'''Modern Theatres'''


Angel Films, started in 1934 by T.R. Sundaram
in partnership with S.S. Velayudham Pillai,
became the Modern Theatres Studio in 1937,
soon one of South India’s most influential and
busiest studios before the WW2 period, at its
peak making films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada,
Hindi, Sinhalese and Malayalam. Located in
Salem, over 300km from Madras, it related to
the vast Southern hinterland largely ignored by
Madras and Bombay. It created a Malayalam
film industry, producing its first sound film,
Nottani’s Balan (1938) and Sundaram’s
Kandam Becha Coat (1961), the first
Malayalam colour film. The studio did the same
for Telugu productions in the 40s, introducing
megastars Anjali Devi and S.V. Ranga Rao (in
B.V. Ramanandam’s Varudhini, 1946). Filmmakers
working in Tamil, the studio’s native
language, include Ellis R. Duncan, C.V.
Raman, K. Ramnoth, T.R. Raghunath etc.,
while among the Tamil stars introduced there
was M.R. Radha (in Santhanathevam, 1939).
Also sponsored the early DMK Films mainly
because of their financial success. The poet
and scenarist Bharatidasan was employed
here, and the studio later produced the
Karunanidhi-scripted Manthiri Kumari
(1950). Nevertheless, the studio claimed
ideological neutrality, unlike the major Madras
studios led by e.g. K. Subramanyam and later
S.S. Vasan. Its commitment to pure
entertainment allowed for tighter budgets and
the Modern formula was later replicated by
several studios in Salem itself as well as in
nearby Coimbatore, making these regions into
Southern production centres rivalling Madras.

[[Theatre]]