Kali N. Rathnam
tamil actor
Narayana Padaiyatchi Ratnam (c. 1897 – August 1950), popularly known as "Kali" N. Ratnam, was a Tamil stage and film artist known for his roles as a comedian in Tamil movies of the 1930s and 1940s. Renowned Tamil actor and politician M. G. Ramachandran was a protege of Rathnam.
Early life
Rathnam was born at Malaiyappanallur near Kumbakonam in Tanjore District in the year 1897 to Narayana Padayatchi and Thangathammal. His parents were agriculturists and Rathnam was acquainted with rural songs and folk arts from a very early age. As a young boy, Rathnam learned to act from a stage actor named Parameswaran Iyer. Seeing Rathnam perform the role of Kali in a stage play, Iyer christened him "Kali" N. Rathnam.
Career
Rathnam joined the Madurai Original Boys Company in 1923 and acted in Pathi Bhakthi (1936), the first movie produced by the Company. Rathnam's second movie was Mannarswami (1936). But Rathnam's first hit was Chandrakantha (1936).
The public source identifies “Kali N. Rathnam” as tamil actor. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Kali, Rathnam and tamil.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19547899. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1897, 1950, 1923 and 1936.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kali N. Rathnam” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.