By now, it’s clear that surprising miniscule details emerge out of everything you’ve watched if you rewatch it enough times. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve picked up some atomic detail from every Kamal-Crazy Mohan movie on the infinitieth rewatch. And yet, it comes as a surprise when you realize, in this Andha Naal Nyaabagam song from Uyarndha Manidhan, at about 0:50, Major Sundarrajan almost trips because his leg twists on a step as he runs towards the camera with Sivaji Ganesan.
Not being privy to what happened at that time (not just because I was unborn but I’d have definitely not been in the company of Tamil cinema and theatre greats), I can only speculate as to why this slip was in the film at all.
If Sivaji had tripped like that, I am certain the thespian himself would’ve asked for a re-take. Sundarrajan is no less of an actor (I know, bring the brickbats but I’ll stand by my stance – it’s a pity he did not get to play as many roles or movies), but he was no “Sivaji” of the time. Besides, by his own tone from interviews he’s given where he has talked about working with both Sivaji and MGR (one of the very few who did that, and that puts him squarely in the league of Nagesh, Manorama, M.R. Radha, M.N. Nambiar, O.A.K. Thevar), he deferred to the greats. So, very likely, he’d have continued the shot because (a) the director did not mind and/or (b) co-actors generally did not dare ask for a re-take when the main actor has done their job well and would be inconvenienced by a re-take (not that Sivaji seemed to be of that kind, attested by Nassar in talking about how it took a few takes and an encouraging word or two from Sivaji in his tour de force of a villain in Thevar Magan).