History of Tamil Cinema – Episode 15

MGR as villain in Saalivaahanam

This film released on 16 February 1945 and starred Ranjan opposite T.R. Rajakumari. Directed by B.N. Rao, the film’s screenplay was penned by Kambadasan, the screen name of Rajappa.

Ranjan, who made a memorable debut in the 1941 film Ashok Kumar and whose greatest claim to fame was as the lead actor in Chandralekha, took additional lessons in sword fighting for this film. M.G. Ramachandran played the antagonist in the film.

One love scene featuring Ranjan and Rajakumari was in colour and this was achieved by hand tinting each frame of the film.

T.S. Balaiah and and N.S. Krishnan were also in the cast of Saalivaahanam.

MGR’s wife under K. Subaramaniam’s direction in Maanasamrakshanam

K. Subramaniam wrote, produced and directed the film Maanasamrakshanam who cast his wife, S.D. Subbulakshmi in the lead role. V.N. Janaki, the wife of M.G. Ramachandran, played a major role in the film.

S.D. Subbulakshmi has been credited with introducing her family friend, M.S. Subbulakshmi, as a singer and stage artist.

T.R. Mahalingam’s debut as a lead actor in Sri Valli

AVM Productions’ Sri Valli released on 13 April 1945 and was co-directed by A.T. Krishnaswamy and AVM Founder, A.V. Meiyappan. A.T. Krishnaswamy began his film career as an assistant to A.V. Meiyappan and left the studio and production company shortly after breaking out on his own through the 1941 film Sabapathy in which he made his directorial debut.

Sri Valli starred T.R. Mahalingam in the lead role opposite Kumari Rukmani in her adult debut. Kumari Rukmani was a popular child artist from her debut in the 1935 film Harischandra at the age of six through to the 1941 film Risha Sringar.

Singer and actor T.R. Mahalingam was introduced to the film world by A.V. Meiyappan in the 1937 film Nandhakumar. The film Sri Valli marked his debut as a lead actor.

A “lost” film rediscovered: Burma Rani

Releasing on the same day as Shri Valli was the war spy thriller, Burma Rani that had a major star cast that included C. Honnappa Bhagavathar, Serukalathur Sama, S.V. Sahasrananam, T.S. Balaiyah, N.S. Krishnan, T.A. Madhuram and the film’s writer and director – T.R. Sundaram.

Produced by Modern Theatres, the film was believed to have been lost until 2006 when it was rediscovered, restored and released on DVD.

Directorial debut of Kothamangalam Subbu in Kannamma en Kaadhali

This film marked the directorial debut of Kothamangalam Subbu and starred M.K. Radha and M.S. Sundari Bhai, the wife of Kothamangalam Subbu, in the lead roles. The film released on 20 July 1945.

C.K. Sarasavathi makes her debut in En Magan

This film starred N. Krishnamoorthy opposite playback singer and actress U.R. Jeevarathnam. It also marked the acting debut of character artist C.K. Sarasvathi who showed a penchant for negative characters in her later years with films like Vani Rani, Uzhaikkum Karangal and Enga Mama.

En Magan was directed by R.S. Mani with a screenplay by A.S. A. Sami. Sami was a close friend of MGR and was the only person in the film industry to address him by name, with MGR only referring to him as Annae. Sami went on to direct numerous films, including MGR’s Anandha Jodhi which also featured Kamal Haasan as a child star.

Meera

T. Sadasivam, the co-founder of the popular Kalki magazine wanted to produce a film to showcase the singing talents of his wife M.S. Subbulakshmi. After much searching, he settled on the story of Meera, a 16^th century poet who gave up her life to serve Lord Krishna.

The film was released on Deepavali 1945 – 3 November 1945 – and became a runaway hit. The film was dubbed into Hindi and released two years later to a thunderous response, turning M.S. Subbulakshmi into a national celebrity.

The film featured 21 songs – all of which were sung by Subbulakshmi.

Meera was the 12^th directorial of American filmmaker, Ellis R Dungan.