History of Tamil Cinema – Part 1

Although Tamil cinema is said to have begun with the release of the 1931 film, Kalidas, it is more accurate to state that Kalidas was the first South Indian talkie. The film had dialogue in Tamil and Telugu and starred the renowned T.P. Rajalakshmi with P.G. Venketesan and LV Prasad (founder of Prasad Studios)

Tamil cinema was born in 1916 with the production of Keechaka Vadham, the first Tamil film – a silent film – produced by R Nataraja Mudaliyar. The film was made on a budget of Rs 37 000 and netted Rs 50 000 after being screened across India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore. R Nataraja Mudaliyar is commonly regarded as the father of Tamil Cinema. He was the mentor for Malayalam cinema’s first film-maker, J.C. Daniel. He also mentored Surya Prakasa, the son of Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu. Surya Prakasa went on to apprentice under the famous American film maker Cecil B DeMille.

The first Tamil film with sound was Galavarishi, released in 1932 and was directed by P.B. Rangachari who also played the lead role.

In 1915, R Nataraja Mudaliyar established India Film Company, South India’s first film production company. In 1916, South India’s first film studio was erected at 10 Millers Road, Kilpauk, Chennai. This was known as the India Film Company and became the first Film Institute of India.

These milestones were reached because of the pioneering work done by many visionaries since the introduction of movies in South India in 1897. In 1905, when French film exhibitor DuPont wanted to return to France, Samikannu Vincent, a clerk who worked for the South Indian Railways in Coimbatore resigned from his position and bought the projectors, accessories and films from DuPont. He used this equipment to set up Tent theatres throughout the region. In Chennai he set up a semi-permanent Tent Theatre and named it Edison’s Grand Cinemamegaphone. In 1914 he built South India’s second permanent theatre built with bricks and mortar called Variety Hall. Yesteryear actor, JP Chandrababu was married to one of Samikannu’s grandaughters, Sheela. Samikannu’s birthday, 18 April, is celebrated as Cinema Theatre Day.

The first permanent cinema theatre was built two years earlier, in 1912, by Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu. This was the Gaiety Theatre in Mount Road, South India’s first bricks-and-mortar cinema. Naidu would later construct Crown Theatre in Mint Street and Globe Theatre in Purasawakkam.

….To be continued