MAMBALAM TIMES

January 28 - February 3, 2012 MAMBALAM TIMESPage 5TAMIL CINEMA 75 -A LOOK BACKBy RANDOR GUYTHE AVM STORY 97Indeed, after the punch-powerful impact of the watershedmovie of 1949, “Velaikari”, only a fistful few of mythologicalTamil movies were made until 1967 when Meiyappan, withhis characteristic drive and dynamism, took up the Prahladastory for production in Tamil and Telugu.“Bhaktha Prahalada” had S.V. Ranga Rao as the demonking in both versions and the child artiste of the day, BabyRoja Ramani, as Prahalada. (Later, as a young woman, sheplayed major roles in Malayalam and Telugu films.) TheTelugu version won the Andhra Pradesh State ”Nandi”Award as the 3rd Best Film of 1967.Meiyappan also produced it in Hindi in 1967, again withS.V. Ranga Rao in the same role. That was not all. Seven yearslater, in 1974, it was made in Kannada too. The veteranTelugu filmmaker Chitrapu Narayanamurthy directed allthe versions.In 1968, Meiyappan brought out a an excellent and successfulmelodramatic movie “Uyarndha Manithan” directedby Krishnan-Panju. It had Sivaji Ganesan, ‘Sowcar’ Janaki,Vanisree, ‘Major’ Sundararajan and Sivakumar in leadroles. The film won the Madras Film Fans AssociationAward for Best Music Composer (M. S. Viswanathan) andacting awards for Sivaji Ganesan and ’Sowcar’ Janaki.Meanwhile Meiyappan and AVM Studios continued thepolicy of producing pictures jointly with other film units andfilmmakers.Meiyappan brought the leading Kannada filmmaker S. R.Puttanna Kanagal into the AVM-fold when he engaged himto make “Sudarum Sooravaliyum” (1971) with Gemini Ganesh,Muthuraman and ‘Venniraadai’ Nirmala in lead roles.Puttanna (1933-1985), as he was familiarly known, isconsidered by critics, cognoscenti as well as the crowds as thefinest filmmaker in the history of Kannada cinema since itsbeginnings in 1934. For a period he was treated as a cultfigure and his films were eagerly expected by theintelligentsia and middle class audiences of Karnataka. BesidesRajkumar, he is the only widely known Kannada filmlandperson outside his home state. He made films in Tamil,Telugu, Malayalam and also Hindi. He is considered as one ofthe ablest of filmmakers. Many of his films won awardsbesides doing well at the box-office. Some of his hit films like“Gajje Pooje” (1971), ”Shara Panjara”(1972) and “NaagaraHaavu” (1973) are hailed as classics of Indian cinema.Meiyappan introduced ‘Chitralaya’ Gopu, screen-writerand talented associate of C.V. Sridhar, as Director of “KasethanKadavulada”, a rip-roaring situation comedy. It had wellknown stars Lakshmi, Manorama, ‘Thengai’ Srinivasan,Muthuraman and Srikanth in major roles.In 1970, Krishnan-Panju directed for AVM a melodrama“Anaadhai Ananthan” which had Jayalalitha and AVM.Rajan in lead roles. Later it was dubbed in Telugu as “AkkaThammudu” (1972).Meiyappan’s sons, Murugan-Kumaran directed the Hindifilms “Jaise Ko Taisa” (1973), a revenge-theme tale with topHindi stars Jeetendra and Reena Roy and “Jeevan Jyothi”(1976), with Vijay Arora and Bindya Goswamy. They alsodirected a Telugu film “Pooja” (1975) with Vanisree andRamakrishna.Widely travelled, Meiyappan was devout and deeply religious,and donated to several causes including education. Healso founded schools.Meiyappan passed away on August 12,1979. After hisdemise, his sons took over the mantle. And the AVM sagacontinues, its glory undiminished.While other studios in Chennai have closed, the AVM hascontinued. What is the magic? AVM. Saravanan, whose quietdignity and amiability have made him a popular figure in theMadras social and business circles, recalls, “I had just returnedfrom Bombay by a late flight and reached homearound midnight. My wife said that my father wished to seeme. He was in bed and my mother and brother were with him.He told me that we should commence film production againand should never stop. I told him that all our businesses weredoing well and where was the need to go into productionagain? Pointing at the AVM logo, Meiyappan told his son,“Behind that banner is 50 years of hard work. Keep it alive aslong as you can”.Saravanan says, “There was no argument and the AVMunit went to work. His blessings have sustained us and willcontinue to do so, I’m sure.”(Next week: New Serial: Movies and Musicians)A multi-talented percussionist conducts freeworkshopsBy Our Staff ReporterT. H. Subash Chandran(Founder, Sankara Academyof Music & Arts, 91, Lake ViewRoad, West Mambalam) is amulti-talented percussionistwho can play the mridangam,ghatam and ganjira.He has accompanied leadingmusicians in programs inIndia and abroad in the last50 years. He has visited US,South America, Russia,Canada, Britain, Germany,Switzerland and Japan.Subash conducts free workshopsat 4.30 p.m on Thursdaysand 9.30 a.m on Sun-days.He taught in California Instituteof the Arts during 1976-1977. Some of his studentshave themselves becometeachers.He started a branch ofSankara Academy in New Jersey10 years back to conductworkshops on South Indianpercussion instruments. Healso conducted classes in SriVenkateswara Temple, Pittsburgh,USA from 1989 to1992.Subash composed the musicfor contemporary productionsof renowned dancerProcession on ‘healthy life’By Our Staff ReporterStudents of Sitaram Vidyalaya,Jaigopal Hindu Vidyalayaand GRT MahalakshmiVidyalaya, members of SathyaSai Mandali and RamanaSamajam, and staff ofPublic Health Center, WestMamba-lam participated in aprocession on Jan. 21 to createan awareness about theneed to live a healthy life.The procession was organizedby Public Health Centerin connection with the birthcentenary celebrations of M.C. Subramaniam (Founder).S. Chandrasekar (CommitteeMember) told MambalamTimes that M. Ashok Kumar(Deputy Commissioner of Police,T. Nagar District) flaggedoff the procession. Dr. M. K.Srinivasan (President andMedical Director, PHC) wasGAMBLERS ANONYMOUSmeets at Holy AngelsConventevery Sundayfrom 11.30 a.m to 1 p.m.All compulsive gamblerswho wish to get rid of thehabitare welcomepresent.He said that participantsmarched from the PHC premisesalong Lake View Road,Station Road, ThambiahRoad, Jubilee Road and AryaGowda Road.Chandralekha including ‘Yantra’,‘Mahakal’ and ‘Raaga’.He has performed withgreats like Yehudhi Menuhin,Stephen Grapheli, renowneddrummers Tony Williams andMax Roach, M. S. Subbulakshmi,Balamurali Krishna, DrL. Subramaniam, U. Srinivasand others.Subash is the recipient ofmany awards and titles.He can be contacted inphones 98404 74514/9884460904.C M YK