Cinema arrivals in Madras, Silent era, Talkie era, Father of Tamil cinema, first Tamil talkie movie, first Tamil movie, pioneer of Tamil cinema,

1. TAMIL CINEMA

2. History of Tamil Cinema
❖ In 1897, M. Edwards
fi
rst screened a selection of silent
short
fi
lms at the Victoria Public Hall in Madras. The
fi
lms
all featured non-
fi
ctional subjects.they were mostly
photographed records of day-to-day events. In Madra
s
❖ The Electric Theatre was established for the screening of
silent
fi
lms. It was a favorite haunt of the British community
in Madras. The theatre was shut down after a few years.
This building is now part of a post of
fi
ce complex
.
❖ The Lyric Theatre was also built in the Mount Road

3. Samikannu Vincent
❖ He was born on April 18, 1883.
in Coimbatore.
❖ working in South Indian
Railway as a draftsman-clerk
.
❖ He got a taste for silent
fi
lms
from a French
fi
lm exhibitor
named Du Pont
.
❖ Brought the touring cinema set
from Du Pont, and made history
as a pioneer of the motion
picture industry in South India.

4. ❖ He travelled to villages to exhibit the
fi
lms he had. The
fi
lm
"Life of Jesus" became a huge hit in the "tent cinema" where
he projected his
fi
lms. Vincent usually screened his
fi
lms in a
tent, which was erected on a stretch of open land close to a
town or village. The “tent cinema” concept became very
popular
.
❖ He travelled all over Asia and established the
fi
rst theatre in
his home town Coimbatore — the Variety Hall Talkies in
1914. This became the
fi
rst theatre in South India that fell
under the then Madras Province that included Tamil Nadu,
Kerala, Andhra and parts of Karnataka. So, it was the people
of Coimbatore who experienced the magic of movies early on.
Variety Hall Talkies is now Delite theatre.

5. R.Nataraja Mudaliyar
❖ He was born in 1885-
vellor
e
❖ In his earlier period he was
a merchant of by-cycle.
and Automobile spare parts
.
❖ Pioneer in the production of
silent
fi
lm
.
❖ Father of Tamil cinema,

6. ❖ He inspired from western silent movies, he wanted to make
movies in tamil regional
.
❖ learned how to handle movie camera from Stewart smith at
Pune
❖ In 1916 started “ INDIAN FILM COMPANY” at chennai,
accompanied with Dharmalinga mudaliyar
.
❖ He started his studio with second hand WILLIAMSON
CAMERA at Tower house -Millier’s road, Kilpak, It was the
fi
rst
fi
lm studio in south Indi
a
❖ He appointed C.Rangavadivelu training for actors. Within thirty
fi
ve days brought out South Indian’s
fi
rst
fi
lm

7. ❖ In the Movie KEECHAGAVADHAM, 1916 INDIAN FILM
COMPANY was released
fi
rst
fi
lm
.
❖ In 1917 he produced and released his second movie
VASTHIRABARANAM
.
❖ His movie distributed in whole India with Hindi,English tittle cards
.
❖ He went his home-town vellore and he started a
fi
lm company in
S a t h u v a c h e r y. A n d h e r e l e a s e d M A H I R AVA N A N ,
MARGANDEYA in 1919
.
• In 1922, his Studio met with an
fi
re accident and he lost his
equipments. After that accident he dropped-out
fi
lm making
.
• He died in1972 in madras

8. Filmography
❖ 1916- Keechakavathana
m
❖ 1917- Draupathi Vasthirabarana
m
❖ 1918- Maiteryi Vijaya
m
❖ 1919- Lava and Kus
a
❖ 1920- Kalinganarthana
m
❖ 1921- Rukmani Kalyanam

9. Talkie era
❖ The talkie era in Tamil cinema, began with Kalidas, in 1931
.
❖ In the
fi
rst
fi
ve years, there was no facility in Madras to produce “sound
fi
lms” and they were made in Kolkata and Kolhapur. Once sound studios
were set up, it was here, along with Mumbai and Kolkata, that the
foundation for Indian cinema was laid
.
❖ The absence of a sound recording facility in Chennai was a key factor
that made
fi
lm-makers turn to company dramas. In the
fi
rst few years,
they had to take the artistes to faraway Kolkata, Pune and Mumbai
where sound studios functioned
.
❖ 1934 a landmark year when Srinivas Cinetone studios produced the
fi
rst
Tamil talkie in madras

10. TALKIE MOVIE
❖ In 1931, The First Talkie
Film in Tamil “KALIDAS”
released, it was directed by
H.M.Reddy
.
❖ The
fi
lm Kalidas was based
on the life of “Sanskrit poet
kalidas
”
❖ It became a trendsetter for
Sound
fi
lms in Tamil

11. ❖ Thought a Tamil
fi
lm, it’s characters spoke verity of
language, Tamil ,Telugu and Hindi
.
❖ The sound recording was done using the Vitaphone
process by German technicians using German Equipment
.
❖ It was big hit, as it was a novelty for audience to witness of
audio visual with dialogue and songs of their language
.
❖ Completed in just eight days at total cost of Rs 8000/- the
fi
lm grossed over Rs 75,000/
-
❖ The movie had around 50 songs in Tamil and Telugu.

12. H.M Reddy
❖ H.M. Reddy, also known as
Hanumappa Muniappa
Reddy, was born in June12
1892
❖ He began is career in silent
fi
lm in Bangalore with surya
fi
lms
.
❖ Later shifted to Bombay
And joined the assistant of
Ardeshri Irani the
fi
rst talkie
fi
lm maker in India

13. ❖ is an Indian director and producer in the early Telugu
fi
lm industry.
He was the
fi
rst director and producer of Telugu cinema industry.
❖ He started his career as a director with the talkie
fi
lm Kalidas. Was
produced in Bombay ( Imperial Movie tone
)
❖ He also produced
fi
lms under the banner of Rohini pictures limited.
His
fi
rst movie under this banner was Gruhalakshmi. His other
famous movies are Barrister Parvateesam, Nirdoshi etc.
❖ in a career spanning 23 years he produced 3
fi
lm in Telugu and
directed 19
fi
lms, of them only 3
fi
lms were in Tamil ( Kalidas-1931,
Mathruboomi- 1939, Niraparadhi 1951
)
❖ He died on January 14, 1960 at the age of 67 years.