While I was translating Parthiban Kanavu to English I had wondered aloud on Kalki Krishnamurthy:
He had strong ties to S.S Vasan, who was the owner of Ananda Vikatan and a luminary in movies and journalism. Kalki started the Kalki magazine after he had a disagreement with S.S. Vasan. Parthiban Kanavu was written and published in the Kalki magazine soon after that change. I have always wondered whether Vasan had regrets over losing the opportunity of publishing Parthiban Kanvu as a series in Vikatan! I will be grateful to any reader who can confirm or refute this statement. Or perhaps I just need to re-read Ponniyin Pudhalvar, Kalki’s biography to see if I can discover the answer myself!
Mr. Krishna Ramkumar, S S Vasan’s great grandson, had replied (my summary):
They were steadfast friends till the very end and the families still treat each other as extended family.
Kalki joined the Quit India Movement, the Gandhian freedom struggle and was jailed. This meant that he could not continue to be the editor of Vikatan. Their professional journey together ended. However, this did not stop them from supporting each other and their dreams.
After the jail term, Kalki and Sadasivam established Kalki. Kalki's vision was to infuse pride and educate Tamils of our history through his novels, to prove and revive knowledge of our glorious past. In this pursuit, he wanted to establish a platform himself. .. Regardless of where it was published, my family has always been proud of his work as if it were a family member's accomplishment.
While I was grateful for information from an authentic source, I wanted to dig deeper. I re-read Kalki’s biography Ponniyin Pudhalvar, by M R M Sundaram (“Sundha”). This article is a summary of what I found. This is not meant to be a full review of the book, and I have only presented episodes related to S S Vasan and Vikatan.
The TL;DR version: While Kalki and S S Vasan started as friends, and ended their careers as friends, their relationship underwent some trials. Their respective beliefs and loyalties forced them to take opposing sides on some issues. The relationship got acrimonious, but the greatness of the two men prevailed in the end, with a touching gesture by S S Vasan after his friend’s death.
The Initial Days
The two men were similar in a number of ways. Both self-made, from the same socio-economic background, and from the same district - Thanjavur. Roughly the same in age - Vasan was younger by 4 years. They had complementary strengths - one an idealist and visionary and the other a savvy businessman with varied interests.
Vasan was a self-made entrepreneur. He dropped out of college for financial reasons. Through pure determination and hard work, he had established a mail order business of books and imported fancy goods. Ananda Vikatan was owned by someone else, and was under financial stress. Vasan met the owner of the magazine in connection with advertisements for his products. He was asked for his interest in taking the struggling magazine over. After some deliberation, he purchased the magazine for Rs. 200. He released the first edition of the revamped Ananda Vikatan in February 1928.
Kalki wrote an article for one of the early issues, and subsequently became a regular writer. He was working at that time for the Navasakti magazine, where he had been struggling to find meaning with his work. Although he was devoted to the editor of the magazine, V. Kalyanasundaram (“Thiru Vi Ka”), the work was not satisfying. He left his position with Navasakti and went to work for Rajaji in his ashram in Tiruchengode. Before he left for Tiruchengode, he agreed to be a regular writer for Ananda Vikatan, and also agreed to write the editorial on a regular basis. The compensation that Vasan offered for this work was generous.
Aside: He wrote the editorial from the ashram and was paid remotely. Remote employee in those days!.
In the ashram, Kalki played a role in the campaign for prohibition. He campaigned in the nearby villages, and also ran a magazine called Vimochanam with Rajaji’s support. It was a 40 page monthly publication whose sole purpose was lobbying against liquor. The magazine was published until Rajaji and Kalki were jailed in 1930 - Rajaji for leading the salt march to Vedaranyam and Kakli for defying curfew.
On being released from prison, and after another brief stint at Tiruchengode, Kalki was persuaded by Vasan to join Ananda Vikatan as a full time editor. Kalki received what was (then) a princely sum of Rs 100 as the monthly salary. It was gradually increased to Rs 425 in the next 9 years. In addition, Vasan paid him a generous travel allowance and provided a car for his use. On his part, Kalki provided Vasan more than his money’s worth. He edited the magazine, and also was a prolific writer. He wrote the editorial, fiction, essays and reviews of films, concerts and plays under various pen names. He also found many talented writers and editors, such as “Devan” and “Thumilan”.
Dissention
The first disagreement between the two (at least as documented by this book) was about the use of cash rewards that Vasan had been using as a marketing ploy. The rewards were for contests that did not test the skills of the participant. Rajaji wrote to Kalki, asking him to try and stop such contests, and arguing that such contests were tantamount to gambling. Vasan was clear that he considered the contests neither illegal nor immoral. Further, such contests were used by several magazines abroad, as well as by Indian magazines such as the Illustrated Weekly. Kalki was unable to persuade Vasan to change his mind. Rajaji also voiced his objections directly to Vasan, without success.
This issue seems to have bothered Kalki so much that he considered leaving the magazine. He told K R Subramanyam, a close friend, that he wanted to leave his position. The main barrier to leaving the job was the Rs. 3,000 that Vasan had loaned him. Kalki would have liked to repay the loan before tendering his resignation. Subramanyam seems to have offered to lend Kalki the money. But Kalki ended up not resigning. Vasan seemed to have persuaded him to stay on, with the understanding that he’d start a magazine without such contests, to be run entirely by Kalki. That seemed to have mollified Kalki. That magazine never got started, but Kalki stayed on for several years.
Parting Ways
In 1940, the nationalist leaders launched a mass campaign of civil disobedience. The protest was named ‘individual satyagraha’. Rajaji, Kalki’s mentor, was already in jail. Kalki wrote to Gandhi seeking permission to participate, and received the permission on the 31st of December.
Kalki, aware that his participation would almost certainly result in a jail term, alerted his wife, and went to see S S Vasan. “Thumilan” N Ramaswamy, the editor of the magazine, was in Vasan’s office. Without any preamble, Kalki told Vasan that he was participating in individual satyagraha and would likely be imprisoned. The scene is described thus Thumilan:
Vasan seemed surprised at this statement. “You didn’t tell me that you have asked to participate in the movement!”, he said.
“You know very well that I participate in every mass protest”, said Kalki.
“In any case, you could have told me ahead of time. What happens to the magazine when you go to jail?”
“Thumilan will take care of the magazine.”
“I know that he will. However, your participation in the protests will affect the magazine. You know very well that the magazine has already been fined once”.
“The magazine doesn’t carry my name as the editor right now”.
“All the same, the government knows your strong connection with the magazine”.
I (Thumilan) wanted to remove myself from the scene. When I rose from my seat, Vasan asked me to sit down.
Kalki asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“Write to Gandhiji explaining that you can’t participate in the protest.”
“That’s impossible!”
“If so, cut your connections with the magazine for now.”
“Are you asking me to resign?”
“Yes”, said Vasan.
“So be it. I will resume my duties when I return from the jail”, said Kalki.
“We’ll discuss the matter at that time”, said Vasan, calmly.
Kalki gathered his belongings from his desk, bade goodbye to his colleagues, and walked out past the stunned workers, most of whom could probably not imagine Vikatan without Kalki. He sent his written resignation to Vasan the next day. He made no public statements on his resignation. He would later explain that it was due to a desire to avoid any damage to an institution that he had fostered for a decade. Thumilan would later rue the five-minute conversation, and wonder how different everything might have turned out if one of the two men exercised more restraint in that conversation.
With the benefit of hindsight, Kalki would later conclude that the fateful year of 1940 had done him a favour - he later started a magazine bearing his name, and went on to resume his literary and political work, with greater latitude.
Political Differences
Magazines and newspapers of that era had distinct political positions (like many do these days). Another next round of disagreements between the two men came through the difference in political positions of Kalki, the magazine, and Vikatan.
In 1941, Gandhi advised his countrymen to collaborate with the British Government until the war was over. His view was that the push for full independence through civil disobedience and satyagraha could resume after the war.
Kalki wrote an editorial in his magazine, appealing to Gandhi to reconsider the position. His view, shared by many prominent citizens, was that the time was right for the push for full independence. Kalki encouraged such citizens to speak their minds to Gandhi, and asked them to leave the satyagraha to Gandhi, and assume the leadership in the struggle for independence through political means, without compromising on the principles of non-violence. He had sent an English translation of the editorial to Gandhi as well, which Gandhi acknowledged.
Much of the mainstream press, including Ananda Vikatan condemned the editorial, and characterized it as a betrayal of Gandhian principles.
A few months later, several nationalist leaders met in Bardoli and made a resolution consistent with Kalki’s earlier editorial. The resolution was later ratified by Congress. The summary of the resolution was that satyagraha protests would not be carried out under the banner of Congress. Members of the congress party, including Gandhi would be free to organize individual protests. The Congress organization would engage the British Administration in negotiating the terms for full independence, and the terms for the full country to participate in the war.
Kalki wrote a column pointing to the attack against his magazine for expressing an idea that had subsequently been endorsed by the Congress leadership. He made pointed references to a magazine that ‘asked an editor to resign for the crime of participating in non-violent agitation’. He did not name S S Vasan or Vikatan, but the reference was clear.
When Stafford Cripps’ mission to India failed, Rajaji made a few recommendations to the Congress party to break the stalemate. These included some radical ones such as accepting the Muslim League’s Pakistan proposal in principle (with some conditions), and forming an alliance with the League on a regional basis. Rajaji was severely criticized and even physically attacked for these recommendations. Rajaji resigned all his positions in protest. Kalki wrote several eloquent pieces to explain the rationale behind Rajaji’s proposal. Many political commentators, including the ones in Vikatan attacked Kalki, accusing him of betraying Gandhi. Again Vikatan and Kalki were on the opposite sides of a vicious debate. Kalki directly attacked Ananda Vikatan for the latter’s role in the vitriol directed at Rajaji.
In 1944, the Congress leaders, including Gandhi came around to Rajaji’s thinking that accepting Muslim League’s demands was inevitable. Gandhi also accepted Rajaji’s earlier proposal. Tamil Leaders such as Ma. Po. Sivagnanam conceded that Rajaji had been right all along.
Kalki rejoiced at his leader being proven right. He also wrote an uncharacteristic ‘Told you so!’ piece attacking the people who were ascribing malicious intentions to Rajaji’s position.
Copyright Debates
In the early 1950s, there was an active debate over the intellectual property of written material. Kalki specifically argued that the writer owned the rights for all published work, regardless of whether he/she was an employee of the publication, or a freelancer.
Publisher Chinna Annamalai tried to publish some of Kalki’s early work. S. S. Vasan stopped the publication on the grounds that Kalki wrote the material for Vikatan and had been a paid employee at that time. He wrote directly to Kalki, explaining that he had been planning to start a publishing house, and had plans to publish the said material under his own label.
Kalki and Vasan had returned to good terms by that time. Kalki did not debate the point with Vasan, but continued to articulate the general belief the writer should own the intellectual property. He had been lobbying to amend the copyright act to make this point explicit.
About thirteen years after Kalki’s demise, S S Vasan phoned Kaki’s son, Rajendran to let him know that the intellectual property for all the work Kalki did for Viktan would be legally transferred to Rajendran, the legal heir.
Disagreements over Movies
In 1943, the British Government rationed all scarce commodities due to wartime shortages. One of the regulated commodities was film. The law disallowed any film longer than 11,000 feet.
S S Vasan, as a movie maker, the owner of Gemini Studios, and the chairman of South Indian Cinema Association, appealed for the regulation be relaxed to allow movies up to 14,000 feet. He hosted a tea party to lobby support for his position.
Kalki wrote a scathing article criticizing S S Vasan for raising the issue, while prominent leaders such as Gandhi were imprisoned, and the nation was reeling under a famine, and wartime shortages.
Kalki criticized Gemini’s movies such as Bhakta Nandanar and Mangamma Sabatham quite harshly. He also singled Vasan out for seeking out “trashy material” for a series of movies. When someone accused him of being biased personally against Vasan. Kalki denied his personal likes and dislikes influenced his movie reviews.
Vasan did subsequently make spectacularly successful movies that also won critical acclaim. Kalki’s reviews for those suggested that he did not hold any grudges. Kalki praised Gemini’s blockbuster movies Chandralekha and Apoorva Sagotharargal. He did not pull any punches when Gemini made some (in his opinion) mediocre or tasteless movies again later.
The Reconciliation
Following the massive success of Vasan's enormously successful movie ‘Avvayar’, Kalki participated in the felicitations for the movie’s success in 1954. He paid a heartfelt tribute to the movie and its maker, Vasan. Vasan returned the compliment by saying his patriotic and artistic instincts were entirely due to his association with Kalki. By this time, their acrimony definitely seemed to be a thing of the past.
Ponniyin Pudhalvar does not detail all the incidents that contributed to the reconciliation between the two men. But it does make it clear that cordiality had been restored to their relationship by the time of this episode.
I found the duo fascinating. Their story may be a good candidate for a biopic.
Before I conclude, I want to recommend the book, Ponniyin Pudhalvar to the readers. It travels along Kalki’s life, and gives us a view of the literary, artistic and political scene at that time. It features prominent characters such as Rajaji, ‘Rasikamani’ TKC, Kamaraj, Vasan, Annadurai, U Ve Swaminatha Iyer, M S Subbalakshmi and Sadasivam. It gives us a good insight into Kalki’s extraordinary abilities as an author, art critic, political commentator and social reformer. It paints Kalki as a pluralist rather than secularist. i.e. he was uncompromising in his own religious beliefs, while respecting others' right to follow their beliefs. That included the rights of atheists to voice their views.
References
Ponniyin Pudhalvar by Sundha - Vanathi Publications
The English Translation, for those interested.
