A. Narayanan (1900-39)
Director, producer and exhibitor in Tamil film. Former insurance agent; worked for the distribution wing of K.D. Brothers. Manager of Queen’s Cinema, Calcutta (1922) and started Popular Cinema in Triplicane, Madras. Started Exhibition Film Services (1927), later with branches in Bombay, Delhi, Rangoon and Singapore, and made extensive efforts to find an American market for Indian films, including a USA visit with a print of Naval Gandhi’s Balidan (1927) and Imperial’s Anarkali (1928), during which he befriended Carl Laemmle and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. Started influential General Pics in Madras (1929) with film-makers such as R.S. Prakash, Y.V. Rao and C. Pullaiah. Its sound version, Srinivasa Cinetone (1934), is claimed as South India’s first sound studio. Nationalist activist, committed participant in Swadeshi agitations; influenced by the Tamil Manikodi writers group; associated with leaders of the freedom struggle in Madras such as C. Rajagopalachari, the chief minister, and S. Satyamurthy, the Congress leader. Also made several documentaries, e.g. Maternity and Child Welfare, Venereal Diseases (both for health dept. and the govt); Unfurling the National Flag; Burma Oil Company Fire; The Spirit of Agriculture (for Imperial Chemical Industries), etc.
FILMOGRAPHY: 1927: Indian National Congress at Gauhati (Doc); 1928: Kovalan; 1929: Dharmapatni; Garuda Garvabhangam; Gnana Sundari; 1930: King Bhoj; 1931: Nara Narayana (all St); 1934: Draupadi Vastrapaharanam; Srinivasa Kalyanam; 1935: Krishna Arjuna; Rajambal; 1936: Indrasabha; Mahatma Kabirdas; Mandayarkal Sandhippu; Meerabai; Tara Sasankam; Vishwamitra; 1937: Krishna Tulabharam; Rajasekharan; Virata Parvam; 1938: Mada Sambrani; Tenali