Napier Bridge is an important landmark – often shown in films to show that scene occurs in the city [LIC Building, Central Railway station are the other].. this bridge is built over the ‘Cooum River’ – not exactly looking like a river now-a-days. Reportedly it is the shortest classified river draining into the Bay of Bengal. This river is about 72 km in length, flowing 32 km in the Urban part and the rest in rural part. Much money has gone in the drain with successive Governments claiming to clean up the Cooum river spending crores of rupees and opposition alleging scams.
Rajnikant starrer ‘Billa’ released in 1980s ran packed houses – the hero, chased by police (DSP Balaji) – escapes in a police car, winds through narrow lanes, hits obstacles, straddles on a horse ….. and nearer marina beach, shot by Police – jumps into Coovum river from this bridge ……… Arjun in Mudhavan also jumps into the very same coovum …. In the Madhavan movie ‘Run’ – Vivek coming to the city from a village is duped into bathing in the muddy Coovum river – much water has flown under the bridge in the past few decades. Coovum no longer looks a river – with its pollutants it looks so ugly and more at the estuary after Napier bride. Francis Napier, a colonial administrator, served as a Governor of Madras from 1866 to 1872; he also acted as the Viceroy of India from February to May 1872, temporarily though arising out of the assassination of the Earl Mayo…. and the bridge leading to Fort St. George / War Memorial overlooking island grounds is named in his honor. Chennaites use this bridge this often, as it connects the erstwhile British settlements [Fort St George / Parrys] to other southern parts of city of Chennai. The landmark bridge was built in 1869 and widened to two pronged lanes in 1999. Not many of us would have seen the coovum nearer Chintadripet – from the Langs Garden side, one can have glimpse of Rippon building standing majestically. TOI reported that a 36-year-old man jumped into the Cooum river at Chintadripet on Friday (26th Aug 2016) afternoon to escape from policemen who had come to question him in connection with the escape of his brother from custody two days ago.
Tidbit 2 : Naming the movie ‘Billa’ was an attempt to create some sensationalism – very negative at that. In 1978, two young children ‘ Geeta and Sanjay Chopra ’ were kidnapped and murdered in a gruesome act in Delhi. The killers of the siblings were Kuljeet Singh (alias Ranga Khus) and Jasbir Singh (alias Billa). The children were kidnapped for ransom but, on learning their father was a naval officer, both were killed. The kidnappers were executed in 1982. .. and Tamil tinseldom had another film [Rajni / Radhika] by the name Ranga too !