A studio in Coimbatore that once turned out memorable movies  Premium

Between 1935 and 1960, filmmaking flourished in Coimbatore, largely led by two studios — Central and Pakshiraja

A 19-year-old youth with a sprouting moustache made his debut on the silver screen as a cop in Sathi Leelavathi, a film made in Coimbatore in 1936. The role was hardly noteworthy. However, 18 years later, he played the lead role in Malaikkallan. Produced by S.M. Sriramulu Naidu of Coimbatore’s Pakshiraja Studios, the film turned out be a blockbuster hit for the hero Marudur Gopala Ramachandran or MGR.

“Kalaignar Karunanidhi wrote the dialogues. The Telugu remake, Aggi Ramudu, had N.T. Rama Rao in the lead. All the three, who worked in the studio, went on to become Chief Ministers,” notes Rajesh Govindarajulu, historian and Coimbatore chronicler.

Between 1935 and 1960, filmmaking flourished in Coimbatore, largely led by two studios — Central and Pakshiraja. The buzz of ‘clap boards’ and ‘rolling cameras’ has fallen silent at Pakshiraja located on Puliakulam-Sungam Road. The sprawling four-acre property, with abundant greenery and many building units, has become a commercial space. A part of the studio, which had 30 rooms, each with an attached bathroom, a lab for processing films, and an in-house canteen that doled out special menus for artistes, has been converted into a hall that can be rented for weddings.

“The studios had apartment units for stars. Hindi actors, including Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari, stayed here during the making of Azaad in 1955. Some of these units are rented out as warehouses. A registrar office still functions out of one of the buildings that retains an old-world charm,” explains Rajesh.

According to him, the studio also had an in-house projection theatre, a carpentry department to make movie sets, a team of masons, a beauty salon and a mini zoo complete with a tiger (procured from a circus for a mythological movie). An installation of the studio’s logo — a snake-eagle grabbing its prey with talons as it rests on a globe — is kept intact on the premises, a reminder of a time when fleets of cars would be parked outside the studios and the place was abuzz with activity as dialogues were recorded on the sets.

Sriramulu Naidu (1910-1976) was a movie mogul who played a key role in the development of cinema in south India. His father Munuswami Naidu, who worked as station master with the South Indian Railway Limited, after retirement started Davey & Company in 1932, a bakery on leased premises on Bank Road opposite Coimbatore Railway Station. Sriramulu Naidu joined him after completing his intermediate course in college. He excelled in baking cakes, doubled up as carpenter, and was a workaholic, a quality that helped him run Pakshiraja Studios like clockwork during the later years.

In his early 20s, this young ‘baker’ joined the elite Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club to socialise with industrialists, and later turned filmmaker. “It was a time when films were mostly made at studios in Bombay or Calcutta. He joined Premier Cinetone Studio in Coimbatore and established lifelong friendship with R.K. Ramakrishnan Chettiar (brother of independent India’s first Finance Minister R.K. Shanmukham Chetty). He, along with Sriramulu, C.N. Venkatapathy Naidu, S. Bheemiah Chetty, and P.A. Raju Chettiar, founded Central Studios in 1936 at a 17-acre property near Singanallur,” explains Rajesh.