Coimbatore has been a lucky city from time immemorial. The local weavers, merchants and Romans had prospered while associating themselves with Coimbatore. The city was also fortunate to nurture and promote a number of good causes.
Coimbatore has been a lucky city from time immemorial. The local weavers, merchants and Romans had prospered while associating themselves with Coimbatore. The city was also fortunate to nurture and promote a number of good causes. Parantaka Chola I ( 907 - 955 ) had used the gold brought from this region by his father Aditya Chola ( 875 - 907 ) to lay the golden roof at the Chidambaram Nataraja Temple.
Coimbatore is also known as the Rome of Kongunad. It prospered under the Cholas, the rulers of Vijayanagar, the Naicks of Madurai and began prospering once again, thanks introduction of modern technology during the English period. Swamikannu Vincent, the first movie millionaire of India lived in Coimbatore and his life was an inspiration for many Coimbatoreans.
R.K.Ramakrishnan Chettiar ( younger brother of Dr. R.K. Shanmukham Chetty - the first Finance Minister of independent India ) established the Central Studios in the year 1936 on Trichy Road. The Board of Directors consisted of S.Bheemiah Chetty, P.A.Raju Chettiar and C.N.Venkatapathy Naidu. S.M.Sriramulu Naidu was the energy behind the operations. The Musiri Subramanya Iyer starrer ' Bhakta Tukaram ' lost money in the year 1938 and therefore the promoters lost interest in the venture. Maverick entrepreneur B.Rangaswamy Naidu of Rajalakshmi Mills purchased the huge studio in the year 1940 and put S.M.Sriramulu Naidu on the saddle.
S.M.Sriramulu Naidu did a good job but the passing away of B.Rangaswamy Naidu in the year 1943 and the Lakshmikanthan murder case caused a disruption in his career. He moved away by founding his own Pakshiraja Studios in Puliyakulam and the rest is history. Meanwhile, Jupiter Pictures took over Central Studios on a lease and conducted their operations in Coimbatore for a number of years.
Jupiter Pictures was promoted by Somu and S.K.Moideen. They produced a number of quality movies from Coimbatore and the famous Director A.S.A.Sami was an integral part of their activities. Sri Lanka born A.S.A.Sami had directed about 27 movies and he created history by making the movie Rajakumari in the year 1947.
He introduced M.G.Ramachandran as the hero in the movie while M.Karunanidhi rendered the script for the first time. M.Karunanidhi and M.G.Ramachandran began a fruitful association at Coimbatore. This relationship founded in Coimbatore was to become part of the political history of Tamilnadu. The movie was 134 minutes long and S.M.Subbiah Naidu was the Music Director.
A number of people including one of the Jupiter Pictures partner S.K.Moideen felt that it was a bad idea. They came to a conclusion that the movie would spoil the reputation of Jupiter Pictures after watching the first 7000 feet which had been roughly edited. S.K.Moideen felt that it can be burnt but A.S.A.Sami wanted the producers to let him complete the 4000 feet remaining to be shot before coming to a conclusion.
The enterprising Somu took a call and the movie was completed. Rajakumari was a hit and it launched M.Karunanidhi as a successful script writer in Tamil cinema. Subsequently he scripted the dialogues for Abhimanyu the very next year and the public began to love his work. Kalaignar used to spend time at the residence of his friend Annaswamy at the Subramanya Pillai Street in Singanallur along with his wife Padmavathi during those pioneering years.
He used to sit on the platform near the Aravaniyar Temple while penning dialogues for the movies made at Central Studios. On receiving a card from Kalaignar, his friend used to pick him up in a bullock cart from the railway station. The ' Kadhaivasanakartha ' used to discuss a lot with his friends in Coimbatore. Chief Minister Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi created a special position for the talented A.S.A.Sami at the film institute in the seventies of the last century.
Writers like M.Karunanidhi added to the value of cinema and the industry reciprocated by placing the name of the writer above the title in all the publicity material. Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi became a name to reckon with and he won great appreciation for his work in the movie ' Mandhirikumari ( 1951 ). It was produced by Modern Theatres of Salem and a number of people decided that M.Karunanidhi had to be felicitated.
Finally a felicitation was held at Raja Theatres on N.H.Road in Coimbatore and it took place under the leadership of freedom fighter Kovai Khadhar Ayyamuthu. Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi had finally arrived and he was create history. Coimbatore had given him both - a break and a felicitation within a 3 year period. Coimbatore was the launching pad for the master wordsmith Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi.
The writer used to go around the old town area of Coimbatore during the formative years of his career. He used to visit Big Bazaar Street and the Variety Hall Road often. The Variety Hall Road cycle shop owner Udaykant Popatlal Shah and M.Karunanidhi used to greet each other as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
Chetan Udaykant Shah and family of Shah Cycle Importing Company continue to conduct their affairs from the same spot. M.Karunanidhi used to stand in front of the entrance and watch the boys fixing up the parts of the cycles that were being loaded for delivery. Nirmala Lodge in the neighbourhood was the place that M.Karunanidhi chose for writing stories once in a way in Coimbatore.
M.Karunanidhi became a part of the newly formed DMK ( Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ) and he participated in the ' Muthamil Valarchi Mahanadu ' at R.S Puram in Coimbatore on the 27th & 28 th of May 1950.
The conference was held under the Chairmanship of Pavendar Bharathidasan. A number of Dravidian stalwarts participated in the conference and they included - C.N.Annadurai, Kalaivanar N.S.Krishnan, Ramamirtham Ammal, A.K.Velan, Nedunchezhian, K.Anbazhagan, Duraiswamy, K.M.Annal, Vellai Varananaar, S.R.Subramaniam and Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi. It was a unique conference and the ' Muthamil Perumandram ' under the stewardship of S.Somasundarabharathi was an outcome of this meet.
Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi was an important speaker in the conference and his speech received accolades from everyone. He was recognized as a leader by the people and this conference passed a number of historic resolutions.
These resolutions were to define the activities of DMK over the next decade. M.Karunanidhi continued his film and political journeys thereafter on a continuous basis. The year 1954 saw Jupiter Pictures producing the movie ' Manohara ' starring Sivaji Ganesan. A bit of confusion had taken place in connection with the movie script and it got cleared on the entry of Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi into the scene.
Some of the scenes were shot at Central Studios in Coimbatore and the production shifted to Chennai thereafter. The 10 years ( 1944 - 1954 ) of work in Coimbatore had made M.Karunanidhi familiar with the city and its people. His long stays and visits to the townplace added to his experience as a script writer and a politician. He was able to witness the social impact of industrialization and the problems faced by the working class. The experiences were to come in handy during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu.
A number of Coimbatoreans used to interact with M.Karunanidhi while he was actively involved in the world of cinema. P.A.R.Viswanathan Chettiar of Chandra Prabha Pictures used to know him quite well. All the movies which made by Poom Puhar Productions ( promoted by the family of M.Karunanidhi ) used to be released with the active involvement of P.A.R.Viswanathan Chettiar.
He used to also deal with Meghala pictures for a long time and this came from the same stable. It was during the tenure of M.Karunanidhi that Tamilnadu faced a major power crisis and the doyen of South Indian industry R.Venkataswamy Naidu placed some suggestions to the Chief Minister. Some of these suggestions were implemented. Again Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi took a lot of interest to understand the good work done by industrialist G.R.Govindarajulu at ' Chinthamani ' and he personally visited the model co operative as Chief Minister. G.D.Naidu was well known to M.Karunanidhi and he had visited ' Gopal Bagh ', the residence of the industrial scientist long ago. He used to personally know a number of industrialists from Coimbatore and used to recall a number of incidents and occasions connected with them.
On another occasion he had cast his vote for industrialist G.K.Sundaram when the Swatantra Party ideologue contested the elections to the Rajya Sabha as a candidate of the Party which was founded by Rajaji. The writer turned stateman had a lot more with Coimbatore and this essay is just an introduction.
Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi continued to visit Coimbatore all his life and he used to often recall his early experiences in the textile city. The association of Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi and Coimbatore culminated further due to historic ' Semmozhi Mahanadu ' which took place in the recent past. The association of the doyen of Indian politics Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi with Coimbatore will be part of the city's history for eternity.