I DIRECTORS: THE CAPTAINS — MASTERS AND COMMANDERS WITH AN IMPACT TO LAST THE AGES
2. The 1930s
11) C.V. Raman and S. Soundarrajan
- C.V. Raman
This episode we are going to talk about a personality who sowed the seeds for early studios in Chennai. He is none other than forgotten C.V. Raman, cousin of another forgotten pioneer A. Narayanan.
Raman whose name always use to be appeared as C. V. Raman, B.A. LLB was the founder of the studio on the banks of the Adyar River (named Lalitha Cinetone) in Madras, which changed many hands and names before it finally became ‘Sathya Studio’. Now the college is being run there in the name of `Janaki-MGR Arts and Science College’
Few of the films made by C.V. Raman during 1930 – 1940:
- 1935: ATHIROOPA AMARAVATHI
- 1935: SIRUTHONDA NAYANAR
- 1937: LAKSHMI or HARIJANA PENN
- 1938: TENALI RAMAN
- 1939: ANANDHA ASHRAMAM
- 1940: HARIHARA MAYA or BIKSHADANAR
- 1940: VIKRAMA URVASHI or URVASIYIN KADHAL
ATHIROOPA AMARAVATHI was Raman’s first directorial talkie venture which is believed to have done a decent business then. The film was produced by Sundaram Talkies of Coimbatore and filmed in it’s studio Sundaram Studios, Madras (Lalitha Cinetone initially) which changed hands and got different names as mentioned above. Comedy sequences of Ezhumalai and Komaali Sambandhan where the highlight of the film which played major part in the success of the film.
Raman not acheiving much success with Subsequent films SIRUTHONDA NAYANAR in 1935, HARIJANA PENN in 1937 and TENALI RAMAN in 1938 made a film in 1939 with the name ANANDHA ASHRAMAM under the production of Salem Sri Rangar Films, Salem. The film released on 30th July of the year 1939. Backed by good performances of lead artists, good music and humour became a decent box office hit.
An advertisement of ANANDHA ASHRAMAM
From the magazine ANANDA VIKATAN DEEPAVALI MALAR 1939
PC: From the archives of TCRC
ANANDHA ASHRAMAM had T.B. Rangachari, C.V.V. Panthulu, R.B. Lakshmidevi, S.N. Subbaiah along with Comedy duo N.S. Krishnan and T.A. Madhuram.
The song sung by S.N. Subbaiah in the film was a hit during the film’s release
R.B. Lakshmidevi the lead actress of the film was introduced by Raman during his stint in Silent era. She was also cast in his Cousin A. Narayanan’s directorial venture SRINIVASA KALYANAM in 1934 which incidentally was the first talkie to be made entirely in Madras. She acted in several Tamil films as stunt woman produced in Mumbai studios. She was one of the early personalities to stay at the famous Lloyds road in Chennai (Then Madras) where TKS brothers, M.G.R etc stayed in their primitive years.
An advertisement of ANANDHA ASHRAMAM
From the magazine ANANDA VIKATAN DEEPAVALI MALAR 1939
PC: From the archives of TCRC
- S. Soundarrajan
Srinivasa Soundararaja Ayyangar alias S. Soundararajan was yet another forgotten pioneer who was born in Kottacheri, Tamilnadu. Though he was in to a successful brassware business along with his father his interest grew in Cinema after his association with film maker and Srinivasa Cinetone founder A. Narayanan. He extending his financial support for film making.
This association led Soundarajan to an astonishing career in Film Industry as a director, producer, distributor etc. He also was the owner of first processing laboratory in south India and wore many more hats in his illustrious career.
With his friend Alagappa Chettiar as partner, he promoted Tamil Nadu Talkies (TNT) in the year 1933 which soon occupied pride of place in South Indian cinema.
He made his debut as a director with SANGEETHA LAVA KUSA produced by his own TNT. The film is said to have more than 60 songs (as Per Film Historian Randor Guy) hence the prefix Sangeetha(meaning music in English) was used for Lava Kusa
An advertisement of Tamilnadu Talkies showcasing films
- SANGEETHA LAVA-KUSA
- MOHINI RUGMANGADA
- GULEPAKAVALI
From the magazine ANANDA VIKATAN DEEPAVALI MALAR 1935
PC: From the archives of TCRC
Few of the films made by S. Soundararajan during 1930 – 1940:
- 1934: SANGEETHA LAVA KUSA
- 1935: GULEPAKAVALI
- 1935: MOHINI RUKMANGADHA
- 1936: SRIMATH MAHABHARATHAM
- 1937: MISS SUNDARI
- 1940: THIRUMANGAI AAZHWAR
Soundarajan was invloved a lot in colour experiments for his films initially. He tried hand tinting method in his film MOHINI RUGMANGADA in 1935. Later in MISS SUNDARI that released in the year 1937 he continued with his experiments and printed in sepia.
MISS SUNDARI star cast included Bottling Mani, B.S. Sivabhagyam, V.S. Sundaresa Iyer, Sushila Devi, M.R. Narayanan, K.S. Angamuthu, K.S. Sethupathi Pillai and K.S. Rajalashmi
An advertisement of MISS SUNDARI
From the magazine ANANDA VIKATAN DEEPAVALI MALAR 1936
PC: From the archives of TCRC
Soundarrajan was also instrumental in bringing the talents and develop careers of many film personalities like Vasundhara Devi, Krishnakumari, Rama Shankar, Gummadi Venkateshwara Rao and the multifaceted legend S. Balachander
[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.