53-555: Lokesh Kanagaraj ( / l oʊ k eɪ ʃ k ə n ə ɡ ə r ɑː dʒ / ; born 14 March 1986) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works in Tamil cinema . He started his career with a short film in the 2016 anthology Aviyal , he later directed his first feature film Maanagaram (2017). He created the Lokesh Cinematic Universe (LCU) franchise after the commercial success of Kaithi (2019),
106-956: A town or village to screen the films. The first of its kind was established in Madras , called "Edison's Grand Cinemamegaphone". This was due to the fact that electric carbons were used for motion picture projectors. Most of the films screened then were shorts made in the United States and Britain . In 1909, an Englishman, T. H. Huffton, founded Peninsular Film Services in Madras and produced some short films for local audiences. But soon, hour-long films, which narrated dramatic stories, then known as " drama films ", were imported. From 1912 onwards, feature films made in Bombay (now Mumbai ) were also screened in Madras. The era of short films had ended. The arrival of drama films firmly established cinema as
159-573: A Tamil film in 1989 directed by T. Rajendran. Then he appeared in Donga Police in 1991, also doing some dances with Prabhu Deva . He was a background dancer in the song Chikku Bukku Chikku Bukku Railey in Gentleman (1993). He also appeared in dance sequences in Muta Mesthri (1993), Rakshana (1993) and Allari Priyudu (1993). Chiranjeevi offered him the job of choreographing
212-465: A corporate short film competition. The judge of the competition was Karthik Subbaraj . Impressed with his short film, he encouraged Lokesh to pursue a directorial career making films. Lokesh made his directorial debut with the short film, Acham Thavir (2012), which won awards for Best Director, Best Film and Best Actor at the Clubace short film festival. In 2016, his short film Kalam was included in
265-549: A dance choreographer in 1993, he began looking for acting opportunities. He began his career as an actor in 1998, in a Telugu film . He adopted the name "Raghava" in 2001, and worked for many prominent actors and directors in Tamil cinema throughout his career. He got his breakthrough with Telugu film Style and then Muni . Lawrence is also known for his intricate hip-hop and westernised dance moves and has won four Filmfare Awards , three Nandi Awards and two Tamil Nadu State Film Award for best choreography. In 2015, after
318-596: A decent market. Tamil films have enjoyed consistent popularity among populations in South East Asia . Since Chandralekha , Muthu was the second Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese (as Mutu: Odoru Maharaja ) and grossed a record $ 1.6 million in 1998. In 2010, Enthiran grossed a record $ 4 million in North America. Many Tamil-language films have premiered or have been selected as special presentations at various film festivals across
371-531: A few months. Once it was demonstrated as a commercial proposition, a Western entrepreneur, Warwick Major, built the first cinema theatre , the Electric Theatre, which still stands. It was a favourite haunt of the British community in Madras. The theatre was shut down after a few years. This building is now part of a post office complex on Anna Salai ( Mount Road ). The Lyric Theatre was also built in
424-633: A first lead role in the Tamil with Arpudham (2002). As described by review sify , the latest in the line is Lawrence, who like his predecessor Prabhu Deva, is determined to be a hero. Arputham has a decent screenplay and Lawrence is tolerable. Thereafter, Style (2002). He also made a guest appearance with Vijay in the Tamil movie Thirumalai (2003). After a guest appearance in the film Thendral (2004), he directed his first film in Telugu, Mass (2004) starring Nagarjuna and Jyothika . The movie
477-655: A global presence, enjoying strong box office collections among Tamil-speaking audiences in Sri Lanka , Malaysia , and Singapore . Tamil films are also distributed throughout the Middle East , Oceania , Europe , North America , parts of Africa , and Japan . The industry also inspired independent filmmaking among Tamil diaspora populations in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, and the West . M. Edwards first screened
530-420: A grand exhibition was organised in Madras . Its major attraction was the screening of short films accompanied by sound. A British company imported a Crone megaphone , made up of a film projector to which a gramophone with a disc containing prerecorded sound was linked, and both were run in unison, producing picture and sound simultaneously. However, there was no synched dialogue . Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu ,
583-638: A permanent cinema house in Madras—Gaiety, in 1914, the first cinema house in Madras to be built by an Indian. He soon added two more, Crown Theatre in Mint and Globe (later called Roxy) in Purasawalkam . Swamikannu Vincent, who had built one of the first cinema halls of South India in Coimbatore , introduced the concept of "Tent Cinema" in which a tent was erected on a stretch of open land close to
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#1732793624171636-566: A popular entertainment form. More cinema houses came up in the city. Fascinated by this new entertainment form, an automobile dealer in the Thousand Lights area of Madras, R. Nataraja Mudaliyar , decided to venture into film production. After a few days' training in Pune with the cinematographer Stewart Smith, the official cinematographer of Lord Curzon 's 1903 Durbar, he started a film production concern in 1916. The man who truly laid
689-599: A selection of silent films at the Victoria Public Hall in Madras in 1897 during the British Raj . The selected films all featured non-fictional subjects; they were mostly photographed records of day-to-day events. The film scholar Stephen Hughes points out that within a few years there were regular ticketed shows in a hall in Pophams Broadway, started by one Mrs. Klug, but this lasted only for
742-510: A short film within the LCU, titled Chapter Zero , as a prequel to Kaithi 2 . On 14 April 2024 coinciding with Puthandu , Lokesh announced his production venture, Benz , directed by Bakkiyaraj Kannan and starring Raghava Lawrence in the lead. He has also written the story for the film. On 30 October 2024, Benz was confirmed to be a part of the LCU. Lokesh's films are primarily in the noir action genre. He has likened himself to John Woo , who
795-460: A standard deviation of ±10 lakh tickets during 2011–16. The Chennai film industry produced the first nationally distributed film across India in 1948 with Chandralekha . They have one of the widest overseas distribution, with large audience turnout from the Tamil diaspora . They are distributed to various parts of Asia, Africa, Western Europe, North America and Oceania. Many successful Tamil films have been remade by other film industries. It
848-586: A studio, the first in south India, was set up in Madras at 10 Millers Road, Kilpauk. He called it the India Film Company. Rangavadivelu, an actor from Suguna Vilasa Sabha, a theatre company then, was hired to train the actors. Thirty-five days later, the first feature film made in south India, The Extermination of Keechakan / Keechakavatham , based on an episode from the Mahabharata , was released produced and directed by R. Nataraja, who established
901-704: A successful photographer , took over the equipment after the exhibition and set up a tent cinema near the Madras High Court . With this equipment, he screened the short films Pearl Fish and Raja's Casket in the Victoria Public Hall. When this proved successful, he screened the films in a tent set up in Esplanade. These tent events were the true precursors of the cinema shows. Naidu travelled with this unit to Burma (now Myanmar ) and Sri Lanka , and when he had gathered enough money, he put up
954-1009: Is also known mainly for directing such films. Despite this, Lokesh has expressed interest in exploring other genres such as fantasy and comedy . He has cited action films from the 1980s and 1990s as influences on his films, and has named Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino as some of his favourite directors due to their filmmaking styles. Rathna Kumar , who worked with Lokesh on Master , Vikram , and Leo , mentioned that his penchant for retro songs, violence, and hyperlink narratives in his films come from his admiration for Tarantino. Though Lokesh's films are sometimes criticised for glorifying bloodshed and violence, he admitted that while he does try to romanticise violence, he has always had to tone down such sequences in his films to appeal to family audiences. To make his stunt sequences believable, Lokesh avoids using ropes, and believes this limitation makes
1007-461: Is back with the fourth movie in the series – Muni 4: Kanchana 3: Kaali (2019), with the new change being three heroines. The film has received a good collections at the box office. In 2020, he made his directorial debut in Hindi cinema with film, Laxmii , a remake of Muni 2: Kanchana . On November 10, 2023, the movie Jigarthanda DoubleX , featuring actors Raghava Lawrence and SJ Suryah in
1060-767: Is estimated by the Manorama Yearbook 2000 (a popular almanac) that over 5,000 Tamil films were produced in the 20th century. Tamil films have also been dubbed into other languages, thus reaching a much wider audience. There has been a growing presence of English in dialogue and songs in Chennai films. It is not uncommon to see movies that feature dialogue studded with English words and phrases, or even whole sentences. Some movies are also simultaneously made in two or three languages (either using subtitles or several soundtracks). Chennai's film composers have popularised their highly unique, syncretic style of film music across
1113-745: The Central Board of Film Certification alone were eligible for tax exemption and those with an "A" certificate could not fit into this category. There are three major roles in the Tamil film value chain viz producer, distributor and exhibitor. The distributor purchases theatrical distribution rights from the producer for exhibiting the film in a defined territory. The distributor performs enhanced functions such as: There are three popular approaches to transfer of distribution rights via distribution contracts: There are four popular approaches to transfer of exhibition rights via exhibition contracts: Film studios in Chennai are bound by legislation, such as
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#17327936241711166-412: The Madras audience. The legendary Otraivadai drama theatre had been built in 1872 itself in Mint. Many drama halls had come up in the city where short silent films were screened in the afternoon and plays were enacted in the night. The scene changed in 1934 when Madras got its first sound studio. By this time, all the cinema houses in Madras had been wired for sound. Narayanan, who had been active during
1219-403: The Tamil -language only. This is in accordance with Government Order 72 passed on 22 July 2006. The first film to be released after the new Order was Unakkum Enakkum . The original title had been Something Something Unakkum Ennakkum , a half-English and a half-Tamil title. In July 2011, strict norms on entertainment tax were passed which stated that films which were given a "U" certificate by
1272-617: The anthology film Aviyal , produced by Karthik Subbaraj . He directed his first feature film, Maanagaram , in 2017, followed by the 2019 action thriller Kaithi produced by Dream Warrior Pictures , with Karthi in the lead role. Lokesh's next film, Master , released in January 2021 and starring Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi , received positive reviews and became the highest-grossing Indian film of that year. In 2022, Lokesh directed Vikram , starring Kamal Haasan , Vijay Sethupathi and Fahadh Faasil . The film’s success, along with
1325-491: The film projector and silent films from the Frenchman Du Pont and set up a business as film exhibitor . Soon, he tied up with Pathé , a well-known pioneering film-producing company, and imported projectors . This helped new cinema houses to sprout across the presidency . In later years, he produced talkies and also built a cinema in Coimbatore . To celebrate the event of King George V 's visit in 1909,
1378-800: The Cinematography Film Rules of 1948, the Cinematography Act of 1952, and the Copyright Act of 1957. In Tamil Nadu , cinema ticket prices are regulated by the government . Single screen theatres may charge a maximum of ₹ 50, while theatres with more than three screens may charge a maximum of ₹ 120 per ticket. Raghava Lawrence Raghava Lawrence (born Raghava M urugaiyan ) is an Indian actor, choreographer, film director, composer, playback singer, lyricist, film producer and philanthropist known for his works primarily in Tamil cinema . After making his debut as
1431-514: The India Film Company Limited. Despite a century of increasing box office takings, Tamil cinema remains informal. Nevertheless, there are few exceptions like Modern Theatres, Gemini Studios , AVM and Sri Thenandal Films that survived beyond 100 productions. In 2017, opposing the dual taxation of GST (28%) and entertainment tax (30%), Tamilnadu Theatre Owners Association announced indefinite closure of all cinemas in
1484-617: The Mount Road area. This venue boasted a variety of events, including plays in English, Western classical music concerts, and ballroom dances . Silent films were also screened as an additional attraction. Swamikannu Vincent , a railway draftsman from Tiruchirapalli , became a travelling exhibitor in 1905. He showed short movies in a tent in Esplanade , near the present Parry's Corner, using carbide jet-burners for projection. He bought
1537-556: The constructed nature of their work so that the realistic narrative was wholly dominant, Indian filmmakers made no attempt to conceal the fact that what was shown on the screen was a creation, an illusion, a fiction. However, they demonstrated how this creation intersected with people's day-to-day lives in complex ways. By the end of the 1930s, the State of Madras legislature passed the Entertainment Tax Act 1939 . In 1916,
1590-525: The dances for Hitler (1997). Pleased with Lawrence's work, Chiranjeevi asked him to choreograph dances for Master (1997), his next film too. Producer T V D Prasad offered him the role of a hero in his venture Speed Dancer (1999). That film was a flop. After that he acted small roles in Tamil like Ajith Kumar 's Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven (2000) and Prashanth 's Parthen Rasithen (2000). Director K. Balachander invited him to act in his 100th film Parthale Paravasam (2001). He acted as
1643-408: The death of former Indian president A. P. J. Abdul Kalam , Lawrence set up a charity trust in his name and donated ₹ 1 crore (US$ 120,000). Lawrence was born on 29 October 1976 into a Tamil speaking family of Murugaiyan and Kanmani. Lawrence had a brain tumor when he was a child. He attributes the curing of his tumor to the deity , Raghavendra Swamy , and in an act of devotion, he took
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1696-576: The early cinema were the cultural influences of the country. The Tamil -language was the medium in which many plays and stories were written since the ages as early as the Cholas . They were highly stylised and nature of the spectacle was one which could attract the people. Along with this, music and dance were one of the main entertainment sources. There is a strong Indian tradition of narrating mythology, history, fairy tales and so on through song and dance. Whereas Hollywood filmmakers strove to conceal
1749-749: The establishment of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe (LCU), elevated his reputation in the industry, leading to another collaboration with Vijay on Leo . Following Leo , Lokesh announced Thalaivar 171 , Rajinikanth ’s 171st film, produced by Sun Pictures , with music by Anirudh Ravichander . The official title Coolie was revealed in April 2024. In June 2023, Lokesh announced to conclude his directing career after completing 10 films. By November 2023, he launched his production company, G Squad, and unveiled his first production, Fight Club , directed by Vijay Kumar . Later that year, in December, Lokesh announced
1802-409: The film as, "Crass, loud and brainless." Then another of genre horror Shivalinga , remake a Kannada language with the same name directed by P. Vasu . Shakthi Vasudevan , son of director, also starred in the important role for two versions. The story is a cop investigating the suspicious death of a Muslim finds out that his own wife has become possessed by the young man's ghost. Raghava Lawrence
1855-567: The first Tamil film to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film , the feat was repeated by Kanchivaram in 2007. Tamil films enjoy significant patronage in neighbouring Indian states like Kerala , Karnataka , Andhra Pradesh , Maharashtra , Gujarat and New Delhi . In Kerala and Karnataka the films are directly released in Tamil but in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh they are generally dubbed into Telugu where they have
1908-492: The foundations of Tamil cinema was A. Narayanan. After a few years in film distribution, he set up a production company in Madras, the General Pictures Corporation, popularly known as GPC. Beginning with The Faithful Wife / Dharmapathini (1929), GPC made about 24 feature films. GPC functioned as a film school and its alumni included names such as Sundara Rao Nadkarni and Jiten Banerji. The studio of GPC
1961-511: The franchise's first installment. He directed Master (2021), a standalone film featuring Vijay . This was followed by Vikram (2022), the second installment in the LCU with Kamal Haasan in the lead role. Lokesh Kanagaraj and Shruti Haasan come together for a musical project titled "Inimel". He then worked on Leo (2023) which became his most successful film, it became one of the highest grossing Indian films by earning over ₹ 600 crore (US$ 72 million) worldwide and served as
2014-583: The globe, such as Mani Ratnam 's Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Vasanthabalan 's Veyyil (2006) and Ameer Sultan 's Paruthiveeran (2007). Kanchivaram (2009) was selected to be premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival . Tamil films have been a part of films submitted by India for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language on eight occasions, next only to Hindi. Mani Ratnam's Nayakan (1987)
2067-502: The lead roles, was released as a prequel to the original film, Jigarthanda . On 14 April, 2024, it was announced that Lawrence will be starring in a film titled Benz , directed by Bakkiyaraj Kannan and written and produced by Lokesh Kanagaraj ,which was confirmed as a part of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe in October 2024. He did many social service activities in which he has aided many heart surgeries for small children. He
2120-527: The most commercially successful actors, directors and films of Indian cinema. By the end of the 1930s, the legislature of the State of Madras passed the Entertainment Tax Act of 1939. Madras (now Chennai), then became a secondary hub for Hindi cinema , other South Indian film industries, as well as for Sri Lankan cinema . Over the last quarter of the 20th century, Tamil films established
2173-743: The name Raghava He built the Raghavendra Swamy Brindavanam Temple at Thirumullaivayal on the Avadi - Ambattur route, which opened on 1 January 2010. Raghava also has a younger brother, Elviin Lawrence. He was working as a car cleaner for fight master Super Subbarayan . Rajinikanth saw him dancing and helped him to join the Dancers Union. Lawrence first appeared in a song in Samsara Sangeetham
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2226-488: The production of motion pictures in the Tamil language , the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu . It is nicknamed Kollywood , a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam , a neighbourhood in Chennai , and Hollywood . The first Tamil silent film , Keechaka Vadham , was directed by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1918. The first Tamil talking feature film , Kalidas , a multilingual directed by H. M. Reddy
2279-491: The sequences look brutal and raw. Editor Philomin Raj has worked on five films. The duo Anbariv have worked on four films. Anirudh , Rathna Kumar , Arjun Das , Arun Alexander and Dheena have worked on three films. Only people who have worked in three or more films are listed. This list only concerns Lokesh Kanagaraj's directorial films. Tamil cinema Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to
2332-583: The silent era, founded Srinivasa Cinetone in which his wife worked as the sound recordist. Srinivasa Kalyanam (1934), directed by Narayanan, was the first sound film (talkie) produced in Madras. The second sound studio to come up in Madras was Vel Pictures, started by M. D. Rajan on Eldams Road in the Dunmore bungalow, which belonged to the Raja of Pithapuram . Before long, more sound studios came up. Thirty-six talkies were made in Madras in 1935. The main impacts of
2385-418: The state from 3 July 2017. The strike has been called off and the cinemas will be playing the movies starting Friday 7 July 2017. Government has formed a committee to decide on the existence of state's 30% entertainment tax. It was reported that, per day business loss during the strike was around ₹ 20 crores. Annual admissions in Chennai multiplexes and single screens averaged 1.1 crore tickets with
2438-606: The third installment in the LCU. Lokesh Kanagaraj was born in Kinathukadavu , Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu , India. In PSG College of Arts and Science , he majored in Fashion Technology before pursuing an MBA . He did his schooling in Palanayiammal Matric Hr. Sec. School Kalliyapuram, Pollachi. He is an ex-bank employee. He pursued his passion towards film making by participating in
2491-515: The world. Quite often, Tamil movies feature Madras Tamil , a colloquial version of Tamil spoken in Chennai . Keechaka Vadham (1918) was the first silent film made in South India . Kalidas (1931) was the first Tamil talkie film made in 1931. Kalava (1932) was the first full-length talkie made entirely in Tamil. Nandanar (1935) was the first film for American film director Ellis R. Dungan . Balayogini released in 1937
2544-692: Was a commercial success. He subsequently directed and acted in Style (2006) co-starring with Prabhu Deva and featuring Nagarjuna and Chiranjeevi in guest roles.He got his breakthrough with Muni (2007), a horror thriller film. Thereafter, he directed another film, Don (2007). The film starring Nagarjuna and Anushka Shetty . Raghava acted in second roles and made the film depending only on style and technical aspects. The movie had an average response. Raghava continues to play in different categories films such as Pandi (2008), Rajadhi Raja (2009) and Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam (2010). Pandi
2597-541: Was a moderate success, while Rajadhi Raja was released to negative reviews, and Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam was released to mixed reviews. He takes the series Muni in Kanchana (2011). Sarath Kumar play in the main role. The movie was commercially successful. In 2012, he directed Telugu movie Rebel starring Prabhas and Tamannaah . He acted in Kanchana 2 (2015). In 2017, he starred in an action Masala film, Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva . Sify described
2650-436: Was considered to be first children's film of South India. It is estimated by the Manorama Yearbook 2000 (a popular almanac) that over 5,000 Tamil films were produced in the 20th century. Tamil films have also been dubbed into other languages, thus reaching a much wider audience. There has been a growing presence of English in dialogue and songs in Chennai films. In 1991, Marupakkam directed by K.S. Sethu Madhavan , became
2703-699: Was housed in the Chellapalli bungalow on Thiruvottiyur High Road in Madras. This company, which produced the most Tamil silent films, had branches in Colombo , Rangoon and Singapore . The Ways of Vishnu / Vishnu Leela , which R. Prakasa made in 1932, was the last silent film produced in Madras. The silent era of south Indian cinema has not been documented well. When the talkies appeared, film producers had to travel to Bombay or Calcutta to make films. Most films of this early period were celluloid versions of well-known stage plays. Company dramas were popular among
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#17327936241712756-549: Was included in Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list. Average annual film output in Tamil film industry peaked in 1985. The Tamil film market accounts for approximately 0.1% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the state of Tamil Nadu . For the purpose of entertainment taxes, returns have to be filed by the exhibitors weekly (usually each Tuesday). The Government of Tamil Nadu made provisions for an entertainment tax exemption for Tamil films having titles in words from
2809-425: Was released on 31 October 1931, less than seven months after India's first talking motion picture Alam Ara . Tamil cinema has been noted for its advanced narratives and diverse films, with several productions in the 1990s and early 2000s cutting across ethnic and linguistic barriers. Such films include Roja (1992), Indian (1996), Pokkiri (2007), Enthiran (2010). Tamil cinema has since produced some of
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