Remember the ‘Sutta Pazham’ scene from Gemini’s 1953 film
Avvaiyar? To many it remains the iconic moment in the movie. While it is true that K.B. Sundarambal largely carried the film, its success also had much to do with S.S. Vasan keeping a finger on the public pulse when it came to production values and pre-release publicity. The ‘Sutta Pazham’ scene, which lasts all of ten minutes, however, belonged entirely to P.N. Kumar, who played the role of Balamurugan in it. He, in fact, greatly influenced the way the youthful South Indian deity would be depicted thereafter in films, calendar art and statuary.