Cinepreneurs Who Turned The Spotlight On Coimbatore

Golden Era of Premier Cinetone, Kandhan Studios

The success of Swamikannu Vincent buoyed many to enter the world of cinema. A number of producers including Vincent, A.N.Marudachalam Chettiar and P.Ramaswamy had to produce their movies in far away Kolkatta and Mumbai. They did so because the studio owners of Chennai just simply refused to let others make movies in their studios. Those were times when a number of studios like Srinivasa Cinetone founded by A.Narayanan would make their own movies in their own studios. This perhaps egged a couple of Coimbatore cinepreneurs to build their own studios in the fourth decade of the twentieth century. Slowly and steadily, Coimbatore thus became a leading centre of cinema in India.
Premier Cinetone was founded by A.N.Marudachalam Chettiar, Nanjappa Chettiar, V.S.Abhirama Chettiar and T.S. Swaminathan. Sathi Anusuya (1937) was the first movie to be produced at Premier Cinetone. It deals with the story of Anusuya, the chaste wife of Sage Athri who was subjected to several challenges by the holy trinity (Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva and Lod Brahma) themselves. She is requested to serve food without any clothes on her and she uses the power of her chastity to make them into small children. Thereafter she serves them food. It was advertised as M.A.S. Chellam and Sons produced by Premier Cinetone Limited, Coimbatore. The film had been written by one Nanjappa Chettiar. G.N.Balasubramaniam had donned the mantle as Narada and the heroine was Rajalakshmi. T.S.Baliah had played a role in this movie. The movie had a prayer song (off screen) had a line seeking the Lord’s blessings for ‘Kovaipuri’ Premier Cinetone. Kovaipuri refers to Coimbatore.
Sri Kandaleela (1938) was produced by Premier Cinetone and this movie had introduced one of the stars of Tamil cinema – K.L.V. Vasantha who had lived in Coimbatore for some years. The movie was directed by H.S. Mehta while the story was by Nanjappa Chettiar (not the founder of the studio). The studio produced ‘Sowbhagyavathi’ (1939) and this was the adaptation of the famous Bengali novel ‘Swayamsiddha’. 1000 faces Ramkumar was the director and he had enjoyed a short period of popularity. This good actor and make up expert could change his face by just slightly changing his make up and expression which gave him this name. Thilothama (1940) a mythological one was also produced by Premier Cinetone. This movie was directed by noted Kannada playwright and film maker H.L.N. Simha. M.M.A. Chinnappa Thevar and his brother appear in this movie as demons.
Gumasthavin Penn (1941) was produced with Shanmugham and some partners at Premier Cinetone. It was the biggest grosser among the 30 movies produced in Tamil during the same year. The movie is based on ‘Annapoornika Mandir’ by Nirupama Devi. It was written in Tamil by T.K.Muthuswamy, the brother of T.K.Shanmugham. This play was a grand success and C.N.Annadurai wrote a nice review in the magazine ‘Kudiyarasu’ which was published by Periyar. The success of the play encouraged the TKS brothers to make it into a movie and it was supported by S.S.Vasan. The film had the story of two sisters Seetha and Sarasa. Their poor father works for a rich playboy Mani. Ramu, the idealistic rich man from the same lace does not want to marry. Seetha is to be married to an old man who dies during the ceremony and Mani tries to molest her. She is saved by Ramu, but she commits suicide later. Ramu feels responsible for he had refused to marry Seetha and therefore he steps in. Eventually he marries Sarasa. T.K.Shanmugham, T.K.Bhagavathi, M.V.Rajamma, K.R.Ramaswamy, M.S.Draupadi, ‘Friend’ Ramaswamy and P.G.Venkatesan. The movie was directed by B.N.Rao and K.V.Srinivasan while Panju of the Krishnan Panju fame was the assistant director. The camera was with Rustom. M.Irani with the music from Narayanan and Padmanabhan. The poster desiged by S.S.Vasan for the film was a bit fancy those times.
C.N.Annadurai was motivated to write the sequel titled ‘Seetha Vidahavaianapin’ a little later. The huge success of ‘Gumasthavin Penn’ made the youngsters rise their voice during those times when many young women were being married off to old men as second or third wives. This movie helped the society reform itself and therefore became really important in the history of Tamil cinema.
Premier Cinetone had only basic facilities with workers turning hostile lot. The lab was not properly equipped and they never had sufficient ice for developing the negative ! Premier Cinetone had a phone which hardly worked and the movie ‘Gumasthavin Penn’ was made into a success in spite of these odds. Krishnan was the chief at the laboratory and Panchapakesan (Panju) of the Krishnan – Panju fame, worked as the editor. They had begun their career in Premier Cinetone.
Kandhan Studio was yet another institution which had played an important role in the development of Tamil cinema. Interestingly this studio was also from Coimbatore. One S.Venkataraman Chettiar had been involved with the founding of this studio in the year 1935 and it seems to take existed for about a decade. Kandhan & Company, was responsible for production and distribution of a number of movies. The movies ‘Chokamelar’ produced by S.Kuppuraj of Jewel Pictures was made in this studio. He had also made ‘Venuganam’ and ‘Azhivu Padhai’. None of these movies did well. Kothamangalam Seenu had acted in the movie. The movie had been directed by C.V.Raman and was written by G.Sundara Bhagavathar, the brother of music director G.Ramanathan. The story revolved around temple entry by untouchables. The temple of Lord Pandarinath of Pandarpur was the main focus for Chokamelar was from this holy place. S.Kuppuraj happens to be the son in law and nephew of the famous jeweler P.A.Raju Chettiar (Studio Founder, Theatre Owner, Movie Distibutor, Mill Owner, Banker among other things).
Karaikal Ammaiyar (1942) was another Kandhan Studio production and this was directed by C.V.Raman. The story of Punyavathi of Karaikal is well known and even today, childless couples seek the mangoes that are part of the utsavam in Karaikal in order to beget children. Thiruvalangadu has her icon. While noted star V.A.Chellappa played the role of Lord Shiva, the pretty T.S.Jaya had donned the mantle as Parvathi. The main role was played by B.Saraswathi and noted actor K.Sarangapani was the husband in the movie. It was a successful venture and the add on short film (an old custom), ‘Moondru Thengai’ was also screened with this movie. It was done by Kali N.Rathnam and C.T.Rajakantham. The song sequence sung by Rathnam about snake charming to which Rajakantham plays an instrument were really suggestive.
Aarayichimani (1943) was another production from Kandhan Studios and it was directed by Raja Sandow who was assisted by Raghubir Ramye. P.B.Rangachari played the role of the famed Tamil ruler known for justice – Manuneedhi Cholan. The son’s role was played by the extremely talented veena maestro S.Balachander. M.R.Santhanalakshmi was the Chola Queen and S.Varalakshmi was also in it. Others included N.S.Krishnan, T.A.Madhuram and the dancers A.R.Sakuntala and S.Natarajan (a real life husband and wife). The movie lost money. Kandhan & Company were distributors for Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Malabar, South Canara for movies like ‘Tukaram’, ‘Sathi Anusuya’, ‘Sathi Leelavathi’ and ‘Viswamithra’.
The studio was replaced by Pakshiraja Studios which was founded by S.M. Sriramulu Naidu in the year 1945. Thus we can infer that some of the movies were based on popular novels made into plays and then into movies. A number of mythological stories followed the same pattern. Quite a few men had acted as women and vice versa. Coimbatore had launched many faces into the Tamil cinema world over the years. The city gave hits, concepts, directors, studios, producers, distributors, technicians, ideas, stars, mentors, music directors, theatres, equipment, skilled manpower who put in a lot of work and they included plumbers, electricians, masons, carpenters etc., among many other things and this contribution has to be etched in gold.
—Rajesh Govindarajulu