CHENNAI: Everytime we cross the famous rotating golden globe with the letters ‘AVM’ at the entrance to one of the oldest existing film studios in the country, in Vadapalani, we cannot stop but picture snapshots of the numerous films produced by the studio.
The production studio, in the last 73 years, has not only become a part of every film enthusiast’s life, but has also become one with the city’s history. As part of the ongoing lecture series on ‘Madras in the 40s’ by Madras Local History group, historian-cum-author Venkatesh in his inimitable style presented a talk on the life and times of AV Meiyappan (AVM), the man whose contribution to cinema is unparalleled.
Laced with tidbits, and a pinch of humour, Venkatesh took us on a journey as dramatic as the movie mogul’s life. “AV Meiyappan hailed from Nattukottai Chettiar background, which was a mercantile community. While everyone in the family was involved in money lending business, his father broke started a mini supermarket, AV & Sons. He was perhaps the first one to introduce a term like ‘fixed price’. The shop was one of the firsts to have a roller shutter. People would gather around it to see him open and close the door,” he said. The shop was way ahead of its time.
It was also involved in developing camera films and selling gramophone records. “The gramophone changed AVM’s life,” shared Venkatesh. Meiyappan joined his father as a teenager and decided to produce gramophone records. “From Karaikudi, AVM came to Madras and set up Saraswathi Stores in Mount Road and began producing records,” said Venkatesh.
By the early 1930s, Meiyappan established a strong base and earned support of people like Sivam Chettiyar and Narayanan Iyengar. The era also marked the dawn of Talkies, and Meiyappan seized the opportunity. “He launched his maiden movie venture. It was the first of AVM’s ‘three disasters’,” remarked Venkatesh. He failed in his first three films — Alli Arjuna, Ratnavali and Nandakumar — before tasting success. “The first film was shot in then Calcutta for a sum of `80,000. The actors were blinded by the arc lights and they acted with their eyes closed, literally,” he shared. The highlight of the third film, Nandakumar was the debut of actor, singer-music composer TR Mahalingam into the film industry. “AVM introduced some of the prominent actors like Kamal Hassan, Sivaji Ganesan,Vyajayanthimala and SS Rajendran,” he said.
AVM’s landmark leaps were predominantly because of his progress in film’s audio. Sri Valli by AVM was the first film in which the original version of the audio of songs were erased and new audio was synchronised. “Till Sri Valli, film makers were dependant on the voice of lead artistes for songs. But after the 1945 film, where PA Periyanayaki sung songs for Kumari Rukmini, playback singing method was introduced. It paved way for actors who couldn’t sing,” he said.
AVM not only produced hit films like Parasakthi and Server Sundaram, but also ‘revived’ and popularised Bharathiyar’s songs and Bharatanatyam through his films. In a column, Venkatesh writes, ‘Cinema was no longer the occupation of the idle and when AVM used Kumari Kamala in Naam Iruvar to dance to Bharathi’s songs he popularised two phenomena (still in great demand today) — Bharatanatyam and Bharathi’s songs. Little Kamala’s rendering of Bharatanatyam liberated it from its erstwhile social repulsiveness and Bharathi’s songs imprinted on gramophone records spread like a forest fire through the Tamil diaspora.’
He struck gold with Tamil cinema’s first full-length comedy film Sabapathi. “Ironically, the film was shot in a haunted house,” he said.For about half a century AVM worked incessantly, and the studio produced films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi steadily.