A. V. Meiyappan

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, director and philanthropist who established AVM Productions in Vadapalani, Chennai.

He is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of Tamil cinema, and one of three movie moguls of the South Indian film industry along with S. S. Vasan and L. V. Prasad.

His production company AVM Productions is the only production company in Kollywood (Tamil film industry) to run successfully for five decades and three generations.

AVM was born in Karaikudi in a well-to-do Nagarathar family.

He moved to Chennai (then known as Madras) at an early age and established Saraswathi Stores which sold gramophone records.

Subsequently, he entered the film industry and started directing his own films.

AVM was born in Karaikudi on 28 July 1907 to father Avichi Chettiar and mother Lakshmi Achi.

Avichi Chettiar owned a department store called AV & Sons which sold gramophone records.

AVM also directed a number of films in the 1930s and 1940s, the notable ones being Alli Arjuna, Bhookailas, Sabapathy, Sri Valli and Nam Iruvar.

Hence, he moved to Madras with his friends K.S. Narayan Iyengar and Subbaiah Chettiar and established a new firm called Saraswathi Stores on 9 September 1932.

This new firm also manufactured gramophone records apart from selling them.

In this new venture, he got excellent support from the manager K.P. Varadachari and his lawyer friend Thoothukudi Govindachari Raghavachari.

Some of AVM's early productions were dramas on mythological subjects like Ramayanam.

With the dawn of the talkies, AVM established the Saraswathi Sound Productions.

In 1935, AVM made his debut as a producer with the Tamil film Alli Arjuna which performed miserably at the box-office.

His next venture Ratnavali was another failure.

He then teamed up with Jayanthilal, a cinema house owner and promoted a new company, Pragati Pictures Ltd.

In 1938, AVM bought the rights for the Tamil remake of a Marathi film on the boyhood of Lord Krishna.

This film Nandakumar was an average grosser.

AVM introduced a 14-year-old boy, T. R. Mahalingam, for the part of the young Lord Krishna.

This young boy would later become an efficient singer turning in a number of melodious hits.

Lalitha Venkataraman sang for the character Devaki making Nandakumar the first film to introduce the concept of playback singing in the Tamil film industry.

Nandakumar was also one of the first Tamil movies to be shot on location as AVM leased the Club House off Mount Road in Chennai to shoot scenes without erecting sets.

After some initial setbacks, AVM delivered a string of hits in the early 1940s.

AVM started his own studios in 1940 and named it Pragathi Studios.

In the same year, AVM produced Bhookailas which became one of the most popular film versions of the Ramayana.

The film was made in Telugu, its lead actors were from Kannada cinema and it was directed by Sundar Rao Nadkarni, a Mangalorean who had received his training in Bombay.

AVM's comedy flick Sabapathy(1941) starring T.R. Ramachandran, K. Sarangapani and Kali N. Ratnam was a runaway hit as also Poli Panchali, another comedy.

Sabapathy eventually emerged as one of the greatest comedy films of the era.

He followed this with another hit En Manaivi.

In 1943, he produced the film Harischandra in Kannada based on the legend of a king who attempted to kill his own son to defend justice.

The next year, the film was dubbed into Tamil making it the first Indian film to be dubbed from one language to another.

During the making of Sri Valli in 1945, he employed singer Periyanayaki to sing for actress Rukmini.

This was AVM's second film to make use of playback.

Following the immense success of his 1947 film Nam Iruvar, AVM moved to film production and established AVM Productions in Chennai, first at Santhome and then at Kodambakkam.

In 1951, AVM entered the Hindi film industry with the film Bahar starring Vyjayanthimala.

By the time he died in 1979, he had produced 167 films.

Notable films produced by AVM Productions are Vazhkai, Bahar, Parasakthi, Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke, Bhookailas, Kalathur Kannamma, Server Sundaram and Major Chandrakanth.

AVM was born in the Nagarathar community whose members had gained a fine reputation in the mercantile and money-lending business in the later half of the 19th century and early years of the 20th century.

At an early age, AVM envisioned better prospects in the trade of manufacturing records than simply selling them.