The first major criminal story to rock the Indian film industry was the Lakshmikanthan murder case in 1944. A film journalist, Lakshmikanthan wrote salacious articles about film actors in a magazine called Hindu Nesan. The journalist was murdered by a group of assailants, who claimed it was under the orders of a few famous people, namely MK Thyagaraja Bagavathar, one of the most famous singing stars of Cinema and Comedian N S Krishnan. Back then, ‘Quotation’ was not the preferred word for a hired goon. The murder and subsequent trail happened during the last days of the British Raj and the Tamil film industry was actively involved in the freedom struggle. Both, MK Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and NK Krishnan, were convicted and went to prison for thirty months.
There was a huge uproar. Some sections of the media reported that the case had several loopholes. The famous lawyer D N Pritt argued for them in the Privy Council in London and they were acquitted.
The arrest adversely affected MK Thyagaraja Bagavathar’s career. The singing star of the mythological films was at sea when he was asked to mouth loud melodramatic dialogues in family dramas.
There was also an unseen force working against MK Thyagaraja Bagavathar. He chose not to align himself with a new breed of screenwriters, who were atheists, and would later lead the Dravidian political parties. Bagavathar chose God and Bhakti. He had no supporters in the changed film industry and his attempts at making a comeback were a disaster. Having lost his fame and fortune, he had to make ends meet singing devotional concerts in small temple towns until the very end of his life.
N S Krishnan fared a little better because of his political choice of backing the Dravidian movement but he, too, could never gain the kind of fame he once possessed.
Does the real life image of the actor affect his onscreen persona? Has the concept of crime and punishment changed in India?
How do the film industry, the judiciary, the media and public opinion react when famous actors are involved in a crime? Well, a lot has changed in seventy years.