A.N.Marudachalam Chettiar ( his portrait continues to be preserved well at the Rathinasabapathipuram Club in Coimbatore )is the pioneer who introduced M.G.Ramachandran into the world of cinema. Coimbatore produced many movie firsts and Marudachalam Chettiar had played his part really well. Chettiar and his partners were involved in film distribution for sometime. They distributed English, Hindi and Tamil movies in the Coimbatore territory. Most of them were action movies. The firm used to be called ' Chellam Talkies '. He entered the realm of production through the movie ' Bhama Vijayam ' in the year 1933. It was a box office bonanza and a musical classic. Bhama Vijayam ( released in 1934 ) is about Lord Krishna and his wives - Rukmini and Sathyabhama.
A.N.Marudachalam Chettiar ( his portrait continues to be preserved well at the Rathinasabapathipuram Club in Coimbatore )is the pioneer who introduced M.G.Ramachandran into the world of cinema. Coimbatore produced many movie firsts and Marudachalam Chettiar had played his part really well. Chettiar and his partners were involved in film distribution for sometime. They distributed English, Hindi and Tamil movies in the Coimbatore territory. Most of them were action movies. The firm used to be called ' Chellam Talkies '. He entered the realm of production through the movie ' Bhama Vijayam ' in the year 1933. It was a box office bonanza and a musical classic. Bhama Vijayam ( released in 1934 ) is about Lord Krishna and his wives - Rukmini and Sathyabhama.
The movie had the music legend G.N.Balasubramaniam ( GNB ) donning an important role ( Sage Narada ). GNB had acted in five movies. He was known as ' Hutchinsons Gramophone Plate Fame Sangeetha Vidwan ' in the posters, hand bills and song books connected with the movie ' Bhama Vijayam '. Chellam Talkies had been supported by P.S.Sathappa Chettiar, the money bag of Coimbatore and a few other friends. Coimbatore connected lawyer turned film maker C.K.Sachi assisted the Hollywood trained director Manik Lal Tandon. P.S.Ratna Bai, P.S.Saraswathi Bai ( Palayamkottai Sisters ) and M.R.Krishnamurthy were brought in to play the roles of Rukmini, Sathyabhama and Krishna. The movie was done at a cost of Rs.80000 and it yielded a collection of One Million Rupees those days. It had 59 songs and GNB sang 8 of them in classical ragas. Telugu songs of Thyagaraja like ' Balakanakamaya ' were part of the movie. All the artists stood up and sang ' Jana Gana Mana ' by Tagore ( it was not yet the anthem of the country ) towards the end of the movie and the audience used to stand up for the song with full gusto, thanks to their love for the nation.
A.N.Marudachalam Chettiar produced the movie ' Dumbachari ' in the year 1935. It was a successful play which had rendered by Thiruvetriyur Kasi Viswanatha Mudaliar. It was believed to be based on the true story of a wayward man who had lost himself in the company of women in spite of being married to a chaste and beautiful wife. Though the play was popular, the movie did not do well. The failure was because of the star cast. Moviegoers of the yonder era did not like Maharajapuram Krishnamurthy acting as an womanizer after having donned the role of Lord Krishna.
Sathi Leelavathi ( 1936 ) was the next production and it introduced a volley of talent into Tamil cinema and this included M.G.Ramachandran. S.S.Vasan ( Gemini Studios ) who happened to be a magazine man was the story writer for this movie.
The famous American of Irish descent Ellis. R. Dungan took his bow as the director of this movie. He had come to stay for just a few months but he ended up for a much longer time. Famous Actor M.K.Radha, Character Actor T.S.Baliah and the Charlie Chaplin of India - N.S.Krishnan ( NSK ) entered the world of cinema through this film. NSK was really slim in this movie and he sported a tuft.
The story for this movie came up as a consequence of a trail of events. Sathavadanam Te.Po. Krishnaswamy Pavalar wrote a play based on the evils of drinking and its impact on family life. This play ' Pathi Bhakthi ' was successfully staged all over. The original play was re written by Madras Kandaswamy Mudaliar ( father of Actor M.K.Radha ) for the Madras Original Boys Company ( MOBC ). A.N.Marudachalam Chettiar had founded the firm - Manorama Films and decided to produce the play ' Pathi Bhakthi ' but meanwhile Mudaliar ( Kandaswamy ) had left the MOBC ! Finally on the advice of Kandaswamy Mudaliar, Chettiar acquired the rights of a story written by S.S.Vasan of ' Ananda Vikatan ' for it had a similar story line. The story was purchased for Rs.200 and the script was done by Mudaliar in no time. M.K.Radha, the son of Kandaswamy Mudaliar was made the hero of the movie. Chettiar decided to bring in M.L.Tandon to do the movie but he was busy with ' Nandanar ' at that time. In spite of the request of both - Mudaliar and Chettiar at Kolkatta, M.L.Tandon did not oblige but he suggested that an Ohio born American Ellis.R.Dungan would be the best choice. Marudachalam Chettiar did not want Dungan to be the director but the magic word, Hollywood made him agree. Thanks to this chance, Dungan made the movies - Ambikapathi ( 1937 ), Sakunthalai ( 1940 ), Meera ( 1945 ) and Mandhirikumari ( 1950 ). Sathi Leelavathi was his first movie though.
Ellis.R.Dungan had been an innovator. He was the first to make film trailers in our country. Interestingly, he made a film of himself doing the work for his first film - Sathi Leelavathi. The film contains rare close up shots of a young and good looking M.G.Ramachandran. Dungan had a two seater Dodge motor car which had a platform like contraption fitted on it by him. He used to mount the camera on this self made contraption and it used to be a ' camera car '. It helped him to take fast panning shots. It proved to be a useful method which helped the camera persons to take shots of actors riding horses. Ellis.R.Dungan ( ERD ) had a generous heart and he developed a deep interest on India. ERD was quite a helpful person and he let his assistants to do things on their own. This was a time when cameramen used to take a part of the camera home in order to ensure that no one could operate it in their absence. ERD was an exception for he let them do their experiments all the time.
The good director was well versed in cinematography, editing and movie make up. Max Factor company had requested him to explore the possibilities of marketing their products in India. A.N.Marudachalam Chettiar was really happy to learn about all this. Meanwhile the producers of ' Pathi Bhakthi ' decided to take up the matter legally on Chettiar and Mudaliar. However S.S.Vasan had the clue for all of them had taken the story from the popular novel ' Danbury House ' by the famous novelist Mrs.Henry Wood who had been involved with social issues like evils of drinking. This story had also been done in Hindi earlier. Therefore this issue vanished. The movie had one more obstacle, the choice of the leading lady. It was decided to have M.R.Gnanambal for the role. She was the wife of M.K.Radha and had decided not to act after her marriage. She did her role amidst much reluctance from her family. Since ERD did not know Tamil C.K.Sachi of Coimbatore ( he hailed from a family of lawyers ) was made the associate director. C.K.Sachi is the cousin of novelist R.K.Narayan and the cartoonist R.K.Laxman.
Sathi Leelavathi had a story line according to which T.S.Balaiah was an evil genius, M.K.Radha was the husband Radhakrishnan and M.R.Gnanambal the wife Leelavathi. Radhakrishnan kills his friend Parasuraman in the movie and vanishes to Sri Lanka. On discovering a treasure in the island, he returns as a wealthy man but he is discovered by the cops and is arrested. He escapes from the noose, thanks to the inspector who turns up with the dead guy, Parasuraman ! The villain Ramanathan ( T.S.Balaiah ) was the murderer who had killed another person. Radhakrishnan ( M.K.Radha ) gets acquitted and lives with his wife happily ever after. Sathi Leelavathi was shot at Vel Pictures Studio in Chennai. Those were times when the area was not so crowded and actors used to sleep under the trees on the shaded road.
Songs used to recorded on the sets itself. The orchestra players sat on a trolley safely away from the camera and played the background music. They used instruments like violin, flute, clarinet, mridangam and harmonium only. During outdoor shoots, the instrumentalists sat under a tree or on a trolley. ERD was the first to introduce a new feature to Tamil cinema and over the years it became a most sought after item. It was the cabaret dance or the club dance. Sathi Leelavathi was released in the year 1936 and was a box office hit. It established ERD as a leading director. In spite of not knowing Tamil ERD managed with aplomb. Every word was translated for him and he studied India and its people with great zeal. He worked hard on his films. ERD used to spot mistakes by taking a mere look at the expression while the actors were delivering dialogues. He understood that a mistake had been made by just looking at the facial expression.
The great C.Rajagopalachari who abhorred cinema attended a show of Sathi Leelavathi. He praised the movie for its Gandhian ideals and its prohibition theme. Therefore the people concerned gave a day's collection to him so that the sum may be used for the interest of the nation. Sathi Leelavathi became a memorable movie and it earned a place in the annals of cinema. M.G.Ramachandran ( was the police inspector with a laced turban and was just paid Rs.100 for his inspector role ) came into public life because of his role in Sathi Leelavathi. The man who had been responsible for bringing M.G.Ramachandran into cinema had been the eminent Coimbatorean A.N.Marudachalam Chettiar.