CHENNAI: Kollywood, since the days of Keechaka Vadham and Kalidas, has had much magic to offer to the common man. But, for the populace fortunate to find itself in the industry’s birth city, there was plenty of magic to be found behind the screens too. Be it the collective awe for AVM Studios’ ulaga urundai that became as much a symbol of the city as Chennai Central or the long last Vasu Studios’ realistic replica of Brihadeeswara Temple that had buses on the Arcot Road slow down for passengers to raise their hands in prayer. With an entire region (what might have once been referred to as village) of Kodambakkam having served as the address to Kollywood, there’s much history in the offering. How do we not stop to reminisce about this during our month-long celebration of Madras? Madras Musings thought as much when inviting actor Mohan Raman for a conversation with historian V Sriram for discourse on Studios of Kodambakkam.
Of legends past
While Mohan found himself joining the film fraternity towards the end of the studio era, the big ones in the field were still around, he began, responding to questions from Sriram. This time around, Mohan’s annual talks usually delivered to big crowds gathered at one of the many Madras Musings staples had been turned into a virtual interview premiering on YouTube on Friday. “If you come down Kodambakkam High Road (past the flyover), on the left you will see Vikram Studios (though it was not a very active one). The studios’ founder BS Ranga’s sons — BR Krishnakumar and BR Ramkumar — were my schoolmates. So, I used to pop in there; it was one of the early studios I had been to. Just a little further, on the right, was Vijaya Vauhini Studios. In those days, Vijaya Vauhini was the studio minus the Vijaya Hospital, minus the two kalayana mandapams. I have worked in Vijaya; in fact, the first time I got a salary from a studio was Vauhini for a movie called Karuppu Vellai. Then, there was Arunachalam Studios,” he elaborated, offering a story or a personal anecdote for every studio named.
While Prasad Studios and Prasad Labs on Arunachalam Road is quite a familiar setting for most of us, Mohan recalled the time when Arunachalam Studios was once located in the lane next to SSR Pankajam theatre. Its huge kolam with its fungus-strewn water and smattering of lilies and the specifically designed huts once offered the spot for village scenes to be shot, he recalled. What followed were the history and connections between Mohan Studios that were lessees of Prakash Studios, Barani Studios that had been the sight of audio recordings and dubbing sessions, Shamala Studios that used to stand in the place of a CEEBROS apartment now, KS Gopalakrishnan’s Karpagam Studios were a predominant portion of serials like Chinna Paapa Periya Paapa. “There are a huge number of studios that have vanished, whose vestiges are still there even now,” he said.
Pioneers lead the way
All this, of course, began with the first studio in Kodambakkam — Star Combines set up by A Ramaiah. It was a good five-six years later that AVM and Vijaya Vauhini would find an address in the vicinity. With three giants in one area, fellow producers followed suit, officially anointing Kodambakkam. “The grand patriarch of cinema HM Reddy himself set up his studio only in 1951. He had been dependent on Newtone Studios. When they wouldn’t give Reddy and his partners some shooting days, they (the latter) in a tiff said ‘Why don’t we start a new studio?’” he narrated.
But, what drew all these people to this neighbourhood, questioned Sriram. Going by historian Randor Guy, it was the surplus of electricity post-war, of which the now non-existent Power House was responsible for distribution that drew these studios in. They were invited to set up around the Power House, recalled Mohan. But, he also ventured to offer the other reason that he believes worked as an advantage — the availability of ‘evacuee’ property post-Independence opened up a lot of land in the area; something that was vital for studios that worked extensively on sets built from scratch.
Confluence of cultures
Though physical remnants of this era — in terms of the studios themselves or comprehensive documentation — may not be abundant, what’s this history without the people who lived it. “Star Combines is where actress Bhanumathi was introduced; it’s where she met Ramakrishna; it’s where she eloped with Ramakrishna and it was aided and abetted by Ramaiah,” he recounted. It was also a period of cosmopolitanism, where people from all the southern industries came together to make movies. And it had its own series of stories. “If you were to walk into AVM Studios, on the left you would probably find Mr Sivaji Ganesan speaking in senthamizh; on the right, you might find a Sinhala movie being shot. A little ahead, you will find Mr Raj Kapoor singing a song with Nargis; over there, you might find MG Ramachandran having a fight scene. Somewhere down there, you’ll find NT Rama Rao and Rajkumar from Kannada. All of them shot here. NTR’s children were all born there, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh too. Because their parents were always here. It was truly Madras Presidency lived on through the film industry, a good 20 years after linguistic states were born,” he pointed out, offering a slice of reality of Madras’ cinescape. This is why it is Thenindhia Nadigar Sangam and South Indian Film Chamber, he added.
This confluence meant that Madras had produced many hits for multiple languages. The incredible Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandani was shot right here in AVM, recalled Mohan, putting it forth as a big example. Sriram chipped in that the late Jayalalithaa brought it full circle when she sang the song in an interview.
These studios were the place of many firsts too — be it the start of dubbing movies into other languages, the introduction of playback singing, and much more. Removing the rights to Subramaniya Bharathiyar’s works from private hands and making them freely available to the public was a result of these studios, pointed out Mohan. While AVM had acquired the rights just to acquire one song — Aaduvome pallu paaduvome — for a movie, TK Shanmugam persuaded him to donate the rights to the government, for wasn’t Bharathiyar’s work a property of the nation?
Many factors contributed to the disbanding of this system, chief among which was the arrival of new technology that made studios obsolete. “Today, where is the question of having a video library or a cassette library when everything is in the Cloud? So studios became irrelevant,” pointed out Mohan. To which Sriram remarked, “So, it began with a dream, it became a dream.” While even AVM is not what it used to be, Prasad Studios still has a few floors for shoots and Mohan Studios has one floor and some open space for sets — retaining the last vestiges of bygone era. Who is to say what’s to come next?