B
e it a dream song or a wed-ding scene, the first callfrom any art director’s of-fice reaches Sarangan.More than 40 years into the busi-ness, this florist is still the favou-rite of many directors andproducers in the Tamil film in-dustry. With a jasmine garden inheri-ted from his father, this experi-enced entrepreneur’s entry intotinsel town was nothing but pru-dence. “My father owned a jas-mine garden in Poonamallee andhe used to supply flowers to ven-dors in Chennai. Later, when Iventured into business, I thoughtof doing something creative rath-er than just selling flowers andmy craze for movies landed me inKollywood,” says this florist, whois a well-known figure for peoplefrequenting Kapaleeswarar tem-ple in Mylapore.Getting in touch with art direc-tors was not that difficult for S.Sarangan, as he was already sup-plying flowers to most of them.So apart from supplying flowers,he asked art directors to give hima chance to decorate the setsbased on the designs drafted by them.The first movie for which Sa-rangan did the floral decoration was MGR’s
Kannan en Kadhalan.
With a rough sketch from the artdirectors, Sarangan and his teamgave life to the set with colourfulflowers. To his surprise, orderspoured in. In fact, there weretimes when this florist-turned-decorator handled most of themovies that released.Some of the famous films which Sarangan has worked onare
Sakala Kala Vallavan
,
Rajad-hi Raja
(the ‘Maama un ponnakoodu’ song set),
Thoongathey Thambi Thoongathey
,
May Maatham
,
Ejaman, Kadhalar Dhinam, New, Roja Koottam
and
A Aa E Ee.
He has worked withmany art directors, including Chalam and Thotta Tharani. After winning the trust of cinepersonalities, Sarangan was evencalled to decorate their real-life wedding venues. To name a few,Sarangan has decorated homesand wedding halls during the wedding ceremonies of actorChiranjeevi, the AVM family andthat of Dhanush and Aishwarya.He also does decorations for peo-ple outside the film fraternity.“Once Shalini planned tothrow a surprise birthday party for actor Ajith Kumar and we were asked to deck up a spooky set in Taj Coromandel. We madea scary setting with lots of skele-tons, each carrying a red rose inits hands, and the work was well-appreciated,” recalls Sarangan, who has studied only up to classIV.Thriving in this business is noteasy as flowers are a perishablecommodity, says this florist, add-ing that there have been situa-tions where he had to arrange forflowers during the off-season.“Customers order flowers threemonths in advance and fix theprice.In case of a price hike during those three months, we have tobear the loss as our prime mottois customer satisfaction,” says Sa-rangan, who was honoured withthe title ‘Maamalar Chakravar-thi’(King of Flowers) by saint Ki-rupanandawarriar. Asked him about his futureplans and Sarangan says there isno limit to creativity. “Till I havethe strength to work, I want tocreate wonders with flowers.”
■
Kannan en Kadhalan
to
Sakalakalaavallavan
to
New
… If it’s flowers in a Tamil film, Sarangan is the man responsible
V. HARIPRIYA
haripriya@goergo.in
Sarangan at his flower mart in Mylapore.
PHOTO : R. RAVINDRAN
Sarangan
of the Kollywood flowers
A still from AVM productions
A Aa E Ee
. The flower decorationin this song was done by Sarangan and team
Tuesday,February17,2009
03
Attention Project Managers
SPIN (Software Process Improvement Network), Chennai, is conducting a knowledge sharing session onsoftware processes and project management related areas on February 20. The topic of discussion wouldbe ’Effective Lean Management in Software Delivery’. For details visit www.spinchennai.org or get intouch with Major Chandra Sekharan @ 98410 14969. The target audience for this session could be ProjectManagers, Delivery Managers/ Heads, Process Improvement / Quality Professionals.
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