1945 Hyderabad, India

Rajagopalan Natesan

Born in 1940

Hyderabad, India

Interviewed on February 3, 2025

by Uma Sivakumar

What was the first movie you remember seeing?

The first movie I remember seeing was when I was taken to a tent theater when I was just 5 years old. Normally, our family rarely goes to films, but this particular film, which was called Bala Nagamma, was very popular. All the neighbors had seen it and they went on prodding and urging my mother to go and see the film, so the entire family got ready one day. Going to a film was like going to a picnic. They all prepared so many eatables to take to the theater. Films were very long in those days – a 3 hour stretch with an interval after 1 ½ hours at which time we used to take snacks. I remember the family getting together, preparing all of the food, and trooping to the theater. I was, as I said, just 5 years old. The movie was full of magic. I was surprised how people were so interested in such kinds of movies. Now I am no longer surprised after having seen Harry Potter and other things. Even today, magic seems to hold such a great spell on people’s minds, so now it is no surprise. 

What do you remember about the movie?

I don’t remember all the details, but I do remember the point where I got completely scared. The story revolves around some princess. She celebrates the birth of her son. On that day, a magician somehow gets into the palace and he utters some horrible incantations in a very grotesque, raucous voice and throws some white powder. Immediately that princess is turned into a dog, and he simply chains the dog and walks away with it. At this particular point, I was so scared I think I started crying because of the magician’s wild gestures and bizarre, raucous tones. I think the sudden switching over from human to dog scared me so much that I think I started crying and buried my head in my mother’s lap. It was a very long time before I started seeing again. At that time, I was told that the son had crossed the seven seas and that the magician’s heart was not inside his body, but inside a parrot that was far, far away, guarded by many devils. This small boy, I don’t remember the details, somehow overcomes all of the hurdles, crosses the seven seas, defeats those devils, and gets hold of the parrot. The magician, after taking the dog into his cave, converts the dog back into the princess and goes on urging her to marry him. The princess somehow is able to dodge the proposal by saying she has to undergo this vritam that is some kind of an observance of rituals. She says at the end of it, they will marry. She keeps on dodging, and this man keeps on trying. Now meanwhile, this boy is able to get hold of the parrot. Once he takes hold of the parrot he goes back to the magician and says “Release my mother!” The magician refuses. Immediately this boy takes out the parrot and rips out one of its feathers. The magician’s right hand falls. The boy rips out another feather, and the magician’s left hand falls. Finally, to make a long story short, he crushes the parrot, and the magician falls dead. He rescues his mother and they go back to the palace and everything ends well. This I partly remember and partly the story was told to me later on because I hardly saw the movie. After that scare, I dared not look at that magician again! *laughs* It was a very scary experience because the film was full of this magic and all kinds of incantations, and it was really something unnatural. That was my first experience of movies. 

What did you think of the characters and actors?

At that time, I don’t think I had much of an ability to analyze characters, but in retrospect, I think the guy that acted as the magician was an extraordinary actor because his gestures, grotesque face, and raucous voice just creates fear in everyone. People watched in pindrop silence. I think he would have been an extraordinarily good actor. I don’t even remember his name now, but his acting was very good. The same thing I think of the acting of that small boy. A real small boy was somehow trained to take the part of the prince, and he goes on crossing the seven seas and at the end of it all he was able to finish the magician, so his acting was also superb. The rest of the characters didn’t have much of a role to play. It was mostly the small boy and the magician, and they played their roles in a very natural manner. 

Who was with you?

My mother was there, my sisters were there, and 2 of my brothers were there. It was a big retinue, my entire family practically was there. My father did not come. He had to go to the office. We went to an afternoon show. The show was to start at 2 o’clock and it would end at about 5:30 in the evening, so my father was not available, but I think practically all others were there. 

What was your favorite food at the movie?

I remember during the interval, eating all the eatables very avidly. They prepared sweets like mysore pak and also items like seedai and murukku. All of these items we carried to the theater. Definitely, I was given an extra quantity just to put me at ease, because I was troubling my mother all the time, distracting her. At one point I was telling her “let us go.” 

How did you get to the theater?

We walked. The theater was hardly a mile and a half from our home. It was a tent since in those days, these regular theaters were not common. These films were screened in tents, and after the screening the tent would be taken away. Also, we used to sit on the floor. There were no chairs. It was sometime in the month of July. By the way, it was a Telugu movie. All my family members were very fluent in Telugu, and they were comfortable watching it. 

I am incredibly lucky to have Rajagopalan Natesan as my maternal grandfather.