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        None could have missed this character 'Black' Pandi in the serial Kana Kaanum Kaalangal on Vijay TV. His sense of humour has captured the hearts of viewers. He is S Lingeswaran alias Linges, who is armed with many skills- actor, singer, dancer and keyboard player.

And this teenaged boy, a native of Madurai , comes from a family of stage artistes (grandpa Buffoon Chockalingam Pillai of Boys Club fame and dad Bharathi Sekhar, an artiste from the Song and Drama division).         Influenced by acting, he had to discontinue his studies. However, he completed his SSLC privately. His maiden film as a child artiste is director V Shekar's Koodi Vaazhnthaal Kodi Nanmai .         It is interesting to note that Linges got the offer while on his routine work of selling pappads. As luck would have it, he met one of the producers K Parthiban of Thiruvalluvar Kalai Koodam in Kodambakkam.         'And the producer enquired about me and my family, I told him my keen interest in acting', Linges said and added that Parthiban kept his word and called me for the shoot of the film in late nineties. That gave him an opening in his film career.          Later, he did the child character of comedian Vadivelu for Nageswari directed by Rama Narayanan. 'In fact, director Balu Mahendra is my guru as far as acting is concerned since I learnt a lot from him while acting in Kathai Neram, he recalled and said, 'he developed my character after seeing my skills.'         Linges's other films include King, Weldone, Baba, Unnai Saranadainthen, Autograph, Gilli, Muruga and Lee. His serials were Punnagai Panchavarnam of Madras Talkies (Suhasini Maniratnam) and Annamalai.

S Lingeswaran

        Kana Kaanum Kaalangal serial gave me an identification among the viewers, he said and added that director Prabhu Kanna after seeing my varied talents developed the Pandi character.

        Apart from acting, 'I developed my skills in playing keyboard through my father who was also a keyboard player. .And my father had his own Seven Star music troupe.'

        This came in handy for this teenager to turn a teacher since his father died and he had to shoulder the responsibility of running the family- his mom Meenakshi and sister Mahalakshmi. As of now, Linges has forty-odd students of all age groups. Linges learnt music from Reji George of Maya Music School while dancing from choreographer Jayanthi.

        Even while juggling from one to another area, he was a singer in Sankarin Saadhaga Paravaigal music troupe and actor Shyam's Playboys orchestra. Interestingly, Linges's sister Mahalakshmi is also a singer who used to sing in his brother's troupe Music Star. The duo had performed lots of stage shows.

        All said and done, Linges is serious about becoming a full-fledged comedian and is working on that count improvising his skill-sets.