I am travelling 10 years back to talk about a legend. I am reading some books on Tamil Movies in order to give some good triviae. One of them which I read recently was AVM – 60 years by M.Saravanan. Avichi Meyyappa Chettiar is a pioneer when it comes to movies in India. In fact, his family is the oldest movie making family in India. He started making movies in 1935 and established AVM studios in 1945. The truth is this is the third movie produced or co-produced by AVM in the list.
Comedy has always been successful when it comes to Tamil Movies but if you make it bad, you will become a comedy in front of the audience. One of the earliest full length comedy movie is the 6th movie in our list.
1. Thank you readers for commenting and supporting me on the series.. Thank you Ravi for tweeting about it.
2. I am not doing any kind of rating here. I am not an expert to do so. I am just making a list of wonderful movies in Tamil Cinema, which I believe are master pieces.
3.I am trying to go back and forth the years in order to make the posts different from each other..its a deliberate attempt to make the posts more interesting.
4.I am not writing about the movies just by researching Internet. I have seen all the movies at least once (most of them more than once) and so the movies are definitely hand picked.
Now for the second movie… From a serious thriller to the most extravagant movie ever made in the history of Tamil Cinema ( even India)
Chandralekha (1948)
Whom do you think is the most flamboyant movie maker in Tamil Cinema? Some would say producers like AM Rathnam, Aascar Ravichandran Kalaipuli Dhanu or the director Shankar. I can think of only of only person, a man by the name S.S.Vasan.
S.S.Vasan was an entrepreneur and also one of the most extravagant film producer. Chandralekha was his magnum opus made at over Rs.30 Lakhs in the year 1948. The inflation adjusted value would be almost $29 Million dollars in the current year (unimaginable). The movie was a bilingual in both Hindi and Tamil. It was a pan-world release with 609 prints all over and was released with English Subtitles. The beauty was that the release was done solely by Gemini Pictures (production house of SS.Vasan) without any foreign collaboration. The cast includes MK Radha, TR Rajakumari, Ranjan, NS Krishnan and Madhuram. The music was done by Saluri Rajeshwara Rao, lyrics by Kotha Mangalam Subbu and Papanasam Sivan. Written and directed by SS Vasan. I could not find info about the camera man and the art director who are the prime movers of this movie.
The story is simple. Its the power struggle between two brothers for the country and a lady.MK Radha is ousted by his tyrant brother Ranjan. MK falls in love with poor village dance girl ( TR Rajakumari) while building a army to get the nation back. Ranjan falls in love with the girl too and kidnaps her for marriage. She asks for a drum dance before the wedding so as to help her love MK Radha. The MK Radha’s army hides in the big drums and make a surprise attack at the end of the dance ( Inspiration from Helen of Troy?) MK fights one on one with Ranjan to kill him and save the country and the girl.
Why the movie is so special?
1. The extravagant and lavish production values make the movie unimaginable in comparison to the dates it was produced. The art direction and the camera work are so perfect in this movie. The movie was in production for almost 5 years.
2. Nobody can beat the drum dance. The music, the dance movements, the editing according to the beats of the song, the way the drums are designed and placed, the combination of long and close up shots – fantabulous.
3. The final fight sequence is considered to be the longest sword fight in the history of cinema. The camera moves along with the two actors during the fight.
4. Although there were good performances from the lead characters, especially Ranjan’s Villiany and TR Rajakunaris graceful acting, its the making that stands out in the movie.
Why it makes to the list?
This movie announced the arrival of Tamil Cinema to the world. This was the first high budget movie in India. The first Indian movie to be released overseas. It showed that the Tamil movie makers will not make only emotional pot boilers but they know how to make the big budget extravaganza too.
I could not imagine what SS Vasan would have done if he had lived in the current era. Just imagine it for yourself…
Trivia:
1. SS Vasan was also the person behind the success of Anandha Vikatan, the weekly in Tamil.He has this midas touch as he buys ailing companies to make it a success. He also bought the burnt Motion Picture Producers Combine to make the Gemini Studios. He is hailed as the Cecil De Mille of Indian Cinema
2. Gemini Studios was situated in the heart of the city at the junction of Nungambakkam and Mount Road. The Park, a 5 Star hotel and the Anna Flyover is built over that place now. The flyover is still popularly called Gemini Bridge ( although it was named Anna Flyover).
3.TR Rajakumariis considered to be the first Tamil Superstar. It was said that she drew more salary than the lead actors sometimes.
4. The rights for the Gemini Pictures was bought by Director Saran and he is producing movies in that name with the same famous Gemini Logo.
5.Gemini Ganesan got his name from the studios as he was working as a assistant in the studios.
For those who are fond of international movies ( other than Indian movies and Hollywood), UTV World Movies is a boon. They run a series called 50 Movies to watch before you die handpicked by different directors like Anurag Basu, Kunal Das Gupta etc., A wonderful series of movies you cant miss.
I thought why not a similar list for Tamil Movies. Tamil movies had a very limited audience in the past. Globalization of movie world and the advent of Internet has given a wider audience to Tamil Movies. From Rajini fan clubs in Japan to Billa running full houses in China, Tamil movies have come of age.
Tamil movie world is called Kollywoodas to hollywood and bollywood. It gets its name from Kodambakkam, a locality in Chennai, where the Cinema Studios like AVM are present. Tamil movies are a perfect blend of action, comedy, music, dances, fanfare, glamor and sentiments. The expectations of the audiences are so high that they expect the perfect blend for every movie.
I have tried to hand pick some of the unknown gems in the Tamil Movie world for the readers. All these movies are main stream movies and not documentaries from the racks of film schools. These are the movies which created histories, changed trends, broke the norms and entertained the Tamil Audiences.
1. Andha Naal (1954)
All the Tamil movies in the yester years ran for atleast 3 hours, had a minimum of 10 songs, one stage dance and few stunts. Andha Naal broke the norm being the first movie with No songs, No dance and No fight sequences. It was produced by the legendary A.V.Meyyappa Chettiar, directed by Veenai S.Balachander and the cast include Sivaji Ganesan, Pandari Bai, Javert Seetharaman ( yes, he got the name from Les Miserables character and it was his best portrayal in the Tamil Adapatation) etc.,
The story revolves around the murder of Sivaji Ganesan, with each of his relatives claiming the other one as the killer. Each one gives a different version of the story and Javert Seetharaman is the CID officer, who cracks the case. Sounds similar?
As most of you think, it has resemblances with Rashomon, a Japanese Thriller by Akiro Kurosawa. But originally it was a adapatation from the British movie called Woman in Question by Anthony Asquith.
Although its an inspiration, the director had intelligently woven the national fervor with the murder coinciding with the Japanese Bombing the city of Madras on October 11, 1943. It has a vast significance in the plot of the movie.
What makes the movie so special?
The brilliant acting of the characters. Even the smallest of the roles, catch your attention. Pandari Bai as the enstranged wife, Sivaji with negative shades and the neighbourhood old man were brilliant. If they were brilliant the chemistry between Javert Seetharaman and his assistant was fantabulous. The dialogues (Javert) are crisp, sharp camera work (Maruthi Rao) and slick, flawless screen play (Javert), makes the movie so watchable.
Although the movie didn’t make money ( which discouraged AVM to foray in to such movies), its hailed as a master piece in Tamil Cinema. I don’t think a director can become complete without analyzing the facets of this movie. A perfect study material for making a perfect screen play.
Why it makes to the list?
Just because it broke the norms and created history. It also stands as the testimony to the fact that Tamil Cinema is not about only song and dance. It tops the list of my all time favorite movies. I am yet to see a movie which can beat it.
