Tamil classics

The print media has played a central role in the history of the major studios of Madras.

Three among the five majors Modern Theatres, Gemini, and Vijaya-Vauhini had their own printing press, and Gemini and Vijaya-Vauhini got into film production after entrenching themselves as successful publishers of popular magazines. Although Modern Theatres' magazine (Chandamarutham) did not become as popular as that of Gemini (Ananda Vikatan) and VijayaVauhini (Chandamamal Ambulimama), it strongly influenced the narratives of Modern Theatres during the eventful period of the late 1940s and early 1950s, marked by India's independence and the emergence and the ascent of the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam / Dravidian Progressive Federation) a defining period as far as the specificity of the Tamil cinema is concerned due to its investment in Tamil nationalism and the privileging of the marginal voices of women and the economically downtrodden.

In 1940, Sundaram started a fortnightly Tamil magazine called Chandamarutham to inform readers about Modern Theatres' films and publicize them (Venkataswami, 2003, pp. 27-29). Conceived in the format of a family magazine, Chandamarutham also carried short stories and write-ups on politics and cultural events. It was printed in the Gajalakshmi Power Press within the studio complex.

S.Velsamy, who wrote the songs in Uthama Puthrian and who was popularly known as Velsamy Kavi or Poet Velsamy, was one of Modern Theatres' preeminent lyricists and the first editor of the magazine.

Chandamarutham was responsible for a phenomenon in Tamil print publishing history, the serialization of the famous story Aayiram Thalai Vangiya Aboorva Chintamani (The unique Chintamani who claimed a thousand heads). The exceptional success of the story and the enthusiasm with which a large and avid readership took the mythical characters in the novel to its collective heart inspired Sundaram to render it on celluloid in the year of India's independence, 1947. The twists and turns, written to keep the eager readership panting in anticipation of the next installment of the serial, were retained in the original screenplay, resulting in an edited length of almost 4 hours when the first print of the film was produced (Venkataswami, 2003, pp.42-43).

Later it was reduced to 20,050 feet, which was the norm before the war, though this was still almost twice as long as the wartime limit of 11,000 feet; Burma Rani was 10,367 feetlong when it was released in 1944 (Anandan, 2004, pp.28-39). The plot of the film focuses on the tests set by the eponymous heroine Chintamani 9V.N. Janaki) for the suitors who wish to win her hand.

Those who fail are beheaded. Thus far, 999 heads have rolled, and the 1,000th candidate the handsome Meiyazhagan (P.S. Govindan) foils the plans of Chintamani's guru, an evil magician, and passes the test. The hero, who has already lost his father and brothers to tricks of the evil magician, goes with his friend in search of the answers to Chintamani's three questions and to solve the mysteries surrounding those questions. This main story encompasses another story, which leds to yet another story and so on.

These stories are linked through the characterization of the hero, who has a role in all of them, as he travels to unravel the mysteries to outwit the magician guru.

Directed by Sundaram, Aayiram Talai Vangiya Aboorva Chintamani was critically acclaimed as a suspense film. W.R. Subba Rao was lauded for the in-camera special effects and his "trick" photography.

In the climax, in a single shot, Rao had the king throwing the knife and the magician-guru's head rolling down (Rao, 2003, p. 73). The screenplay, though borrowing loosely from the story-within-a-story genre of the Arabian Nights and the locally well known Vikaramadityan-Vethaalam folkloric myths about paying with one's head for failing a test, vastly differs from them in its structure.

Although multiple stories-within-a story generally necessitate an episodic structure, in Aayiram Thalai Vangiya Aboorva Chintamani, the binary conflict between the hero and the evil guru and the plight of Chintamani who is caught in between haunt the explorations of the hero Meiyazhagan. This is threaded through a narrative marked by his continuous presence (in all the episodes) and seemingly unending conflicts that are finally resolved.

The hero's interminable travels are juxtaposed with haunting songs, and they prefigure the importance of songs in Indian films of the suspense / mystery genre; for instance, Kamal Amrohi's suspense thriller Mahal starring Ashok Kumar and Madhubala with haunting songs and music was released two years later in 1949. It must be noted here that the Tamil film industry by now was gradually embracing the playback method: The system of recording the song prior to the filming and playing it back while visualizing the song for the actors to emote came into vogue in the mid-1940s.

Modern Theatres' productions entered into the playback modewith their film Diwan Bahadur (1943) when the famous singer of the 1940s, U.R. Jeevarathinam, sang for the actress Susheela.

However, their first song that became popular as a prerecorded one was sung by Bageerathi, when she lent her voice for V.N. Janaki in Aayiram Thalai Vangiya Aboorva Chintamani (see for details, Vamanan, 2006, pp. 124-125).

This film also reveals the tendency of Modern Theatres to look for a narrative that is already popular (in this case, Chintamani's reception as a popular serialized story in their own magazine, Chandamarutham) and then to use that structure for experimenting with the technical possibilities of playback recording, special effects, and so on. Thus, Sundaram explored the possibilities that cinema offers through the device of transitions fades, wipes, dissolves, and iris effects to travel from story to story, and narrate parallel stories, as in a novel, and enriched it by layering in a haunting melody on the soundtrack, which by connecting two distant and dissimilar places, adds a spectral dimension to thisnarrative of rolling heads told in the mythic-suspense genre.

Among the illustrious editors of Chandamarutham, Modern Theatres' fortnightly magazine, was Kavignar (Poet) Kannadasan arguably the greatest lyricist of the Tamil cinema of the last century. 79 In a prolific career, he wrote the lyrics of around 5,000 film songs, 6,000 poems, and 232 books, in addition to his involvement in politics. It was in 1949 that the DMK Dravida Munnetra kazhagam/Dravidian Progressive Federation was formed under the leadership of C.N. Annadurai, and the inaugural function was held in Royapuram, on September 17, 1949. Kannadasan's involvement with the Dravidian movement as a young writer, inspired by the other orators and playwrights of the movement, influenced Sundaram's decision concerning the sources for the narratives of his films Ponmudi and Manthiri Kumari in 1950.