman to Rahman before joining the New India Assurance Company and he retired as its Regional Manager in Coimbatore after having served abroad too.
A.S.A.Samy was made the Head of the Department, Aesthetics at the Film Institute while he was well past age of retirement and therefore a special order had to passed for appointing him. It was at this time that he started falling ill. He suffered one heart attack and two strokes. After the second stroke he had to relax himself and therefore he settled down with both his sons eventually. He spent a lot of time with his wife, two sons, daughters in law and seven grandchildren later in life. A.S.A.Samy was instrumental in making the sound and light show at the Thirumalai Naicker Mahal in Madurai. He travelled to Phillips Holland in order to prepare the platform required for the show.
"Those were the days when we lived at Ashoka Road (Alwarpet) in Chennai on a six ground bungalow. Father loved dogs and we had two cooks who used to serve round the clock. Food was served in a 'pandhi'. In fact we the sons, had a chaperone called Amaravathi who used to be with us all the time. My maternal grandmother used to stay with us at home. Everyone was welcome home for a meal and a number of people who wanted a " chance " used to visit him with their plea. A number of talented people used to stay with us provided my father felt so and Ayya Pillai was one of them who had later made a break with M.M.A.Chinnappa Thevar. Father was an excellent photographer and cricket lover too. We had cars like Buick, Pontiac and Studibaker. Parker kind of pens were used by him. He had a fully rose wood anoited office with a spool driven music system. It was here that he used to have a couple of drinks while asking me to play the songs of the movie that was being directed by him. He used to insist that the songs were played again and again. He just used to pay attention while visualising the picturisation and never made notes but he used to shoot the songs just based on the his memory. He believed that everyone was good and this cost him financially in life, " recalled A.S.A.Soundararajan.
"Father used to have knack of correcting a scene while shooting with the extremely talented Sivaji Ganesan. Whenever he had to do a retake, he used to state that 'thambhi, it was nice, aanal ippadi panninnal eppadi irrukkumnu parkalama' (it was nice but can we see how it is, if done in a different style). He used to make the artists share his vision and would go all the way while explaining in detail with the desire of getting the best out of them," added the enthusiastic A.S.A. Soundararajan.
On the occasion of the visit of Pope Paul VI to India, the Archdiocese of Madras Mylapore whose Bishop - Right Reverend Mathias Thomas asked A.S.A.Samy to prepare a Tamil drama in order to represent Tamilnadu at the International Eucharistic Congress at Mumbai. A.S.A.Soundararajan recalled the events that led to it winning the " Best Regional Presentation, " The play was called ' Saga of Sacrifice ' or ' Thyaga Bali ' in Tamil. It featured a dance and drama over two and a half hours. Over 100 actors came on stage at a point in the play and three compartments had to be booked in order to take the team to Mumbai. All the leading playback singers like T.M.Soundararajan, S.Janaki and P.Susheela rendered the songs free of charge and the songs were recorded at Chennai itself. The fabulous play was staged on a huge platform that was specially erected at the Don Bosco School at Matunga in Mumbai. This was a crowning glory for my father who was a remarkable man who had instilled a number of good things in me. It was all due to the Grace of the Lord Almighty."
A.S.A.Samy used to wear a dhoti and a South Indian jubba all the time. He was a proud Indian who loved his country. Patriotism and generosity were integral parts of his character. The legend who had worked with a number of Chief Ministers will forever be part of film history.