Short notes on earlier Thamil film directors

K S Sivakumaran

Cinema in Thamilnadu in India has undergone several changes since the 1930s. The new trend at present is entirely different from the earlier productions.

Modern technology as in other parts of the world has made it possible to make the medium more sophisticated than the previous years.

Yet the directors of earlier films made several story-based good films in yesteryear.

I would like to name a few who made impressions on me and this information may be of interest to our younger cineastes. One other point- I don’t claim to have seen all the films of all the directors.

I began seeing and remembering Thamil films only when the blockbuster Chandralekha was screened in the late 1940s. We learn that H M Reddi was the grand old man of South Indian (Thamil and Telugu) Cinema.

He was the first to make a film that ‘could talk’, meaning advancing from silent films to ‘talkies’ Grand Old Men and Women who are now in the 80s might remember a box office film called Chinthamani- a musical extravaganza. It was made by Y. Y Rao.

There was also P.V Rao whose Marthanda Varma is supposed to be the only surviving silent film. Some of the earlier musical films in Thamil were Sakunthalai, Meera, Manthrikumari et al.

They were made by not-knowing Thamil American by name Ellis R Duncan. M K Thiyagarajah Bagavathar was superstar those days and his métier was singing. The film he starred was called Ashokumar. The film was made by Raja Chandrasekar.

Another director of repute was P Pulliah who made Harischandra.

A North Indian who studied film making in the University of California was M L Tandon.

His Thamil films were Nandanaar, Bhama Vijayam and Dambachari.Some other directors were T Janakiram and A T Krishnasamy, T R Raghunath, L R Prasad, T Prakash Rao (his Padakoatti was successful film) K G

Gopalakrishnan (Chakradhari), Thapi Chanakya ( Enga Veetu Pillai), S D S Yogi, K V Srinivasan (Kanavanae Kun, Kanda Deivam), K S Prakash Rao,

Krishnan-Panju, S Balachandar (Antha Naal) Mangamma Sabatham, Apoorva Sahotharakal and Kadagam were popular films made by T G Raghavachari.

Yet another maestro in Thamil cinema was K Ramnath. He made Marmayogi, Erlai Padum Paadu and Kanniyin Kaathali.

Successful films like Rajambaal and Thooku Thookie were made by R M

Krishnaswami. K Shankar is an innovative filmmaker and one of his films is in Sinhala.

B N Rao’s flms include Bhooloka Rambai, Rambaiyin Kaathal, Gumasthavin Penn, Dasi Aparanji and Madana Kaama Rajan.

Maybe later we shall see who the new film directors in Thamil are.

Among the films mentioned above I remember Chandraleka, Chinthamani, Sakunthalai, Ashokumar, Nandanaar, Padakoatti, Enga Veetu Pillai, Kanavanae Kun Kanda Deivam, Mangamma Sabatham, Apoorva Sahothararkal, Ealai Padum Paadu and Thooku Thooki.

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