Sathya Studios (formerly Neptune Studios) was an Indian film studio based in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...

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

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

and renamed as Sathya Studios.

History

as Lalitha Cinetone and National Theaters Limited

Originally started by C. V. Raman when he leased from Nawab of Arcot, a large tract of land of 25-odd acres with some superstructures in Adayar with

Greenways road Greenways Road ( ta, பசுமைவழிச்சாலை) is a road and neighbourhood in Chennai, India. It is lined with the official residences of ministers of Tamil Nadu state government and judges of Chennai High Court. It also hou ...

on the north and the Adayar River on the south bordering the Broody Castle. The monthly rental was Rs. 150 and was intended as a studio floor for "Lalitha Cinetone". But the production company did not produce any movies due to financial troubles and the premises was later transferred to and transferred the studio to C. V. Raman's newly floated 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 received the Padma Bhushan award (the third highest civilian award in India) in 1956. Early life Chettiar was born in Kottaiyur in t ...

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 Subr ...

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

K. Subramaniam K. Subramaniyam (20 April 1904 – 7 April 1971), born Krishnasamy Subramaniyam, 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 ...

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 ( ta, ஜுபிடர் பிக்ச்சர்ஸ்) 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 Pictu ...

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 in Tamil Nadu, started by B.Rangaswamy Naidu (a.k.a. B. R. Naidu) and other prominent industrialists like Swamikannu Vincent of Coimbatore in 1935 to mak ...

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

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External links

The Hindu : Studios — the scene of action

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