F. G. Natesa Iyer

F. G. Natesa Iyer Biography

F. G. Natesa Iyer was an actor, philanthropist and patron of arts in 20th century south India. One of the pioneers of modern Tamil drama and Tamil cinema, he promoted several budding talents of Carnatic music and theatre who later earned fame and recognition as artists. A member of Indian National Congress he was also associated with freedom struggle movement. Iyer was very close to Advaita Vedanta scholars and was influenced a lot by saint Chandrashekarendra Saraswati. He is the founder of an amateur theater group, Rasika Ranjana Sabha, in Tiruchirappalli in 1914. He is credited to spotting M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, one of the early stars of South Indian Cinema. He died on January 23, 1963 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh aged 82. He was one of the first Indian railway officers.

He was born on November 11, 1880 in Pudukkottai of present day Tamil Nadu. His father Gangadhara Shastri was the legal advisor to the then Pudukkottai state, a Princely state. His elder brother was Rao Saheb G. Ganapati Sastriar has served the distinguished position of Dewan of the Pudukottai state. Though born into a family of distinguished personalities Iyer loved music and theater a lot since his younger days, which prompted him to run away from his home at a very young age of 10. Later he worked as a clerk in railways. As a child he was converted to Christianity. However he was converted back to Hinduism 20 years later by Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, who gave reasonable answers to his doubts/questions.  

Joined as a clerk in railways, later he worked as a railway officer with the South Indian Railway Company. He retired as a District Traffic Superintendent in 1935, an honorable position to Indians then in British government.  He joined the Indian National Congress in the year 1914 and represented as a delegate to the annual Indian National Congress held during World War I. Associated with politics, he was the first elected Indian chairman of Tiruchi Municipality. A patron of arts, he closely worked with theatre and music and promoted many artists. He also acted in one Tamil movie Seva Sadanam, directed by K. Subramanyam in the year 1938. He played hero in the movie Sumathi which marked debut of Carnatic music legend, M. S. Subbulakshmi to silver screen.

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Updated: January 04, 2016