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The Pioneers of Tamil Cinema

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I DIRECTORS: THE CAPTAINS — MASTERS AND COMMANDERS WITH AN IMPACT TO LAST THE AGES 

2. The 1930s— Part 13(1)

(2) T.R. Raghunath

13)    Pioneers who travelled cross border (Directors from north)-1

In this part of the series we are going to talk about the forgotten pioneers who came from North India to direct Tamil Films. Few of them are: –

  1. Prafulla Ghosh
  2. K. Amarnath
  3. Bhalji Gopal Pendharkar and Babu Rao Pendharkar
  4. Fram Chetna
  5. Parshwanth Yeshwant Atlekar
  6. H.S. Mehta

We will talk about them in 4 Parts. First part is about Prafulla Ghosh and K. Amarnath

(1)     Prafulla Ghosh

Prafulla Ghosh was from Calcutta who made approximately 15 silent films there before he moved to Mumbai and then south. He was initially an accountant whose interest grew towards film making. He along with his friend Ahindra Choudhury decided to make a film around 1920. They visited various producers and later decided to build a studio of their own. This studio, Photo Play Syndicate, one of the foremost studios in Calcutta was built in southern fringes of the city at the east of Behala. They finalized Rs18000 budget for their maiden film titled Soul of the Slave which was lying unreleased for quite a while due to issue with the distribution house. Finally, the film released on August 14th, 1922. Though the film was appreciated it failed to break even due to lack of proper distribution. Amid the loses the friends parted ways and shone in their own new roles. Ghosh directed films in Hindi, Bengali and Tamil.

Few of the Tamil films that Prafulla Ghosh made during 1930s:

  • 1935: SUBADRA PARINAYAM
  • 1935: HARISCHANDRA
  • 1935: RATNAVALI
  • 1936: CHANDRAHASAN
  • 1936: VEERA ABHIMANYU

Ghosh directed 3 films in 1935 Subhadra Parinayam, Ratnavali and Harischandra.

Subhadra Parinayam was the mythological story of the love between Lord Krishna’s sister Subhadra with Arjuna and the hurdles they face before getting married. It was produced by one of the forefathers of Tamil film industry Vincent Samikkannu. The film had S.V. Subbaiah Bhagavathar and T.S. Velammal in lead role. The film was quite successful commercially. Bhagavathar was quite popular those days. The records that had his songs sold very well. In this film too he sang and acted which helped the film business a lot.

One of the songs that he acted and sung from this film was

Ratnavali directed by Ghosh released in the year 1935. It was based on the Sanskrit drama of same name written by Harsha. Harsha’s work was earlier adapted by Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar known as Founding Father of Tamil Theatre. His play with same name was received overwhelmingly which tempted AV Meyyappa Chettiar to make it as a film. His gramophone business with the name Saraswathi stores turned to Saraswathi talkies Productions under which the movie was produced. It was the second film for the banner after Alli Arjuna.

An article on RATNAVALI
From the magazine ANANDA VIKATAN DEEPAVALI MALAR 1935
PC: From the archives of TCRC

Ratnavali star cast was headed by Palayamkottai Sisters Ratna bai and Saraswathi bai with the former in titular role and the latter in a role of Vasvadhathai. They always used to act together in a film and were much in demand those days with their harmonious acting and singing skills. Male lead was by the then popular hero M.R. Krishnamoorthy, younger brother of legendary carnatic musician Maharaja Puram Vishwanatha Iyer. The same trio had earlier worked in the one of the most successful early tamil talkies Bama Vijayam

Harischandra, the 3rd Tamil film that talked after silent era was directed by Sarvottam Badami released in the year 1932. The film was also happened to be the first Tamil talkie to be made on the story of Raja Harischandra. Later many films were made based in the same story. Interestingly the first Indian film Raja Harischandra produced and directed by Dadasaheb Phalke was made on this storyline in 1913.  1935 version directed by Prafulla Ghosh was only the 2nd one in Tamil.  V.A. Chellappa acted in the titular role while T.P. Rajalakshmi known as Cinema Rani was the female lead. This was one more Ghosh film that was produced by Calcutta based Pioneer Films.

(2)     K. Amarnath

Gelaram Khetarpal Amarnath alias K. Amarnath was born on December 1, 1914 in Mianwali, Punjab (British India, now Pakistan). His childhood was spent in Mianwali and college years in Lahore.  His passion towards movies made him to move from Lahore to Calcutta, a movie hub in early 1930s. His interest was initially to become an actor. After struggling in Calcutta for a year he planned to move to Mumbai and try his luck there. With his towering physique and good looks, he initially wanted to become an actor but while working as junior artists in few films his interest grew towards film making. He started assisting directors like B.R. Patel and Dhirubhai Desai. He got his first break via Metro Movie tone in 1936. This first directorial venture of him was Matwali Jogan aka A Girl from Lahore. Though he got critical acclaim for the film his major breakthrough happened in Tamil film industry a year later in 1937 through Mohan Studios. All the first 5 films he directed for Mohan Studios were in Tamil.

The films directed by K. Amarnath in 1930s

  • 1937: DANGER SIGNAL
  • 1937: PAKKA ROWDY
  • 1937: MINNALKODI
  • 1938: BAGHYA LEELA
  • 1939: VEERA RAMANI

He directed 3 films in 1937. Danger Signal was his first one, followed by Pakka Rowdy then Minnal kodi. From Minnal kodi his association with K.T. Rukmini started and she went on to continue to be his lead actress in next 2 films Baghya Leela in 1938 and Veera Ramani in 1939.

A still featuring K.T. Rukmini
From the magazine CINE ART REVIEW 1937
PC: From the archives of TCRC

K.T. Rukmini was the first action heroine of the Tamil Films. She was also known as stunt queen during those days. Though she was acting from silent movie era Amarnath’s Minnal kodi established her as a stunt heroine. She played the titular role. Adapting Robinhood concept of robing rich and helping poor the film turned out to be a major hit. The film supposedly had only 3 songs which was uncommon during those days. Srinivasa Rao played as love interest of Mohini/Minnal Kodi and S.S. koko as her servant. Other supporting roles were played by Gogia, Pasha, Subbulakshmi, Alamu, K. B. Rao and Usharani. The film made Rukmini a big star.

Under the Mohan Pictures banner Amarnath cast her again in next film Baghyaleela as well. Another stunt film.

An advertisement of Deccan Film Distributor mentioning BAGHYALEELA and MINNALKODI
From the magazine ANANDA VIKATAN DEEPAVALI MALAR 1938
PC: From the archives of TCRC

In 1939 Amarnath worked with K.T. Rukmini for 3rd time. The film posters raised eyebrows of many as it had a heroine smoking or wearing short trousers which were uncommon for a society that was more conservative. The film had lot of stunt scenes and people loved it. Male lead was played by Srinivasa Rao. He was known as Stunt king so the film created lot of buzz with both stunt queen and stunt king.

An advertisement of Ramniklal Film Corporation mentioning VEERA RAMANI
From the magazine ANANDA VIKATAN DEEPAVALI MALAR 1938
PC: From the archives of TCRC

Veera Ramani was quite successful mainly for its racy screenplay and stunt scenes. Amarnath after this film moved to Mumbai where he continued to make many successful Hindi films till early 70s. He passed at the age of 68 on May 14, 1983, leaving behind a legacy of his own.

[To be continued] We’ll be back next week with more hidden treasure from the history of Tamil cinema. Stay tuned!

About the Author:

V.V. Prasad is a Electronics and Communication Engineer based from Chennai. He is currently involved in the role of a Researcher and Archivist in THE CINEMA RESCOURCE CENTRE.
He takes care of the non film materials like Photographs, Magazines, Lobby Cards, Song books etc of the archives. Cataloguing them and digitizing them are part of his current work.
His interests and passion lie on the research of Cinema particularly South Indian Cinema.

The Pioneers of Tamil Cinema

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I DIRECTORS: THE CAPTAINS — MASTERS AND COMMANDERS WITH AN IMPACT TO LAST THE AGES 

2. The 1930s— Part 12(2)

(2) T.R. Raghunath

While last episode we talked about Raja Chandrasekhar this episode is about his younger brother T.R. Raghunath alias Thimatchipuram Rajagopal Raghunath who was born on 16 July 1912. 

Few of the films that T.R. Raghunath worked as a film maker/Technician during 1930 to early 1940: 

  • 1935: GNANASOUNDARI (Assistant Director)
  • 1936: DHARA SASANGAM (Sound Recordist)
  • 1936: KIZHATTU MAAPPILLAI (Short Film)(Director)
  • 1939: JOTHI (Director)
  • 1942: Thamizhariyum Perumal

Raghunath graduated from Madras University but moved to his better interest, Film making. He started his film career as a sound recordist later went on to become a director. He worked under his elder brother initially before moving on to do films independently. 

He worked as an Assistant director in Gnanasoundari and as a sound recordist in Dharasasangam. Both were directed by the pioneer A. Narayanan, often referred as the Father of south Indian Film business who started the south India’s first talkie studio Srinivasa Cinetone 

 Raghunath directed independently for first time through a short film Kizhattu Maappillai.  Kizhattu Maappillai was shown along with Usha Kalyanam directed by another forgotten revolutionary film maker K. Subramanian who introduced many talents to the Tamil Film Industry 

Kizhattu Maappillai.jpg

An advertisement of MURUGAN TALKIE FILM COMPANY mentioning KIZHATTU MAAPPILLAI

From the magazine ANANDA VIKATAN DEEPAVALI MALAR 1939

PC: From the archives of TCRC

In 1939 he directed the film Jothi also titled Sri Jyothi Ramalinga Swamigal. The film was about the life of saint Ramalinga Swamigal of Vadalur. Script was written by Pammal Sambandam Mudaliar, he along with Shankardas Swamigal pioneered the early years of Tamil theatre. His elder brother Raja Chandrasekhar supervised the film making and guided in the screenplay process as well. 

Madurai Mariyappa Swamigal wrote the lyrics and scored music for songs. The songs became popular and were released in Odeon records owned by another pioneer, A.V. Meyyappan. The film went on to become one of the major hits of those days and ran in cinema halls for 18 weeks. 

He made the film based on the Sanskrit poet Kalidas, Thamizh Ariyum Perumal. Story Screenplay and dialogues were written by Elangovan. Produced by RM. Ramanathan Chettiar, at Newtone Studios in which he was an investor. The film had M.G. Ramachandran alias MGR in the lead role who went on to become one of the biggest stars of those times and later Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. M. R. Santhanalakshmi as female lead played dual role in the film. 

An advertisement of THAMIZH ARIYUM PERUMAL

From the magazine KALKI DEEPAVALI MALAR 1942

PC: From the archives of TCRC

Thamizh Ariyum Perumal had 22 songs. All were written by Udumalai Narayana Kavi. The music was credited in the name of Saraswathi Stores owned by A.V. Meyyappan. The film was distributed by Thyagaraja Films Limited owned by M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. Inspite of having lot of positive factors the film failed at box office.

T.R. Raghunath had a wonderful career directing more than 30 films with most of them being successful. After directing MGR in minor roles during 1940s he directed him again as a leading star in Raja Desingu and Vikramadithan. He was later appointed as President of Madras division of FDI (Film Division of India)

[To be continued] We’ll be back next week with more hidden treasure from the history of Tamil cinema. Stay tuned! 

About the Author:

V.V. Prasad is a Electronics and Communication Engineer based from Chennai. He is currently involved in the role of a Researcher and Archivist in THE CINEMA RESCOURCE CENTRE.
He takes care of the non film materials like Photographs, Magazines, Lobby Cards, Song books etc of the archives. Cataloguing them and digitizing them are part of his current work.
His interests and passion lie on the research of Cinema particularly South Indian Cinema.

The Pioneers of Tamil Cinema

Posted on by

I DIRECTORS: THE CAPTAINS — MASTERS AND COMMANDERS WITH AN IMPACT TO LAST THE AGES 

2. The 1930s— Part 12(1)

 Raja Chandrasekhar and T.R. Raghunath

This episode we are going to talk about the 2 forgotten pioneers, siblings Raja Chandrasekhar and T.R. Raghunath. The first part of this episode will be about the elder one Raja Chandrasekhar

(1) Raja Chandrasekhar

Raja Chandrasekhar was one of the early film makers of Tamil Cinema. He was born in Trichy and studied Textile Engineering in Bombay before his interest shifted towards Cinema. 

Few of the films made by Raja Chandrasekhar during 1930 – 1940: 

  • 1936: CHANDRAMOHANA
  • 1936: RAJA DESINGU
  • 1937: BHAKTHA THULASIDAS
  • 1938: DAKSHA YAGNAM
  • 1939: MAYA MACHINDRA

Raja Chandrasekar started his film career by joining as assistant to Fatma Begam, the first female director of India in 1929. He later joined General Pictures Corporation. His first film as a director was the silent film Mohini Rukhmangatha. He is believed to have made around 12 silent films after that. One of them being Pandava Nirvahan in 1930 which was the most popular of all. His first talkie film was Chandramohana released in the year 1936. 

In 1936  he made another film Raja Desingu, Produced by Rajeswari talkies. The film was initially advertised as Desingu Rajan before release. The film was shown along with a dance presentation of the dance icon Rukmini Devi Arundale, the founder of Kalakshetra, an academy for dance and music

Raja Desingu_E.jpg

An advertisement of RAJA DESINGU

From the magazine ANANDA VIKATAN DEEPAVALI MALAR 1935

PC: From the archives of TCRC

Bhaktha Thulasidas directed by Raja Chandrasekhar released on September 9 1937. It had then popular star M.K. Radha in lead role along with K.S.Prabha Devi and Comedy duos N.S.Krishnan and T.A.Madhuram. 

Bhaktha Thulasidas21.jpg

A still from the Film BHAKTHA THULASIDAS

PC: From the archives of TCRC

Bhaktha Thulasidas had 19 songs composed by Jayarama Iyer  known as Fiddle Jayarama Iyer (Not to be mistaken with famous carnatic muscian Lalgudi Jayaraman)

One of the songs sung by the lead actor M.K.Radha written by Mayavaram Thyagaraja Mudaliyar , “Rama Ellam Neeye“ was quite popular then.

Another important film in Raja Chandrasekhar’s career was Maya Machindra released in the year 1939. The film again had M.K.Radha in titular role. M.R. Krishnamoorthy, younger brother of the famous carnatic singer Mahrajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer played an important role in the film. M.B. Radha Bhai was the female lead while N.S. Krishnan and his wife T.A. Madhuram filled the comedy part of the film. They sang few comic songs too. M.G. Ramachandran(MGR), who went on to become one of the most popular Tamil film stars and later as Tamilnadu Chief Minister played a minor role in the film as well. The film also had the star cast of some popular actors like M.G. Chakrapani, P.G. Venkatesan, K.S. Sankara Iyer, T.M. Pattammal, Saroja Ratnavali, Ramalakshmi, L. Chandrika, K. Soundaram, Sundari, K.S. Velayudham and V. Nataraj

Maaya Machindra-WM.jpg

A still from the Film MAYA MACHINDRA

PC: From the archives of TCRC

Maya Machindra was based on the story of life of Machindranath, believed to be incarnation of Lord Shiva. The first film based on this story was made in Hindi and Marathi of same name by Legendary filmmaker actor V. Shantharam.

Raja Chandrasekhar was believed to be the favorite director of the then Superstar M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar  with whom he made a few popular hit films like Ashok Kumar. Later he had to go through downfall in his career. MGR in his directorial venture Nadodi Mannan (1958) took his assistance and credited him as the Technical Advisor. 

His brother T.R. Raghunath too became a successful filmmaker. We will talk about him in our next edition

[To be continued] We’ll be back in next edition with more hidden treasure from the history of Tamil cinema. Stay tuned!

About the Author:

V.V. Prasad is a Electronics and Communication Engineer based from Chennai. He is currently involved in the role of a Researcher and Archivist in THE CINEMA RESCOURCE CENTRE.
He takes care of the non film materials like Photographs, Magazines, Lobby Cards, Song books etc of the archives. Cataloguing them and digitizing them are part of his current work.
His interests and passion lie on the research of Cinema particularly South Indian Cinema.

Filmy Ripples – Rise & fall of vamps (Part 1)

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By P.V. Gopalakrishnan

The early Tamil cinema was either associated with period of pre-independence or the post republic decades that succeeded. Then, the life in India, was relatively simple, with down to earth values and without much complications. There was less room for negative vibrations, cynicism or self doubt. This was replicated on the silver screen in its social subject movies. As such, the social movies were largely family subjects with love & romance, with only a loner villain who was usually a male character constantly raising his eye brows & gritting his teeth, in scheming an evil plan against the hero & his clan or against the society at large.

But, the negative characters are part of human evolution and are handed down from times of Epic, such as Ravana in Ramayanam or Duryodhan/ Sakuni in Mahabharatham. So the ‘villains’ became integral part of story lines in films too. In carrying the legacy of negative characters, there was a battery of this genre in Tamil screen, to name a few like M.N.Nambiar, P.S.Veerappa, R.S.Manohar, M.R.Radha, S.Ramdas, O.A.K. Thevar, T.S.Baliah, T.K.Ramachandran, Kallapart Natarajan, playing dastardly villains with raucous laughs, each with their own individual hall mark. Of course, some of them became character or comedy actors later as they had the dexterity to emote in such roles too. Such instances repeated later too with villains like Nasser & Satyaraj even transcribing into hero roles. There was also the reverse, as a hero like Jayashankar later came to shine in villain roles. Occasionally a well-accepted frontline hero such as Sivaji Ganesan or Kamal Hassan too appeared in negative roles. What about Nagesh in a negative role in Thillana Mohanambal where he excelled with a tinge of comedy?

Sigappu Rojakkal

A working still from the Film Sigappu rojakkal in which Kamal Hassan Played a negative role. PC: From the Archives of TCRC

Kanavane Kankanda Deivam

A working still from the Film KANAVANE KANKANDA DEIVAM of M.N. Nambiyar.
PC: From the Archives of TCRC

Soon, the female equivalent of a villain, colloquially called ‘villi’, also started appearing in films. This could be construed as an organic transition in the anthology of Tamil Screen as it evolved & got rediscovered with times. If there could be a negative character why would it be restricted to one gender alone? The logic worked!

To slightly digress, talking of evolution of cinemas, internationally, it was in early thirties that larger than life legendary characters like Superman & Batman were conceptualized more as an ‘escape into fantasy’ when the world was reeling under the world war.

Likewise, it was time for Tamil Screen too to have ‘villi’s in their shopping list! After all, even in Epics we have had villi like ‘Manthara’ aka ‘Kooni’! And the Tamil Screen has had villi like Sundari Bai, M.S.S Pakkiyam, C.K.Saraswathi, and M.N.Rajam. Their equivalents in Hindi were Nadira, Lalitha Pawar, Shashikala Leela Mishra & the like.

CK Saraswathi

The picture above is of C.K.Saraswathi as she appeared in ‘Thillana Mohanambal’, in the ever-watchful ‘madam’ character of ‘Vadivambal’ with whom T.S.Baliah, in his Percussionist role, used to display amorous overtures in the film.

Soon, the ‘terminology’ (if I may call it so), “Item Number’ came to be coined by Bollywood, in reference to songs made up of lyrics, so sleazy. Whereas they were traditionally synonymous with what was known as ‘club dances’ in Tamil screen in the past. M.S.S.Pakkiyam, who had done several villi roles, besides others, had done an ‘item number’ as early as 1947 in the film ‘Rajakumari’, as seen in the video below.

 

 

 

 

A sequence featuring Kumari Kamala as an ‘item number’ girl was in the popular song “Oh Rasikkum seemane vaa” from the film ‘Parasakthi’ (1952).

 

 

M.N.Rajam was always ‘the other girl’ in movies with a tinge of villainy. But here she features as a vamp in “Ratha Kanneer” (1954) in the popular song and dance sequence “aalai aalai parkkiraar”.

 

 

 

The following video shows Rajamani in a vamp role in the film ‘Paasa valai’ (1956), music by MSV-TKR.

 

(to be continued)

Sabapathy: From stage to celluloid

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By Karthik Bhatt

The next in our series from ‘stage to celluloid’ we discuss one of Tamil cinema’s earliest full length comedies, Sabapathy.

The film, which was released in 1941 was produced by A.V.Meiyappa Chettiar and directed by A.T.Krishnaswamy. The plot was based on Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar’s play by the same name.

In his autobiography Naadaga Medai Ninaivugal, Sambandha Mudaliar says that Sabapathy was the first farce that he wrote. The story, which revolved around a young, rich (and not so intelligent) zamindar and his foolish servant (both named Sabapathy) was first written in 1906. Sambandha Mudaliar writes that the inspiration for the servant was derived from observing the man Fridays of a few friends. In particular, he credits Narasimhan, the personal assistant of his close friend V.V.Srinivasa Iyengar, the noted lawyer for having served as the base to building the character! He also acknowledges the influence of Handy Andy, the famous book written by Samuel Lover where the character could do nothing right.

The story was written in eight parts, each of which was capable of being staged as a separate stage play. Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar himself played the role of the zamindar, while many of his troupe members donned the role of the servant. So popular was the play that it continued to be staged even after the movie had released and had become a huge success. Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar writes of an interesting incident in 1944, where he, aged 71 years at that time had to appear in the role of zamindar for a scene during a staging to raise funds for the Thondaimandala Thuluva Vellalar School on Mint Street.

The movie had T.R.Ramachandran and Kali N.Ratnam (both of them from stage backgrounds) playing the roles of the zamindar and the servant respectively. Having zeroed in on the choice of T.R.Ramachandran to play the role of zamindar, A.V.Meiyappa Chettiar brought him to Sambandha Mudaliar for his approval, which was given after a brief test of his capability to do justice to the role. Kali N.Ratnam was a well-known actor and vaadhyar who served with the Madurai Original Boys Company, earning the prefix of Kali thanks to his portrayal of the Goddess in a play about Kannagi. Amongst those who trained under him were P.U.Chinnappa and M.G.Ramachandran. The female lead was played by R.Padma (a Lux soap model!) while C.T.Rajakantham was paired opposite Kali N.Ratnam. The Kali N.Ratnam-Rajakantham partnership was a successful one and featured in several movies. C.T.Rajakantham was alive until the 1990s and even acted in the popular Marmadesam (Vidaadha Karuppu) serial.

The movie is a delight to watch even a good seven decades after its release thanks to the simple comedy and great characterisation of the actors.

Randor Guy’s article on the movie can be accessed here

Here is a popular 9 minute segment from the film.