== Gemini Pictures ==

Aka Gemini Studios. Best-known Madras studio
in the 40s for redefining the concept of mass
entertainment with [[Chandralekha]] (1948), the
first Madras film to break successfully into the
Hindi cinema. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.S._Vasan|S.S. Vasan]] started Gemini as a
distribution agency, the Gemini Pics Circuit,
distributing and partly financing films by [[K.
Subramanyam]]’s Motion Pics Producers
Combine. When the Combine went bankrupt,
Vasan bought the studio in 1939 at public
auction for a mere Rs 86,427-11 (Annas)-9
(Paise) (according to Randor Guy). The studio’s
début feature was probably [[Balkrishna
Narayan Rao]]’s Madanakamarajan (1941),
but it only took off when cameraman-scenarist [[K. Ramnoth]] joined it along with his [[Vauhini]]
partner, art-director A.K. Sekhar. This team
made most of Gemini’s early features:
Mangamma Sapatham (1943), Kannamma En
Kadhali (1945) and Miss Malini (1947) before
the Chandralekha blitz catapulted it on to the
national stage. 

In the early days, the most
important event in the studio was Uday
Shankar’s dance extravaganza [[Kalpana]]
(released 1948) which also provided training
for most of Gemini’s technicians as well as
providing the model for an Orientalist dance
idiom later associated with influential Tamil
choreographers like Hiralal and Chopra Master.
A few minor hits followed Chandralekha
before the studio’s second major onslaught on
the national box office with Apoorva
[[Sahodarargal]] (1949), a trilingual that
established the studio’s dominance in the genre
of the costumed adventure movie. Although its
Hindi version [[Nishan]] was not a major success,
Vasan continued making Hindi films, often
signing them himself: e.g. the [[Dilip Kumar]]
and [[Dev Anand]] film [[Insaniyat]] (1955),
[[Vyjayanthimala]]’s [[Raj Tilak]] (1958) and
[[Paigham]] (1959) starring Dilip Kumar, Raaj
Kumar and Vyjayanthimala. They also made
the megabudget Tamil classic [[Avvaiyyar]]
(1953). An important later production was
[[Motor Sundaram Pillai]] (1966), [[Sivaji
Ganesan]]’s only film at this studio.
In 1958 the
studio expanded into the Gemini Colour lab,
licensed by Eastmancolor Kodak film. After
Vasan’s death, his son S.S. Balasubramanyam
produced the unsuccessful Ellorum Nallavare
(1975). Gemini’s productions declined in the
70s, although it remained successful as a studio
and equipment rental business now taken over
by the Anand Cine Services.

[[Studio]]