Tiruchengodu Ramalinga Sundaram
(1907-63)
Tamil director and producer born in Tiruchengode, TN. Studied textile engineering at Leeds University. Worked at Angel Films (1933), later taking it over to start the Modern Theatres Studio (1937) in Salem. Apparently produced 98 films, including work by Duncan, M.V. Raman, M.L. Tandon, K. Ramnoth and T.R. Raghunath. Established a professional film industry and studio system for the first time in South India, and along with Duncan, some of the most influential conventions of dramatic narrative in Tamil, all of which was to form an important predecessor to the Gemini studio set up a decade later. Imported foreign technicians for his debut,
Sati Ahalya, made in two versions, one for Modern Theatres and one for Chandra Bharathi Cinetone. Produced the first Malayalam sound film,
Balan (1938) as well as the first partly coloured films in Tamil (
Alibabavum Narpathu Thirudargalum) and in Malayalam (
Kandam Becha Coat). Worked in several genres, most notably the swashbuckling adventure movies of P.U. Chinnappa (e.g.
Uthama Puthran, adapting Dumas's
The Man in the Iron Mask) and later developed into the MGR filmic and political signature: e.g. the Karunanidhi scripts
Manthiri Kumari,
Sarvadhikari, and the Alibaba film
Alibabavum Narpathu Thirudargalum. Also adapted Tamil epics (
Manonmani,
Valayapathi) and made the war movie
Burma Rani.