The first talking picture in Tamil was “Kalidas” made in 1931 in Bombay. Produced by the Indian Film pioneer Ardeshir Irani and directed by H.M. Reddi, this film had T.P. Rajalakshmi as heroine. Even though this film is considered as the first Tamil talkie, it is not a hundred percent Tamil film, Rajalakshmi spoke and sang in Tamil, while the hero did in Telugu. Some others in Hindi. “Kalidas” is therefore the first Indian multi-lingual film!
While “Kalidas” was far from perfect technically, it was a box office success. People came to see it with a sense of awe and wonder. The mere fact that sound came out of the screen fascinated them. Some even thought it was some kind of black magic indulged by the white man!
The first hundred percent Tamil talkie was “Galavarishi” made in Bombay in 1932. It was directed by Badami and T.C. Vadivelu Naicker. G. Ramanathan, the popular Tamil film music director entered cinema with this film.
In 1933, the famous Prabath Film Company made “Seethakalyanam” in Kolhapur. S. Rajam played Lord Rama while Jayalakshmi, the real life sister of the hero, enacted Seetha! The six-year-old son of the lawyer acted in a small role. Later he rose to be a famous actor, producer, director, music composer and also a classical Carnatic musician as Veena Player. His name was S. Balachandar.
A classic Carnatic musician made his entry into cinema in this film as music composer. Many of his Tamil film songs are super hits and have found a place in the list of all-time favourites. He was a traditional conservative scholarly musician Papanasam Sivan.
‘Valli Thirumanam’ (1933), a mythological film produced in Calcutta by Samikannu Vincent and directed by P.V. Rao was the first box office success of Tamil Cinema. T.P. Rajalakshmi played the lead role.
“Drowpathi Vastrapaharanam” (1934) produced by A. Narayanan was technically a fine film. R. Prakash, the cinematographer of the film took a stunningly brilliant shot in this film. Lord Krishna was seen in five different places simultaneously, all in a single frame. This trick shot done in the camera is most difficult to achieve. Considering that there were no facilities like, optical printers, special effects generators and others of the modern day, this work reveals the brilliance of the veteran Prakash.
“Bhama Vijayam” (1934) made in Calcutta and directed by Mani Lal Tandon and staring Maharajapuram Krishnamurthy and the famous stars of the stage P.S. Ratha Bai - P.S. Sardaswathi Bai was a big grosser. Produced at a cost of Rs. 80,000, the film collected one million rupees. A staggering fortune in the 1930’s. G.N. Balasubramaniam, handsome colleges graduate, classical Carnatic Musician made his debut in this film as the singing sage “Narada”.
M.L. Tandon, the director was one of the early popular filmmakers of South India studied film technique at the famous University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and also worked as consultant of Indian Culture for a Hollywood production company.
Narayanan, an innovator brought in his wife Meenakshi Narayanan to work in his studio as Sound Recordist. She was the first lady technician of South Indian Cinema. Her knowledge of Carnatic Music encouraged her to take up audiography.
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