AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by

A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar (28 July 1907 – 12 August 1979), also known as A. V. Meiyappan, A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar or AVM, was an Indian film producer, film director and screenwriter who established AVM Productions in Vadapalani, Chennai. ...

. It is the oldest film studio in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The filming studios are located in

Vadapalani Vadapalani is a neighbourhood in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. It is known for its film studios, the Vadapalani Andavar Temple, and Vengeeswarar Temples which are important pilgrimage centres for Hindus. Situated in the western par ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. It has produced over 300 films in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

cinema. AVM has introduced numerous actors in Southern industries, some of the prominent actors are Superstar

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 170 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, ...

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram. Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001), better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th centur ...

, Rajkumar,

S. S. Rajendran Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, also known by his initials SSR (January 1928 – 24 October 2014), was an Indian actor, film director, film producer and politician who worked in Tamil theatre and cinema. He often referred as Latchiya ...

Vyjayanthimala Vyjayanthimala Bali ( Raman; born 13 August 1933), known mononymously as Vyjayanthimala, is an Indian parliamentarian, dancer and former actress. Regarded as one of Hindi cinema's greatest actresses and dancers, she is the recipient of sever ...

Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...

and many more. The AVM Studios besides the shooting floors, has recording, dubbing and a preview theatre. The complex also houses facilities for production and post production processing.

Early history

Born on 28 July 1907, Avichi Meiyappan hailed from a Nattukottai

Nagarathar Nagarathar (நகரத்தார்) is a Tamil caste found native in Tamil Nadu, India. The Nagarathar community was not originally a single caste, but developed from an assortment of related subcastes, which over time became known under t ...

family of

Karaikudi Karaikudi is the largest city of Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the centre of the Karaikudi Metropolitan Area, the 21st largest urban Agglomeration of Tamil Nadu based on 2011 census data. It is part of the area ...

in Tamil Nadu. Avichi

Chettiar Chettiar (also spelt as Chetti and Chetty) is a title used by many traders, weaving, agricultural and land-owning castes in South India, especially in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Etymology Chettiar/Chetty is deri ...

ran a mini-department store, named AV & Sons. It sold gramophone records. Meiyappan, who joined his father's shop as a teenager, and decided to produce gramophone records instead of just selling them. He came to Madras where, along with friends K. S. Narayana

Iyengar Iyengars (also spelt Ayyangar or Aiyengar, pronounced ) are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Hindu Brahmins, whose members follow Sri Vaishnavism and the Visishtadvaita philosophy propounded by Ramanuja. Iyengars are divided i ...

, Subbaiah

and others promoted Saraswathi Stores. AVM Productions ventured into

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

space by announcing ''

Tamil Rockerz ''Tamil Rockerz'' is an Indian Tamil-language streaming television series written and directed by Arivazhagan Venkatachalam under the banner of AVM. The film stars Arun Vijay and Vani Bhojan. The series' story is based on the torrent site ...

'', a crime thriller series inspired from a real-life film piracy group, directed by Arivazhagan.

Maiden venture

The dawn of the talkie era (1931) inspired Meiyappan to start Saraswathi Sound Productions and he launched his maiden movie venture, Alli Arjuna a Hindu mythology based movie. The film was shot in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

and proved a total flop as the one that followed named

Ratnavali ''Ratnavali'' ''(Devanagari: रत्नावली ) (transl.- Jewel Necklace or Precious Garland)'' is a Sanskrit drama about a beautiful princess named Ratnavali, and a great king named Udayana. It is attributed to the Indian emperor Hars ...

. At this point, an aspiring amateur actor and college graduate A. T. Krishnaswamy joined the unit as assistant director who was associated with Meiyappan for nearly a decade and wrote and directed the early AVM productions. The reverses forced Meiyappan to lie low but only for a while. In association with Jayanthilal, a cinema house owner based in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, he promoted a new company Pragati Pictures Limited. Grabbing an opportunity that came his way, AVM made Nandakumar, Tamil version of a Marathi film launching it as a Pragati production. The highlight of this movie was the debut of T. R. Mahalingam in to Tamil movie Industry. The film was a landmark because for the first time playback singing was tried, with Lalitha Venkatraman singing for the actor who played Devaki. Meiyappan took the sprawling Club House off Mount Road on lease and shot scenes without going to studios and erecting sets. Soon after he shifted his unit to another sprawling edifice known as Admiralty House in Adyar.

Later history

In 1940, Meiyappan produced '' Bhoo Kailas'', a

mythological film which created history. Its lead players were from Telugu and Kannada cinema, and was directed by

Sundar Rao Nadkarni Sundar Rao Nadkarni was an Indian film actor, editor, cinematographer, producer and director. He was the director of the first hit film for AVM productions Bhookailas in Telugu in the year 1940, and later the record-creating Tamil film '' Harida ...

, a Mangalorean who had his training in Bombay. The film turned out to be a big hit and also won critical acclaim. Meiyappan struck gold with comedy next. ''

Sabapathy ''Sabapathy'' is a 1941 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed by A. V. Meiyappan and A. T. Krishnaswamy, and produced by Meiyappan. An adaptation of Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar's farce play of the same name, the film stars T. R. Ramachand ...

'' (1941) with the saucer-eyed T. R. Ramachandran in the lead, along with Kali N. Rathnam and K. Sarangapani was a runaway success. Then came a series of hits like

En Manaivi ''En Manaivi'' () is a 1942 Tamil-language comedy film produced by A. V. Meiyappan and directed by Sundar Rao Nadkarni. It is based on the Marathi stage play "Samshai Kolli" which in turn was based on the French playwright Molière's ''Self- ...

Harishchandra Harishchandra () is a legendary king of the Solar dynasty, who appears in several legends in texts such as the ''Aitareya Brahmana'', ''Mahabharata'', the ''Markandeya Purana'', and the ''Devi-Bhagavata Purana, Devi Bhagavata Purana''. The most ...

(1943), Sri Valli. The city of

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

began to feel the strains of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

raging on elsewhere and to reduce the exposure from Japanese bombing, Meiyappan moved his facilities to

. In the outskirts of the town karaikudi he occupied a drama auditorium with a large open area around it on long lease and erected a studio. Thus was born AVM Productions with

AVM Studios AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar. It is the oldest film studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, ...

. Hits like Nam Iruvar (1947), Parasakthi (1952),

Andha Naal ''Andha Naal'' ( ) is a 1954 Indian Tamil-language mystery- thriller film, produced by A. V. Meiyappan and directed by S. Balachander. It is the first film noir in Tamil cinema, and the first Tamil film to be made without songs, dance, or s ...

(1954), and the National Award-winning

Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke ''Hum Panchhi Ek Dal Ke'' () is a 1957 Indian Hindi-language film starring Romi, Satish Vyas, Mohan Choti, Daisy Irani and Jagdeep in lead roles. It won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film. Plot Rajendranath Mehra, affectionate ...

(1957) followed. Meiyappan died on 12 August 1979, and after his demise his sons took over the mantle. In 2007, AVM produced ''

Sivaji Sontineni Sivaji (born 30 June 1971), is an Indian actor and voice actor who works in Telugu cinema. He had won the Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist for '' Dil''. His notable performances include ''Missamma'' (2003), '' Adirindayya Chan ...

'' which at 95 crore, was said to be the most expensive film ever made in the history of the Indian film industry at that time. In 2013, AVM led by Aruna Guhan and Aparna Guhan started producing films to be screened only on the net. Their first such production was a 55-minute-film, titled ''Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum''.

Filmography

Films

Serials

*''Aachi International'' Sun TV * ''Aarthi''

Raj TV Raj TV is a Tamil language Indian general entertainment channel based in Chennai, India, which was launched on 14 October 1994. Rajtv became as the second most popular channel in Tamil. It is available through digital and mobile entertainment ...

*''Aasai'' Sun TV * ''Aval Oru Minsaram'' Kalaignar * ''Dhik Dhik Dhik'' Sun TV *''Galatta Kudumbam Season 1'' Sun TV *''Galatta Kudumbam Season 2 (Galatta Sirippu)'' Sun TV * ''Geethanjali''

*''Girija M. A.''

Jaya TV Jaya TV HD is a Tamil language satellite television channel based in Chennai, India. Jaya TV HD is also broadcast to the expatriate Tamil community via various media partnerships. Hemant Sahai of HSA had Jaya TV HD as his first client. Jaya TV ...

*''Nimmathi Ungal Choice'' Sun TV *''Gopi'' Sun TV *''Roja''

*''Manathil Uruthi Vendum''

*''Take It Easy Vazhkai'' Sun TV * ''Vaazhnthu Kaatugiren'' Sun TV * ''Oru Pennin Kathai'' Sun TV * ’'Muthukkal'' Sun TV '' * ''Nambikkai'' Sun TV * ''Sorgam'' Sun TV * ''Nimmathi'' Sun TV * ''Naanayam'' Sun TV * ''Sondham'' Sun TV * ''Paasam'' Sun TV * ''Vaazhkai'' Sun TV * ''Savale Samaali''

* ''Vairanenjam'' Kalaignar * ''Uravukku Kai Koduppom'' Kalaignar * ''Vairakkiyam'' Kalaignar * ''Mohini'' Kalaignar

Malayalam serials

*''Jeevitham'' (Surya TV)) *''Nirvathi Nirvathi Ningal choice'' (Surya TV) *''Swantham Maalotty'' (Surya TV) *''Swarna Manasu'' (Asianet)

Telugu serials

*''Aadajanma'' (Star Maa) *''Aarthi'' (ETV) *''Akka'' (Gemini TV) *''Akila'' (Gemini TV) *''Aanandam Mee choice'' (Gemini TV) *''Deivam'' (Gemini TV/Star Maa) *''Eenatti Ramayanam'' (ETV) *''Matrudevatha''(ETV) *''Jeevitham'' (Gemini TV) *''Nammakam'' (Gemini TV) *''Janaki'' (Gemini TV) *''Jyothi'' (Gemini TV) *''Swargam'' (Gemini TV) *''Paasam'' (Gemini TV) *''Aasha'' (Gemini TV) *''Samsaram'' (Star Maa/Vissa TV) *''Swanthanga Raktha Sambandham'' (Star Maa) *''Kodalu Dhithina Kapuram'' (Gemini TV)

Web series

(Sony Liv)

Awards

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Film distributors of India Film production companies of India Film production companies based in Chennai Indian film studios Mass media companies established in 1945 Indian companies established in 1945 Producers who won the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment National Film Award Producers who won the Best Children's Film National Film Award Television production companies of Tamil Nadu