Sathya Studios, formerly known as Neptune Studios, was an Indian film studio based in

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 ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. It was one of the oldest film studios and was formerly known as "Neptune Studio". The studio was bought by the former Indian actor and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known by his initialism M.G.R. and as Makkal Thilagam/Puratchi Thalaivar, was an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of ...

, who later renamed it Sathya Studios.

History

as Lalitha Cinetone and National Theaters Limited

Originally started by C. V. Raman, who leased a large tract of land, approximately 25 acres, from the Nawab of Arcot. The property was situated in Adayar with Greenways Road to the north and the Adayar River to the south, bordering Broody Castle. The monthly rent was Rs. 150, and the purpose was to establish a studio floor for 'Lalitha Cinetone.' However, the production company faced financial troubles and did not produce any movies. Subsequently, the premises were transferred to C. V. Raman's newly established company, 'National Theaters Limited,' with Kasi Chettiar and R. Prakash as partners. The first film to come out of the studio was silent film `Vishnu Leela' in 1932 directed by R. Prakash. Later NTL too would plunge into problems and C. V. Raman would launch another production company "Meenakshi Cinetone" to which the studio premises was part of.

as Meenakshi Cinetone

Meenakshi Cinetone was founded by C. V. Raman with noted Indian businessman and philanthropist AL. RM.

Alagappa Chettiar Sir Alagappa Chettiar (6 April 1909 – 5 April 1957) was an Indian businessman and philanthropist. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India, in 1956. Early life Chettiar was born in Kottaiyur in the Siv ...

as in the 1930s of the silent movie era the place was bought by noted film maker K. Subrahmanyam who set up Neptune Studios. His other venture Motion Picture Producers Combine. (a.k.a. MPCC) would become

Gemini Studios Gemini Studios was an Indian film studio based in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was launched when S. S. Vasan, a businessman of many ventures (including the ownership of Ananda Vikatan) bought Motion Picture Producers' Combines from Krishnaswamy Su ...

under

S. S. Vasan Subramaniam Srinivasan (4 January 1904 – 26 August 1969), popularly known by his screen name S. S. Vasan, was an Indian journalist, writer, advertiser, film producer, director and business tycoon. He is the founder of the Tamil-language maga ...

. In 1934, the studio released the Tamil talkie movie "Pavalakodi" marking the debuts of

M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar Mayavaram Krishnasamy Thiyagaraja Bhagavathar (1 March 1910 – 1 November 1959), also known by his initials as M. K. T. was an Indian actor and carnatic singer. Critics and film historians acknowledge Bhagavathar as the "First superstar of Ta ...

, the first superstar of South India, and its director lawyer-turned-filmmaker,

K. Subramaniam Krishnasamy Subramaniyam (20 April 1904 – 7 April 1971) was an Indian film director of the 1930s and 1940s. Dancer Padma Subrahmanyam is his daughter. Biography Subramanyam was involved in the establishment of the Tamil film industry. He ...

and the star-actress, S.D. Subbulakshmi.

Under Jupiter Pictures

The movie was renamed to "Neptune Studios" and in the mid-1950s the Coimbatore-based

Jupiter Pictures Jupiter Pictures () was an Indian feature film production company founded in Coimbatore in 1934 by M. Somasundaram (popularly known as "Jupiter Somu") and S.K. Mohideen. Jupiter Pictures was a major production house with 46 releases with 36 fil ...

leased the studio and relocated their base to Chennai after the lease of

Central Studios Central Studios was an Indian film studio in the neighbourhood of Singanallur, Coimbatore, Singanallur, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, started by B.Rangaswamy Naidu (a.k.a. B. R. Naidu) and other prominent industrialists like Swamikannu Vincent of C ...

were over and its owners ceased movie production.

As Sathya Studios

Neptune Studios was later acquired by the family of

who renamed it Sathya Studios Private Limited. Now a college for Women in the name of Dr. MGR Janaki College of Arts and Science for Women functions there.

References

{{reflist

External links

The Hindu : Studios — the scene of action

Indian film studios Film production companies based in Chennai Indian companies established in 1932