46-542: Radha Mohan is an Indian film director and screenwriter of the South Indian film industry . He is known for his work in the films Mozhi (2007) with Jyothika , Abhiyum Naanum (2008) with Prakash Raj , Payanam (2011) with Nagarjuna and Kaatrin Mozhi (2018) with Jyothika. Radha Mohan began work on his first film Smile Please in 1996, which had dialogues written by his friend Babu , who had appeared in
92-508: A certain milieu, while appealing to the collective “Indian” sensibility, whereas Hindi films , of late aren't able to strike this balance because of their essential non-rootedness. For many years, films in Hindi have gone urbane and elitist, while down South, they remained rooted in telling the stories of people in a way they can enjoy as their own. Recent South Indian cinema sees a trend of violent heroes, deviating from virtuous protagonists of
138-589: A few years, the building remained closed for over 40 years. In early 1990s, Suresh Krishna, the then Sheriff of Madras, took some efforts in salvaging a part of the building, and restored the Trevelyan Fountain. The former Maharashtra Governor C. Subramaniam rededicated the building in December 1993. The Corporation of Chennai started renovating the hall in April 2009 at a cost of ₹ 39.6 million under
184-633: A film actor, became the first elected 'Member of legislative assembly in the industry from Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, Tamil film Chandralekha crossed all language borders. It was the time, when M. G. Ramachandran became one of the most remembered actors of India. His popularity enabled him to found a political party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam , which is regularly part of the Government of Tamil Nadu . He posthumously won Bharat Ratna . The time
230-472: 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 . Raghupathy Venkaiah Naidu,
276-563: A memorial fountain in the grounds of the hall, was raised to mark the contribution of Charles Trevelyan , Governor of Madras during 1859-1860 and the developer of the People's Park, towards providing the city with adequate drinking water. On one side of the fountain is a bas relief of Trevelyan's head. Renovation work of the hall was first carried out in October 1967 and the then Chief Minister C.N.Annadurai dedicated it for public use. After
322-492: A screenplay and songs written by Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai . Malayalam films continued to be made mainly by Tamil producers until 1947, when the first major film studio , Udaya , was established in Alleppey , Kerala by Kunchacko , who earned fame as a film producer and director. The Madras presidency was divided into linguistic States, known today as Karnataka , Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu . The division marked
368-603: A social club. The Justice Party was established on 20 November 1916 in the hall and it is seen as the start of the Dravidian Movement . It was there that the first cinema show was held in Chennai. T. Stevenson, proprietor of the Madras Photographic Store, ran some shows that consisted of ten short films. As the city grew southward and the medium of cinema acquired greater popularity,
414-693: A successful photographer, took over the equipment after the exhibition and set up a tent cinema near the Madras High Court . R. Venkaiah, flush with funds, in 1912 built a permanent cinema in the Mount Road area named Gaiety Theatre. It was the first in Madras to screen films on a full-time basis. The theatre later closed for commercial developments. Swamikannu Vincent , who had built the first cinema of South India in Coimbatore , introduced
460-526: A sum of ₹ 16,425 from around 30 persons who attended the meeting, and a 12-member trust was formed for the execution of the project. The municipal corporation leased a 57-ground (3.14 acres) site in the People's Park to the Victoria Public Hall Trust for 99 years effective from 1 April 1886 at a lease rent of eight annas a ground or ₹ 28 for the property. The then Maharajah of Vizianagaram, Sir Pusapati Ananda Gajapati Raju, who laid
506-731: Is his career's biggest hit, followed by Payanam (2011). Known for his strong storylines and sensible and realistic portrayal of women, Mohan's films have largely been clean family entertainment. He has a penchant for humor in his films, and his films have been rib-ticklers even though they carry strong messages and handle serious themes. Elango Kumaravel has worked in nine of his films. Prakash Raj (producer and actor) and M. S. Bhaskar have worked in seven of his films. Dialogue writer Viji has worked on five of his films. Thalaivasal Vijay has worked in four of his films. Only people with three or more collaborations are listed. South Indian film industry Cinema of South India , refers to
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#1732800823513552-726: The Electric Theatre was established for the screening of silent films . 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 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 , an employee of
598-639: The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria . In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was used as a theater and a place for public gatherings. The South Indian Athletic Association Club now resides there. In a meeting held in March 1882 at the Pachaiyappa's Hall in George Town by some leading citizens, the decision to construct a town hall for Madras was taken. This resulted in the mobilisation of
644-484: The India Film Company Limited . During the 1920s, silent Tamil language films were shot at makeshift locations in and around Chennai, and for technical processing, they were sent to Pune or Calcutta . Later, some films featuring M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar were shot in those cities as well. Telugu artists became active with the production of Bhisma Pratighna , a silent film, in 1921. The film
690-603: The Mumbai -based Hindi-language film industry ( Bollywood ). Setting aside state language boundaries, recent years saw South Indian actors, writers and directors from Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada industries collaborating with each other as a single 'South Indian Cinema' entity to produce movies. This collaboration resulted in major hits such as Baahubali , KGF , Lokesh Cinematic Universe , Jailer , Lucifer Pushpa , RRR , Kalki 2898 AD ' Manjummel boys ' Amaran ,and Salaar . Film analysts say that this marks
736-524: The Supreme Court ordered the hotel to hand over the land to the Corporation of Chennai . About 32 shops that had encroached upon the land belonging to the hall were also removed as part of the renovation. The building is located on EVR Periyar Salai near Moore Market and between Ripon Building and Chennai Central Railway Station . Constructed with red brick and painted with lime mortar,
782-459: The Congress virtually stopped soon after Indian Independence in 1947. With the introduction of electricity to rural areas in the 1950s Dravidian politicians could implement movies as a major political organ. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) was the first – and at the time the only – party to take advantage of visual movie media. Actors and writers of guerrilla theater , who were inspired by
828-599: The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The restoration work included replacement of damaged roof and work on the wooden flooring and staircase. The roofing is complete with teak wood , while Mangalore tiles embellish the building. The dilapidated cuddapah stones were replaced with semi-polished stones. Once the work is finished, sound and light show would be conducted on the ground floor. The first floor would be used to conduct cultural programmes. The hall would have
874-569: The South Indian Railways in Coimbatore , purchased a film projector and silent films from the Frenchman DuPont and set up a business as film exhibitor . He erected tents for screening films. His tent cinema became popular and he travelled throughout the state with his mobile unit. 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,
920-573: The South Indian cinema landscape. Victoria Public Hall 13°04′55″N 80°16′21″E / 13.08192°N 80.2726°E / 13.08192; 80.2726 Victoria Public Hall , or the Town Hall , is a historical building in Chennai , named after Victoria, Empress of India . It is one of the finest examples of British architecture in Chennai and was built to commemorate
966-571: The beginning of a new era in South Indian cinema. Cinema was celebrated regionally and exclusively in the language of the respective State. By 1936, the mass appeal of film allowed directors to move away from religious and mythological themes. One such film, Jeevitha Nouka (1951), was a musical drama which spoke about the problems in a joint family. Earlier, dozens of 'social films', notably Prema Vijayam , Vandemataram and Maala Pilla , have been released in Telugu. Touching on societal problems like
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#17328008235131012-643: The beginning of the unification of a Pan-Indian film industry as one. After the emergence of South Indian Cinema, Hindi film actors and actresses who experienced a decline in their star value began participating in South Indian films to sustain their careers in the industry. In 1897, a European exhibitor first screened a selection of silent short films at the Victoria Public Hall in Madras (Present-day Chennai ). The films all featured non-fictional subjects; they were mostly photographed records of day-to-day events. In Madras (present-day Chennai ),
1058-488: The building gradually went out of public attention. The lease expired in 1985 and a legal battle ensued as the Corporation did not want to extend the lease. With a compromise being reached in the matter, a petition to that effect was submitted in the court and decision was taken to take action against sub-leases. The land of the hall was occupied by several organisations before the 2010 renovation. The Andhra Mahila Sabha
1104-584: The cinema of the four major film industries in South India ; primarily engaged in making feature films in the four major languages of the region, namely — Telugu , Tamil , Malayalam and Kannada . They are often colloquially referred to as Tollywood, Kollywood,Mollywood and Sandalwood, respectively. Although the four industries developed independently for a long period of time, gross exchange of artists and technicians, as well as globalisation helped to shape this new identity. By 2010, South India became
1150-515: The concept of "Tent Cinema" in which a tent was erected on a stretch of open land close to 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. Full-fledged film studios were built in Salem ( Modern Theatres Studio) and Coimbatore ( Central Studios , Neptune, and Pakshiraja). Chennai became
1196-467: The construction. The hall, an example of Indo-Saracenic architecture , was designed by Robert Fellowes Chisholm (1840–1915) in the Romanesque style and was built by Namperumal Chetty between 1888 and 1890. It was opened to the public by Lord Connemara in 1887, although another version suggests that Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff , the governor of Madras during 1886–1890, declared open
1242-564: The culture, dialect, politics, social structure, and lifestyle of the people in their respective regions. This can be seen in the films of Padmarajan or Bharathiraja that were set in the Malayali or Tamil milieu respectively. Similarly, K. Viswanath directed films based on arts — performing and visual , aesthetics , social structure and lifestyle of Telugu people . South Indian cinema has been able to find audiences across India, and even outside because of its ability to remain rooted in
1288-510: The film attracted unprecedented numbers of viewers to theaters and thrust the young film industry into mainstream culture. During the same time, the first Kannada talkie , Sati Sulochana , appeared in theatres, followed by Bhakta Dhruva (aka Dhruva Kumar ). Both Sati Sulochana and Bhakta Dhruva were major successes. But prospective filmmakers in Karnataka were handicapped by the lack of studios and technical crews. Sati Sulochana
1334-420: The finest onscreen performances ever. He holds the record for having acted in the most leading roles – about 700 films. Another record is for the most enduring screen team along with actress Sheela . They played opposite each other in 130 movies. It was also the time when Rajkumar shot to fame. Rajkumar acted in more than 200 movies who also won National Awards for singing songs like "Naadamaya Ee Lokavella" from
1380-604: The foundation stone for the new building on 17 December 1883, also led a list of 35 donors for the construction work with a contribution of ₹ 10,000. The list included the Travancore Maharajah ( ₹ 8,000), Mysore Maharajah, Pudukottai Rajah and former Madras High Court Judge Muthuswamy Iyer (all ₹ 1,000 each) and P.Orr and Sons, a city-based watch company ( ₹ 1,400). Other contributors included Ramnad Raja Bhaskara Setupati, Zamindar of Ettiapuram and Hadji Abdul Batcha Sahib. It took about five years to complete
1426-474: The hall. In January 1888, a citizens' meeting decided to name the hall after Queen Victoria . The then Municipal Corporation President Sir A.T. Arundale took the initiative. The hall soon become a venue of important public and social events. Several eminent personalities, including Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda , have visited the hall. National leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Gopal Krishna Gokhale , and Sardar Vallabhai Patel have addressed meetings in
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1472-580: The hall. The pioneers of Tamil play, such as Sankaradoss Swamigal and Pammal Sambanda Mudaliar, have staged their plays at the hall. The Suguna Vilasa Sabha (SVS), founded in 1891, was most closely associated with the hall. It conducted the first evening drama shows in Madras. In October 1906, the play Kaadalar Kangal was staged at the hall. For the next 30 years, the Sabha remained at the hall and later, built its own theatre on acquisition of 36 grounds next to Christ Church on Anna Salai and now functions only as
1518-494: The home for 6320, or about 62% of the 10,167 cinema theatres in India. In 2021, Telugu film industry emerged as the largest film industry of India in terms of box office revenue. In 2022, Telugu cinema represented 20% of Indian box office revenue, followed by Tamil representing 14%, Kannada representing 5%, and Malayalam representing 8%. As of 2022, the combined revenue of South Indian film industries has surpassed that of
1564-471: The hub of studio activity with two more movie studios built in Chennai, Vijaya Vauhini Studios and Gemini Studios . Thus, with the undivided Madras Presidency , being the Capital to most of South India , Chennai became the center for South Indian language films. The first Madras production was Keechaka Vadham (The Destruction of Keechaka), produced and directed by R. Nataraja Mudaliar, who established
1610-571: The ideologies of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy , brought the philosophies of Tamil nationalism and anti-Brahminism to celluloid media. The movies not only made direct references to the independent Dravida Nadu that its leaders preached for but also at many times displayed party symbols within the movie. When the DMK began using cinema for political purposes and actors like MGR and S. S. Rajendran rode into politics on their popularity as actors, Tamil cinema began to be noticed by academics, S.S.Rajendran , as
1656-491: The lead role in En Uyir Thozhan (1990). The film was to star Prakash Raj in the lead role, but financial restraints meant that the film was later shelved. The film was later set for release during Diwali 1998 under the title of Ananthakrishnan , but still failed to clear financial hurdles. The director worked under R. V. Udayakumar before he did his first film release, Azhagiya Theeye (2004). Mozhi (2007)
1702-534: The movie Jeevana Chaitra . His film Bangaaradha Manushya created a record at the box office for successfully running in the main theaters for more than two continuous years. He later spearheaded the Kannada language movement, followed by millions of his fans, however the star remained away from politics. South Indian films, whether Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, or Telugu, have been predominantly rooted in their specific geography. They tell stories that are in tune with
1748-444: The northern and southern sides in the hall on the first floor supported on sleek Corinthian stone columns, a square tower that is three storeys high, and a carved pyramidal roof. There is also an intricately carved terracotta cornice, which resembles Islamic calligraphy , atop the tower. The hall has four staircases, of which three lead to the hall on the first floor and one to the balcony, and four turrets. The Trevelyan Fountain,
1794-468: The past and embracing "bad boy" personas, with violence integrated into their characters gaining popularity. Directors, taking on quasi-action director roles, break from traditional templates, earning commendation for creativity. Despite critics questioning the rationale, the enduring appeal of violent scenes persists, driven by fans of star-centric films. The CBFC's inconsistent certification approach adds to ongoing discourse, reflecting changing preferences in
1840-455: The rectangular building has an Italianate tower capped by a Travancore -style roof. The ground floor of the building has a built-up area of 13,342 sq ft and the first floor has a built-up area of 12,541 sq ft. The two large halls in the ground and the first floors were built to accommodate 600 persons each, while a wooden gallery in the eastern end has seating arrangement for more than 200 persons. The structure consists of arcaded verandahs along
1886-468: The status of Untouchables and the practice of giving dowry , Telugu films increasingly focused on contemporary living: 29 of the 96 films released between 1937 and 1947 had social themes. Attempts made by some Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu to use stars of Tamil cinema were limited since this media remained inaccessible to the rural population, who were in the majority. The politicizing of movies by
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1932-516: Was directed by Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu and his son R. S. Prakash. The two, along with Yaragudipati Varada Rao , would go on to produce and direct dozens of films throughout the decade, casting theater actors in major roles. They established a long-lasting precedent of focusing exclusively on religious themes; Nandanar , Gajendra Moksham , and Matsyavatar , three of their most famous productions, centered on religious figures, parables, and morals. The first Tamil silent film, Keechaka Vadham ,
1978-412: Was functioning from a building behind the hall. The building occupied 5.25 grounds of land belonging to Victoria Public Hall. The building was demolished as part of the 2010 renovation. Hotel Picnic, a private hotel, had acquired 13 grounds from the Victoria Public Hall Trust through a sub-lease that expired on 30 April 1985. The hotel has been paying a monthly rent of ₹ 4,000 to the corporation. In 2010,
2024-461: Was hailed as "the period of giants" in Malayalam film industry, due to the work of film stars Sathyan and Prem Nazir . Nazir catapulted to the row of the finest actors of India with the film Iruttinte Athmavu (1967). Playing a demented youth – Velayadhan, Nazir discovered his prowess as a dramatic actor of great intensity. Many critics have evaluated this role as his masterpiece, and as one of
2070-470: Was made by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1918. The first talking motion picture, Kalidas , was a multilingual and was released on 31 October 1931, less than seven months after India's first talking motion picture Alam Ara . Popularly known as talkies , films with sound quickly grew in number and popularity. In 1934, the industry saw its first major commercial success with Lavakusa . Directed by C. Pullaiah and starring Parupalli Subbarao and Sriranjani ,
2116-579: Was shot in Kolhapur at the Chatrapathi studio; most filming, sound recording, and post-production was done in Madras. It was difficult, as well, to find financial backing for new film projects in the region; thus, very few movies in Kannada were released during the early years of Indian sound cinema . The first talkie in Malayalam was Balan , released in 1938. It was directed by S. Nottani with
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