Nearly 15 years after its initial airing, the popular comedy show is now being re-telecast during this lockdown season. We catch up with director Rambala who takes us back to the time when Santhanam had not yet become a household name and was struggling with a salary of ₹1,500

There was an idea.

To bring together a group of people, to see if they could become something more than what they were.

It was a four-page proposition for an inventive show — a first-of-its-kind for a television channel, which then was testing waters in the soap opera format and was looking for viable material to boost its TRP ratings. The idea, on paper, seemed bizarrely original and wildly funny, prompting a green light from the channel. But the decision, at that point, was perceived as a double-edged sword since none of the parties could remotely gauge the outcome of what they had created, in the first place.

There were no big names involved, no promotions and, in fact, not even a ‘it-is-coming-soon’ indication to the viewers. But when the show finally aired, it left the audience in splits for its distinct brand of arid humour; a liberal mix of satire, slapstick and some cringe-worthy punchlines. Families — which traditionally consumed tear-jerker serials — switched camp and became its allies; it replaced tea-time conversations with friends, became fodder for meme nation, and a template forcomedy shows. It gradually snowballed into a cult and understandably so, given how seriously it took the comedy business. If you still haven’t figured out, it is Lollu Sabha or should we say LoL-lu Sabha?

“Unlike today, there were no promos. So, people had no idea about such a show. Lollu Sabha, like the movies I have made, rode primarily on word-of-mouth factor,” says Rambala, creator and director of Lollu Sabha, who was instrumental in shaping the careers of actors Santhanam, Jeeva, Swaminathan and Yogi Babu among others.

Having worked as an assistant to directors Rama Narayanan and Bhagyaraj, Rambala landed the job of a script consultant, supervising Tamil content for Vijay TV, which was still under the wing of UTV group before it was formally acquired by the Star Group and rebranded as Star Vijay. He pitched the idea of Lollu Sabha to the then programming head Pradeep Milroy Peter who gave the ‘go-ahead’ signal, having been smitten by the concept.

Rambala was shouldering another show called Breakfast Show, which was divided into various segments dealing with multiple topics — of which one of the segments had a two-minute slot called Lollu Sabha, a satirical take on cinema and politics. But that never got aired. “Suresh Iyer [head of the channel then] motivated me to make that two-minute segment into a half-an-hour programme. That’s how Lollu Sabha came into place,” says Rambala, adding that he was given absolute freedom from the showrunners, “Issues began to crop up much later. But we’ll save that for later.”

Scripting a cult

The format of the show was deceptively simple: a no-holds-barred spoof of iconic Tamil movies that pokes fun and takes potshots at every major star, irrespective of their size and status. It was a cakewalk for Rambala since he was a habitual offender when it came to making jokes about anything and everything since his college days. “Every time I watched a movie, I would immediately make a joke or two. It would be pompous of me to say this but if you ask my friends, they would tell stories of how I used to make fun of people. In fact, my college professor [Kandasamy] used to call me direct-tuck-kare,” says Rambala, on being inherently funny.

But Lollu Sabha was not as easy as he imagined it would be, for he describes the initial few episodes as “walking on a tightrope”.

Making a parody out of an already hit movie requires a special skill set and a fair understanding of screenplay writing. Every movie that Rambala spoofed had a well-defined script but he says that the scripting process was as simple as the show itself. “We never took us seriously,” he begins, “I can safely say that we never sat and brainstormed for a scene or for a movie, which, I believe, is the success of the show. Comedy these days isn’t working because it’s concocted and put.”

Notes from the past The success of Lollu Sabha paved the way for a slew of comedy shows across channels. Rambala says that the show was akin to Thirukural and that it “keeps giving ideas”.

During the peak of the show, the director thought of developing Lollu Sabha into a full-blown script. He, in fact, had a one-liner which he borrowed from an old Tamil movie. But the project never took off and then came a thunderbolt in the form of Tamizh Padam (directed by CS Amudhan), whose base idea was lifted from the show, claims the director.

Now that he has made two movies with Santhanam (Dhilluku Dhuddu 1 and 2), how would he spoof his own movie if there was Lollu Sabha 2?. “I never ventured into the drama territory,” he says, “First, we spoofed movies, then artists, tv shows and even Gods [an episode titled High Court drew stiff comments from Hindu Makkal Katchi]. Why spare ghosts? Which is why all my movies are Lollu Sabha.

He reasons this out by explaining one of the earliest movies he (re)wrote, which was Nayakan. He has vivid recollection of what went into its making because that was when Balaji and Santhanam (“He struggled a bit initially, but I moulded him. Nobody can match his sense of timing.” ) joined his team. Rambala took the now-iconic scene of Velu Naicker reprimanding a doctor for failing to perform his duties and put a fresh spin to it. In LolluSabha’s version, titled V. Nayakan, it opens with the scene of a mother wailing in pain and seeking Velu Naicker’s help. Swaminathan, who reprises Kamal Haasan’s role, asks the lady what happened and she replies saying that her child swallowed a 50-paise coin. To which the character played by Manohar instinctively says, “Couldn’t you have stopped him when he swallowed two or three coins. Why wait till 50?”

In the 250-odd episodes he directed, Rambala says he would rewrite movies from scratch taking into account five to six vital scenes that would convey the essence, without disrupting the narrative. He says, “For instance, take the scene in Vanathai Pola where the elder brother [Vijayakanth] makes himself the shelter, in order to protect his brothers during rain. It was high on emotion but looked silly on screen. We picked those scenes.”

‘Lollu Sabha’ stars Manohar, Jeeva, Swaminathan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The unimaginable scale that Lollu Sabha peaked is not just restricted to it being rapturous comedy but also the way it imagined movie titles — Kadalora Kavithaigal was Kadalora Kazhuthaigal, Sindhu Bhairavi became Sindhu By Ravi, Mann Vasanai was Masala Vasanai, Chandramukhi was Chappamukhi and so on. “Whatever came to my mind was fixed as the title. There was one episode for which we couldn’t decide on the title. So it was called Peru Vekka Therilingo.”

The reception for Nayakan and for the ensuing episodes were overwhelming, urging the showrunners to rethink the timing of the show and it was reserved the 9pm primetime slot. “Never in our wildest dreams did we think that the show would be such a hit among people. The funny part is...we weren’t even aware of the ratings. All we were concerned about was our salary.”

Truth bombs

But Rambala says he was left to survive on his own at the beginning, where there was no financial support from the showrunners. Recounting the time he and Santhanam struggled to buy a VCD of Baasha for a price of ₹20, the director says, “We used to run pillar to post to get the work done. At that time, Yugi Sethu was doing a programme for the World Cup. We had gone to that studio to get money to buy Baasha VCD,” he says, adding, “Both of us would watch it at midnight and note down important scenes because the next day, we would have to shoot.”

Funds for the show, though a tad minuscule, were streamlined only after it gained popularity. Until then, there were several restrictions in terms of budget and production. A maximum sum of ₹25,000 was sanctioned for each episode and it went up to a lakh at the height of its success. “I was very budget conscious and would finish it under ₹15,000. Though Lollu Sabha was hugely popular, our salary wasn’t much. Santhanam when he left earned about ₹1,500. People like Swaminathan might have earned ₹1,000 and Manohar would have got around ₹500,” he says.

Director Rambala on the sets of ‘Dhilluku Dhuddu’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Rambala has introduced a cohort of comedians — Swaminathan, Manohar, Ester, Seshu, Udhay, Jangiri Madhumitha — through the show, so much so that they were easily identifiable by the public with a prefix Lollu Sabha to their names. Of course, Santhanam was the most popular among the lot and was able to chart out a successful career in movies. Known for his eccentric body language and childlike innocence, Manohar was truly the asset of the show.

“There is a popular saying in Tamil: avarukumanasula onnum illa. But Manohar ku madailayum onnum illa,” he laughs, adding, “He is kind-hearted and knows nothing. It was a huge struggle working with him.” Rambala used to smoke three cigarettes a day before the start of the show. He jokes that he became a chain-smoker and began having BP during its course, courtesy Manohar.

“Nobody has annoyed me off like he did. He won’t get the dialogues right. I’d give inputs to him saying, ‘This is how you should say it’. But he would repeat whatever I said along with the dialogue when we went for the take,” he says, breaking into a laugh, adding, “He would take a minimum of 30 takes for a simple scene. But we had to tolerate it because he would be the one to score eventually.”

When asked about what happened to their lives post Lollu Sabha, he says, “We have been ignored by the channel. That’s the hard truth. We still haven’t gotten our due, despite running a successful show. Which is why I make it a point to rope in my Lollu Sabha team whenever I make a movie.”

Guns and roses

They say you cannot make comedy without offending someone or something. This rings true with Lollu Sabha. The light-hearted nature of the show and its caustic humour held a mirror to the Tamil film industry, known for its star-worship culture. From yesteryear stalwarts such as Sivaji Ganesan and MG Ramachandran, superstars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, to today’s stars Vijay and Ajith Kumar, nobody was spared.

Naturally, feathers were ruffled.

“Some of the actors took it sportingly. There have been instances where actors/directors themselves had expressed their wish to see their movies on Lollu Sabha. I once met actor Karthi who said he is big fan Lollu Sabha, so is Sivakarthikeyan,” says Rambala, adding that the channel received ‘letters of objection’ from Nadigar Sangam, sporadically.

LoL recommendations Thalapathi

Pudhupettai

Mudhal Mariyathai

Thevar Magan

Kizhakku Vaasal

Mudhalvan

Every time there was a complaint, he says that they would lie low for a week or so and would come up with other ideas like the famous Shooting Spot episode or the Raja one. Lollu Sabha also parodied television shows such as Arattai Arangam (Parattai Arangam), Kaun Banega Crorepathi (Phone Pannunga Umapathi) and Pattimandram (Idli vs Dosa) to name a few. “Then we started spoofing classics of MGR and Sivaji but people couldn’t relate to it, as they would do to a Vijay or an Ajith movie,” he says, “The channel was liberal in the initial years but slowly curtailed our voices.”

There seems to be a notion that Star Vijay decided to end the show following the infamous Bakery (Pokkiri) episode, for which they had to tender an apology, when fans took offence to the way Pokkiri and its star Vijay were made fun of. However, Rambala dismisses such claims, “Things got murkier when there was a change in the management. The show ended because of internal politics.”

“Even today, I can proudly say it was Lollu Sabha that got the channel the much-needed intial push. It’s true that there have been a lot of successful shows, but Lollu Sabha was the oil that kick-started that engine [Vijay TV].”

What, according to him, explains the crazy fan following it has accumulated over the years?

“It was a collective effort and wasn’t written or made for a single person, like the movie business. Everyone got the meat even if it wasn’t the lion’s share.”

Lollu Sabha is telecast on Star Vijay at 7.30am on weekdays