Subbulakshmi Kasinathan, a Sri Lankan Tamil actress whom radio listeners knew as Chellamani, the Jaffna-speaking wife of Appukutty in the comedy “Komaligal,” died on Tuesday at Scarborough General Hospital in Toronto. She was 84.
She had been admitted to the hospital the day before. Her family said she died at about 4:35 p.m. local time with her two daughters and other relatives at her side. No cause was given.
Ms. Kasinathan worked in radio drama, on the stage and in films in Sri Lanka, and later in films and television in Canada. In “Ilankai Thamil Cinemavin Kathai” (“The Story of Sri Lankan Tamil Cinema”), first published in 1994 and now held in the Noolaham digital library, the journalist Thambyayah Thevathas called her the foremost of the island’s Tamil radio actresses.
The serial that made her famous began as a 30-minute comedy that the actor and writer S. Ramdas staged at D. S. Senanayake College in Colombo in 1974. Sillaiyoor Selvarajan, a Radio Ceylon artist who was preparing a radio program for the People’s Bank, saw it and asked Mr. Ramdas to expand it. “Komaligalin Kummalam” was broadcast every Sunday at 4 p.m. for 90 weeks.
The serial followed four men from four of the island’s communities: Upali, a Sinhalese; Appukutty, a Sri Lankan Tamil; Marikkar, a Colombo Muslim; and Iyer, an Indian Tamil. Mr. Ramdas, a Brahmin, played Marikkar in the Colombo Muslim dialect, and the broadcaster B. H. Abdul Hameed, a Muslim, played Iyer. T. Rajagopal played Appukutty, and Ms. Kasinathan played his wife, Chellamani, both of them speaking Jaffna Tamil. For years afterward, listeners called her by the character’s name.
M. Mohamed, a businessman who listened to the serial every week, financed a film version. In “Komaligal,” directed by S. Ramanathan from Mr. Ramdas’s screenplay, families from different communities share a large house that is about to be auctioned. The buyer, Thanikasalam, lets them stay and says he will leave the house to the tenant who behaves best. Ms. Kasinathan again played Chellamani.
The film was made in 45 days, and the National Film Corporation held back new South Indian releases to give it screens. It opened in six cities on Oct. 22, 1976, and ran 76 days at the Sellamahal in central Colombo, 55 days at the Plaza in south Colombo and 51 days at the Windsor in Jaffna. Reviewing it in Mallikai, the Jaffna magazine he edited, Dominic Jeeva reported that people who came to see it at a Jaffna theater went home because they could not get tickets. Mr. Thevathas wrote that the film’s commercial success gave producers confidence that Tamil films could be made successfully in Sri Lanka.
Subbulakshmi Kasinathan was born on Nov. 1, 1942. She was selected as a drama artist at Radio Ceylon and learned her craft under S. Shanmuganathan, the BBC-trained producer known as Saana. She went on to act in many plays produced by K. M. Vasagar and P. Vigneswaran, who followed him as drama producers. When the Tamil service began producing plays in Jaffna Tamil, she was among the performers who acted in them, along with K. Markandan, S. S. Ganesapillai and S. K. Dharmalingam.
On the stage, she won the best actress award at the Dinakaran drama festival for the lead role in K. M. Vasagar’s play “Sumathi,” which took first prize. Her other stage work included the comedy “Parvathi Paramasivam” and the historical drama “Chanakyan.” A singer as well as an actress, she played Chandramathi, the wife of King Arichandran, opposite Nadigamani V. V. Vairamuthu in his musical play “Arichandra Mayana Kandam,” which he staged more than 3,000 times across Sri Lanka. She also sang and acted in his musical plays on radio.
On screen, she appeared with her husband, the actor Rameswaram Kasinathan, in “Sumathi Engey,” which the producer H. C. Chandrawansa made by adding Tamil scenes, written by Rajam Pushpavanam, to his Sinhala film “Wanagatha Kella.” Money troubles kept it in production for six years. It opened in November 1976, a month after “Komaligal.”
She also appeared in “Theivam Thantha Veedu,” a CinemaScope production directed by Wilfred Silva from a story by A. Ragunathan. It was shot largely in Jaffna and released on July 14, 1978. Mr. Thevathas reprints two reviews that mention her. The newspaper Sinthamani wrote that her acting “is also good,” and a reviewer for the Jaffna newspaper Eelanadu wrote that she and the actress Chandrakala “come across well in the sad scenes.”
In 1980, she and Mr. Rajagopal recorded commercials as Chellamani and Appukutty for Beston, a broadcasting service in Jaffna. The broadcaster who recorded them wrote in a tribute this week that the advertisements were popular with listeners.
She later moved to Canada. There she acted in the Tamil-Canadian films “Vasantha Gaanam,” “Engo Tholaivil,” “Kanavugal,” “Methuvaga Unnai Thottu” and “Thamizhichi,” performed in the verse play “Puthiyathor Veedu,” and appeared in the television productions “Naarsara Veettil” and “The Y. T. Lingam Show.” In Toronto she worked again with former Radio Ceylon colleagues, among them K. S. Balachandran, P. Vigneswaran, V. N. Mathialagan and Chokkello Shanmugam.
Her husband died about eight years ago. In 2005, when Saana’s family published a tribute volume marking 25 years since his death, she contributed from abroad. In 2022, despite poor health, she attended a summer festival in Canada to see Mr. Hameed, her co-star in “Komaligal,” launch his memoir.
She is survived by her two daughters.
