COIMBATORE: In 1945, S.M. Sriramulu Naidu and K.S. Narayana Iyengar established Pakshiraja Studios in Puliakulam. The former was a bold and energetic entrepreneur who administered Central Studios on Trichy Road for many years. The untimely death of B. Rangaswamy Naidu, owner of Central Studios, prompted Sriramulu Naidu to start this new venture. Pakshiraja took off with Kanniga in 1945. This was followed by Pavalakodi, Ezhai Padum Paadu (Tamil) and Prasanna (Malayalam). The movies built goodwill for the studios and its management. In 1950, Sriramulu Naidu and Narayana Iyengar decided to part ways.
Sriramulu Naidu then sought the assistance of Sankaralinga Iyer of Indo Commercial Bank in Madras and continued to produce movies from Coimbatore. Kanchana in 1952 was followed by Ponni in 1953 but the 1954 mulit-lingual multi-starrer Malaikallan changed the course of Tamil cinema and Sriramulu Naidu’s life. Malai Kallan was shot simulataneously in Tamil and Telugu with Bhanumathi and M.G. Ramachandran in Tamil and N.T. Rama Rao in Telugu. It catapulted MGR to superstar status. This success encouraged Sriramulu Naidu to remake this in Hindi as Azad, starring Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari. The shooting took place at Pakshiraja Studios in Coimbatore and was completed in 90 days. Azad was also a runaway hit. During 1956 and 1957, Sriramulu Naidu remade this movie in Malayalam (Tatskara Veeran), Kannada (Bethada Kalla) and Sinhala (Sura Sena) and all were box-office hits.
After Malaikallan, Sriramulu Naidu produced Maragadham (1959), Kalyaniyin Kanavan (1961) and Sabari Malai Sree Ayyappan (1962), the first movie on Sabarimala. By now the industry was moving towards Chennai and so Sriramulu Naidu acquired the Bobbili Raja Palace at Bengaluru and established Chamundeshwari Studios in 1970.
Pakshiraja Studios was located in Puliakulam and the vast campus spanned several acres with many departments for the different aspects of filmmaking. The studio had 30 rooms with attached bath facilities, a lab for processing, a Mitchell camera that cost Rs. 500,000 at that time. A projection theatre was also built into the studio. There were several floors for shooting, a carpentry department to make sets, a team of masons to assist the carpenters, painters, lathes, costumers and tailors, an orchestra supported by people skilled in dance and music and a beauty parlour. The studio also housed a mini-zoo, which housed parrots, peacocks, pigeons, dogs, deer and even a tiger (procured from a circus for the Ayyappa movie) to be used while shooting. The studio had over 15 vehicles and an in-house workshop and Sriramulu Naidu maintained a complete record on a daily basis about its functioning.
Dr. Srihari, Sriramulu Naidu’s son, shares his memories of his father. “My father was enterprising and very creative. He was an excellent baker, carpenter, financial planner and visionary. He built apartments in Chennai in 1956. He was well versed in shorthand and could speak, read, write many languages. He used to get up in the middle of the night to record interesting ideas. He was a good tax planner, hard worker and taskmaster. He had an excellent network of friends and contacts from all walks of life. He was keen to ensure that every asset including the house yielded an income. In all he was the only Indian to build three studios in his lifetime.”
(Rajesh is passionate about his city and is always looking for ways of documenting its history)
