I was born during the making of this film, that’s how I came to be named Vijayan after this film character and professionally, I came to be known as Radha Vijayan. The two brothers my father played in the film were Vikramasimhan & Vijayasimhan. A well-known film my father acted in was “Apoorva Sagodharargal”in 1949 where he played the double role of look-alike brothers produced at Gemini Studios in Tamil, Telegu and Hindi simultaneously which had Nagendra Rao as the villain and P Bhanumathi as the female lead, who also sang most of the songs. MGR Chittappa, Shivaji Chittappa, NS Krishnan Mama, Thangavelu Mama, Balaiya Mama was how I would address them. Many of the actors of that generation came to be known in my home as members of our own family – we called them Chittappa & Mama. They belonged to the same theatre group – MGR, his brother, M G Chakrapani, my father so it was like a family. Incidentally, my father’s debut film was also the debut of M G Ramachandran (MGR) who also went on to become a leading actor and politician recognised and highly regarded around the world. The film was a hit and my father became an overnight star and he remained so for the next twenty years resulting in him receiving the Padma Shri in 1973 and a colony in Teynampet, Chennai named “M K Radha Nagar” in his honour. The story explores themes of temperance, social reform, Gandhian concept of selfless service and the plight of labourers. It was my grandfather’s script for “Sathi Leelavathi” which became my father’s debut film in 1936. In the 1930s, he was one of the earliest theatre directors to present Shakespeare plays in Tamil. His father, my paternal grandfather who was a lawyer, Kandasamy Mudaliar was an avid theatre-maker and had ambitions for my father to be a leading actor. Around the time of my birth, my father was already a well-known celluloid-film hero – Madras Kandaswami Radhakrishnan, known professionally as M K Radha. VN: Tell us about your family background – family members & growing up years in India?