Early Film Career
With the dawn of the talkies, AVM established the Saraswathi Sound Productions. In 1935, AVM made his debut as a producer with the Tamil film Alli Arjuna which performed miserably at the box-office. His next venture Ratnavali was another failure. He then teamed up with Jayanthilal, a cinema house owner and promoted a new company, Pragati Pictures Ltd.
In 1938, AVM bought the rights for the Tamil remake of a Marathi film on the boyhood of Lord Krishna. This film Nandakumar was an average grosser. AVM introduced a 14-year old boy, T. R. Mahalingam, for the part of the young Lord Krishna. This young boy would later become an efficient singer turning in a number of melodious hits. Lalitha Venkataraman sang for the character Devaki making Nandakumar the first film to introduce the concept of playback singing in the Tamil film industry. Nandakumar was also one of the first Tamil movies to be shot on location as AVM leased the Club House off Mount Road in Chennai to shoot scenes without erecting sets.
AVM started his own studios in 1940 and named it Pragathi Studios. In the same year, AVM produced Bhoo Kailash which became one of the most popular film versions of the Ramayana. The film was made in Telugu, its lead actors were from Kannada cinema and it was directed by Sundar Rao Nadkarni, a Mangalorean who had received his training in Bombay. AVM's comedy flick Sabapathy(1941) starring T.R. Ramachandran, K. Sarangapani and Kali N. Ratnam was a runaway hit as also Poli Panchali, another comedy. Sabapathy eventually emerged as one of the greatest comedy films of the era. He followed this with another hit En Manaivi.
In 1943, he produced the film Harischandra in Kannada based on the legend of a king who attempted to kill his own son to defend justice. The next year, the film was dubbed into Tamil making it the first Indian film to be dubbed from one language to another. During the making of Sri Valli in 1945, he employed singer Periyanayaki to sing for actress Rukmini. This was AVM's second film to make use of playback. Pragati technicians worked round the clock to synchronise voice and lip. Reels were shipped back and forth in cars and trains between Madras and Karaikkudi to ensure good quality.
Read more about this topic: Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar
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