A villain in celluloid, but a man of golden heart in real life is M N Nambiar. Born on March 7, 1919 he was the much sought after villain of Tamil cinema during his time. He is also referred as Nambiar Swami. He is into spirituality to a great extent and in fact started the initiative of taking devotees to Sabarimala.
Manjeri Narayanan Nambiar is the original name of Nambiar. Nambiar was active in the film industry for over 50 years. He developed a liking towards acting at the age of 13 and joined a troupe. Since then, he was a busy actor, donning villain roles predominantly. Bhaktha Ramadoss was Nambiar’s debut film (in Hindi and Tamil) and he played the villain. Nambiar is the typical villain of Kollywood. Sharing screen space with seven generation of artists is no trivial feat and Nambiar achieved this. Sudhesi was the last flick of Nambiar. Nambiar is a Malayalee by birth. His first salary is Rs. 3. Apart from Tamil, he has also worked in Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi.
Nambiar is very much concerned towards his health and he would eat only at home.
The film Digambara Samiyar had Nambiar taking up 11 roles. Nambiar had worked in over 1000 films. Manthiri Kumari, Velaikari, Thillana Mohanambal and Ayirathil Oruvan are some of the flicks which garnered him many accolades. Nambiar has donned the male lead in a couple of films, including Kavitha and Kalyani. Nambiar also had a stint in television.
The films that he acted at his later part of his career include, Pooparikka Varigirom,
Poove Unakkaga
, Rojavanam, Gentleman, Paasamalargal, Naan Mahan Alla, Mella Thiranthathu Kadhavu etc.
Nambiar Nataka Mandram is the troupe initiated by this veteran actor. He has gone to Sabarimala on sixty five occasions and hence called as Maha Guruswamy. Nambiar breathed his last at the age of 89.