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Nadigar Sangam
The Nadigar Sangam (English: Actors' association), officially known as the South Indian Artistes' Association (Tamil: தென்னிந்திய நடிகர் சங்கம்), is a union for film, television, and stage actors in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, based in Chennai. Formed in 1952, the group has a charitable trust fund to provide pensions to retired actors, voices support for actors caught in controversy, and has collectively protested socio-political issues.
Elections in the Nadigar Sangam, which is made up of over 3000 members, are held once every three years to determine the president of the group. R. Sarathkumar, who had been elected unopposed three times since 2006 when former president Vijayakanth stepped down, was ousted after an election on 18 October 2015 by Nassar. The elections held in 2019 is under the scrutiny of the court and a special officer appointed by the government is now looking into the administrative roles of the sangam.
Film director K. Subrahmanyam, who had helped Sri Sathyamurthy start the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, was approached by actors R. M. Somasundaram, T. N. Sivathanu, N. N. Kannappa and Sattampillai Venkatraman to create a representative organization in Tamil Nadu for professional actors from South Indian cinema, since many filming studios of Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada cinema industries were also based in Madras (now Chennai) at the time. Subsequently, in August 1952, they launched the Junior Actors Association (Thunai Nadigar Sangam) for junior artistes. Thereafter, M. G. Ramachandran expressed his desire to join this group and insisted that there should be no difference amongst actors on the basis of seniority, and hence, it came to be called the Nadigar Sangam. As films from all the four southern languages were shot in Madras during that period, it was later renamed Thenn Indhiya Nadigar Sangam (South Indian Artistes Association). On 15 November 1952, it was registered as a society with rules and bylaws in place. K. Subrahmanyam and MGR donated money to help run this association, and began recruiting members. The founder-president was T. V. Sundaram, while the vice-presidents were MGR, S. D. Subbulakshmi, S. D. Sundaram and K. Vembu. The secretaries were T. N. Sivathanu and R. M. Somasundaram, while R. S. Manohar was appointed as the treasurer. The first member on its rolls, as of 1955, was N. N. Kannappa, and the next was M. R. Santhanam. In November 1955, a magazine, Nadigan Kural (The Voice of the Artiste) was started by MGR, who served as its first editor.
Over the following years, the society began to function and in February 1954, the first elections were held. The Sanga, organized railway concessions for drama artistes and paved the way for the introduction of bus services to the Kodambakkam studios, through the bus, 12B (Santhome to Kodambakkam) in 1955. A fund-raiser for cyclone relief was organized in December 1955 and at the event, plays and light music performances were organized.
The team purchased over 2,000 square feet (190 m2) of land on Habibulla Road in T Nagar, an affluent neighborhood in Madras (now Chennai). Upon Ramachandran's appointment as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1977, he approved the Nadigar Sangam's construction of a new building, comprising a preview theatre, a gym and an office space. Subsequently, upon opening of the Sankardas Swamigal auditorium, Sivaji Ganesan became its president and Major Sunderrajan, its secretary. By generating income through the building, Sivaji administered regular payment to poor artistes in the organization.
On 5 May 1987, a public charitable trust called the Nadigar Sangam Charitable Trust was registered, with founders of the trust being R. S. Manohar, N. S. Krishnan, and Radha Ravi. The trust was established to provide educational, medical and other forms of monetary assistance to needy members of the Nadigar Sangam.
During the late 1990s, pressure began to grow on incumbent leader Radharavi after allegations of financial wrongdoing. In October 1997, the film industry had a protest against the leadership.
Vijayakanth was elected unopposed as the President of the Nadigar Sangam in August 2000, while R. Sarathkumar was appointed as the General Secretary. Although members had called for a new committee to replace the existing group, several experienced members stayed on in roles. Vijayakanth's initial task was to clear up debt totalling over ₹2 crore. Soon after gaining power, the group's leaders met Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, and later asked their members not to work on films which may hurt the feelings of politicians, citing Iruvar (1997) and Desiya Geetham (1998) as examples. The remark was widely criticised for restricting freedom of expression.
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Nadigar Sangam
The Nadigar Sangam (English: Actors' association), officially known as the South Indian Artistes' Association (Tamil: தென்னிந்திய நடிகர் சங்கம்), is a union for film, television, and stage actors in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, based in Chennai. Formed in 1952, the group has a charitable trust fund to provide pensions to retired actors, voices support for actors caught in controversy, and has collectively protested socio-political issues.
Elections in the Nadigar Sangam, which is made up of over 3000 members, are held once every three years to determine the president of the group. R. Sarathkumar, who had been elected unopposed three times since 2006 when former president Vijayakanth stepped down, was ousted after an election on 18 October 2015 by Nassar. The elections held in 2019 is under the scrutiny of the court and a special officer appointed by the government is now looking into the administrative roles of the sangam.
Film director K. Subrahmanyam, who had helped Sri Sathyamurthy start the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, was approached by actors R. M. Somasundaram, T. N. Sivathanu, N. N. Kannappa and Sattampillai Venkatraman to create a representative organization in Tamil Nadu for professional actors from South Indian cinema, since many filming studios of Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada cinema industries were also based in Madras (now Chennai) at the time. Subsequently, in August 1952, they launched the Junior Actors Association (Thunai Nadigar Sangam) for junior artistes. Thereafter, M. G. Ramachandran expressed his desire to join this group and insisted that there should be no difference amongst actors on the basis of seniority, and hence, it came to be called the Nadigar Sangam. As films from all the four southern languages were shot in Madras during that period, it was later renamed Thenn Indhiya Nadigar Sangam (South Indian Artistes Association). On 15 November 1952, it was registered as a society with rules and bylaws in place. K. Subrahmanyam and MGR donated money to help run this association, and began recruiting members. The founder-president was T. V. Sundaram, while the vice-presidents were MGR, S. D. Subbulakshmi, S. D. Sundaram and K. Vembu. The secretaries were T. N. Sivathanu and R. M. Somasundaram, while R. S. Manohar was appointed as the treasurer. The first member on its rolls, as of 1955, was N. N. Kannappa, and the next was M. R. Santhanam. In November 1955, a magazine, Nadigan Kural (The Voice of the Artiste) was started by MGR, who served as its first editor.
Over the following years, the society began to function and in February 1954, the first elections were held. The Sanga, organized railway concessions for drama artistes and paved the way for the introduction of bus services to the Kodambakkam studios, through the bus, 12B (Santhome to Kodambakkam) in 1955. A fund-raiser for cyclone relief was organized in December 1955 and at the event, plays and light music performances were organized.
The team purchased over 2,000 square feet (190 m2) of land on Habibulla Road in T Nagar, an affluent neighborhood in Madras (now Chennai). Upon Ramachandran's appointment as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1977, he approved the Nadigar Sangam's construction of a new building, comprising a preview theatre, a gym and an office space. Subsequently, upon opening of the Sankardas Swamigal auditorium, Sivaji Ganesan became its president and Major Sunderrajan, its secretary. By generating income through the building, Sivaji administered regular payment to poor artistes in the organization.
On 5 May 1987, a public charitable trust called the Nadigar Sangam Charitable Trust was registered, with founders of the trust being R. S. Manohar, N. S. Krishnan, and Radha Ravi. The trust was established to provide educational, medical and other forms of monetary assistance to needy members of the Nadigar Sangam.
During the late 1990s, pressure began to grow on incumbent leader Radharavi after allegations of financial wrongdoing. In October 1997, the film industry had a protest against the leadership.
Vijayakanth was elected unopposed as the President of the Nadigar Sangam in August 2000, while R. Sarathkumar was appointed as the General Secretary. Although members had called for a new committee to replace the existing group, several experienced members stayed on in roles. Vijayakanth's initial task was to clear up debt totalling over ₹2 crore. Soon after gaining power, the group's leaders met Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, and later asked their members not to work on films which may hurt the feelings of politicians, citing Iruvar (1997) and Desiya Geetham (1998) as examples. The remark was widely criticised for restricting freedom of expression.