| AVM Productions | |
| Type: | Limited |
| Foundation: | 1945 |
| Founder: | A. V. Meiyappan |
| Location City: | Vadapalani, Chennai |
| Location Country: | India |
| Area Served: | South India |
| Industry: | Film, television |
| Products: | Motion pictures, television programs |
| Assets: | 1000 million |
AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar. It is one of the oldest studio in India.[1] [2] [3] The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi cinema. AVM has introduced numerous actors in Southern industries, some of the prominent actors are Superstar Rajinikanth, Sivaji Ganesan, Rajkumar, S. S. Rajendran, Vyjayanthimala, Kamal Haasan and many more. The AVM Studios besides the shooting floors, has recording, dubbing and a preview theatre. The complex also houses facilities for production and post production processing.
Born on 28 July 1907, Avichi Meiyappan hailed from a Nattukottai Nagarathar family of Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu. Avichi Chettiar ran a mini-department store, named AV & Sons.[4] It sold gramophone records. Meiyappan, who joined his father's shop as a teenager, and decided to produce gramophone records instead of just selling them. He came to Madras where, along with friends K. S. Narayana Iyengar, Subbaiah Chettiar and others promoted Saraswathi Stores.
AVM Productions ventured into streaming space by announcing Tamil Rockerz, a crime thriller series inspired from a real-life film piracy group, directed by Arivazhagan.[5]
The dawn of the talkie era (1931) inspired Meiyappan to start Saraswathi Sound Productions and he launched his maiden movie venture, Alli Arjuna a Hindu mythology based movie. The film was shot in Calcutta and proved a total flop as the one that followed named Ratnavali.[6] At this point, an aspiring amateur actor and college graduate A. T. Krishnaswamy joined the unit as assistant director who was associated with Meiyappan for nearly a decade and wrote and directed the early AVM productions.
The reverses forced Meiyappan to lie low but only for a while. In association with Jayanthilal, a cinema house owner based in Bangalore, he promoted a new company Pragati Pictures Limited. Grabbing an opportunity that came his way, AVM made Nandakumar, Tamil version of a Marathi film launching it as a Pragati production. The highlight of this movie was the debut of T. R. Mahalingam in to Tamil movie Industry.
The film was a landmark because for the first time playback singing was tried, with Lalitha Venkatraman singing for the actor who played Devaki. Meiyappan took the sprawling Club House off Mount Road on lease and shot scenes without going to studios and erecting sets. Soon after he shifted his unit to another sprawling edifice known as Admiralty House in Adyar.
In 1940, Meiyappan produced Bhoo Kailas, a Telugu mythological film which created history. Its lead players were from Telugu and Kannada cinema, and was directed by Sundar Rao Nadkarni, a Mangalorean who had his training in Bombay. The film turned out to be a big hit and also won critical acclaim. Meiyappan struck gold with comedy next. Sabapathy (1941) with the saucer-eyed T. R. Ramachandran in the lead, along with Kali N. Rathnam and K. Sarangapani was a runaway success. Then came a series of hits like En Manaivi, Harishchandra (1943), Sri Valli.
The city of Madras began to feel the strains of the World War II raging on elsewhere and to reduce the exposure from Japanese bombing, Meiyappan moved his facilities to Karaikudi. In the outskirts of the town karaikudi he occupied a drama auditorium with a large open area around it on long lease and erected a studio. Thus was born AVM Productions with AVM Studios.
Hits like Nam Iruvar (1947), Parasakthi (1952), Andha Naal (1954), and the National Award-winning Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke (1957) followed.
Meiyappan died on 12 August 1979, and after his demise his sons took over the mantle.[7]
In 2007, AVM produced Sivaji which at 95 crore, was said to be the most expensive film ever made in the history of the Indian film industry at that time.[8]
In 2013, AVM led by Aruna Guhan and Aparna Guhan started producing films to be screened only on the net.[9] Their first such production was a 55-minute-film, titled Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum.[10]
| Year | Title | Cast | Director | Music Composer | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum[11] | Shivaji Dev, Anusha Varma | Anil Krishnan Srihari Prabhakaran | Tamil | ||
| 2011 | Mudhal Idam[12] | Vidharth, Kavitha Nair | R. Kumaran | 175th Film | ||
| 2010 | Telugu | |||||
| 2009 | Marthand K. Shankar | |||||
| Vettaikaaran | Tamil | |||||
| 2007 | ||||||
| 2006 | ||||||
| 2004 | ||||||
| 2003 | ||||||
| Mani Bharathy | ||||||
| 2002 | Telugu | Remake of Tamil Film 'Gemini' | ||||
| Bharadwaj (composer) | Tamil | |||||
| 1997 | A. R. Rahman | 50th anniversary Film, Re-shot in Hindi as Sapnay | ||||
| 1994 | Ilaiyaraaja | |||||
| Ilaiyaraaja | ||||||
| 1993 | Ilaiyaraaja | |||||
| 1992 | Ilaiyaraaja | Telugu | ||||
| 1991 | Maragathamani | Tamil | ||||
| M. Thyagarajan | Chandrabose | 150th Film | ||||
| 1990 | Raghuvaran, Rekha, Devi Lalitha | S. P. Muthuraman | Shankar–Ganesh | |||
| 1989 | Pennbuthi Pin Buthi | Chandrabose (composer) | ||||
| Chandrabose (composer) | ||||||
| Chandrabose (composer) | ||||||
| Chandrabose (composer) | Telugu | Remake of Tamil Film 'Patti Sollai Thatadhe' | ||||
| 1988 | R. G. Gopu | Chandrabose (composer) | Tamil | |||
| Chandrabose (composer) | ||||||
| L. Raja | Chandrabose (composer) | |||||
| 1987 | S. P. Muthuraman | Chandrabose (composer) | ||||
| Ilaiyaraaja | ||||||
| Shankar–Ganesh | ||||||
| L. Raja | Chandrabose (composer) | |||||
| K. Chakravarthy | Telugu | Remake of Tamil Film 'Samsaram Adhu Minsaram' | ||||
| 1986 | Raveendran | Tamil | ||||
| M. S. Viswanathan, Ilaiyaraaja (1 Song & BGM) | ||||||
| Shankar–Ganesh | ||||||
| Ilaiyaraaja | ||||||
| 1985 | Telugu | |||||
| Ilaiyaraaja | Tamil | |||||
| Ilaiyaraaja | ||||||
| 1984 | Ilaiyaraaja | |||||
| Telugu | ||||||
| Gangai Amaran | Ilaiyaraaja | Tamil | ||||
| Ilaiyaraaja | Tamil | |||||
| 1983 | Ilaiyaraaja | Tamil | ||||
| Rajan–Nagendra | Telugu | Remake of Tamil Film 'Mundhanai Mudichu' | ||||
| Ilaiyaraaja | Tamil | |||||
| S. P. Muthuraman | Ilaiyaraaja | |||||
| 1982 | Ilaiyaraaja | 125th Film | ||||
| M. S. Viswanathan | ||||||
| 1981 | Hindi | Remake of Telugu Film 'Punnami Naagu' | ||||
| Shankar–Ganesh | Tamil | |||||
| 1980 | Ilaiyaraaja | First Film with Rajinikanth | ||||
| Telugu | ||||||
| 1976 | Murugan Kumaran | Hindi | ||||
| 1975 | Telugu | |||||
| 1974 | Pattu | |||||
| 1973 | Pattu | Telugu | ||||
| Murugan Kumaran | Hindi | |||||
| 1972 | A. V. M. Rajan, Jayalalitha, Master Sekhar | Telugu | Remake of Tamil Film 'Anathai Ananthan' | |||
| R. G. Gopu | M. S. Viswanathan | Tamil | ||||
| 1971 | Sivaji Ganesan, Sowcar Janaki, Vijayasree, Vennira Aadai Nirmala, Sivakumar | M. S. Viswanathan | ||||
| R. Govardhanam | Telugu | |||||
| M. S. Viswanathan | Tamil | |||||
| Hindi | Remake of Tamil Film 'Server Sundaram' | |||||
| 1970 | K. V. Mahadevan | Tamil | ||||
| M. S. Viswanathan | ||||||
| 1969 | A. V. M. Rajan, Vanisri | M. S. Viswanathan | ||||
| R. Govardhanam | Telugu | |||||
| 1968 | Sivaji Ganesan, Sowcar Janaki, Vanisri, Sivakumar, Bharathi | M. S. Viswanathan | Tamil | |||
| N. T. Rama Rao, Jamuna, Master Rajkumar | M. S. Viswanathan | Telugu | Remake of Tamil Film 'Ramu' | |||
| Hindi | Remake of Tamil Film 'Kuzhandaiyum Deivamum' | |||||
| 1967 | Telugu | Remake of Tamil Film 'Adhey Kangal' | ||||
| Vedha (composer) | Tamil | 100th Film | ||||
| Hindi | ||||||
| Bhakta Prahlada | S. V. Ranga Rao, Anjali Devi, Roja Ramani, M. Balamuralikrishna | Chitrapu Narayana Rao | Telugu | |||
| 1966 | V. Kumar | Tamil | ||||
| M. S. Viswanathan | Telugu | Remake of Tamil Film 'Kuzhandaiyum Deivamum' | ||||
| Gemini Ganesan, K. R. Vijaya, Master Rajkumar | M. S. Viswanathan | Tamil | ||||
| Hindi | Remake of Tamil Film 'Annai' | |||||
| M. S. Viswanathan | Tamil | Only Film with M. G. R. | ||||
| 1965 | M. S. Viswanathan | |||||
| Telugu | Remake of Tamil Film 'Naanum Oru Penn' | |||||
| K. V. Mahadevan | Tamil | Debut Film for Sivakumar | ||||
| 1964 | M. S. Viswanathan | 75th Film | ||||
| Hindi | Remake of Tamil Film 'Naanum Oru Penn' | |||||
| A. Bhimsingh | Madan Mohan (composer) | |||||
| Sivaji Ganesan, S. S. Rajendran, Sowcar Janaki, C. R. Vijayakumari | M. S. Viswanathan | Tamil | ||||
| 1963 | Naanum Oru Penn | S. S. Rajendran, S. V. Ranga Rao, C. R. Vijayakumari | A. C. Tirulokchandar | R. Sudarsanam | Tamil | |
| 1962 | Annai | P. Bhanumathi, S. V. Ranga Rao, Sowcar Janaki | Krishnan–Panju | R. Sudarsanam | ||
| Hindi | ||||||
| Hindi | Remake of Tamil Film 'Kalathur Kannamma' | |||||
| M. S. Viswanathan | Tamil | 50th Film | ||||
| Paarthaal Pasi Theerum | Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Savitri, B. Saroja Devi, Kamal Haasan | A. Bhimsingh | M. S. Viswanathan | Tamil | ||
| 1961 | Chhaya | Sunil Dutt, Asha Parekh, Nirupa Roy | Hrishikesh Mukherjee | Hindi | ||
| M. S. Viswanathan | Tamil | |||||
| 1960 | Hindi | Remake of Malayalam Film 'Thilakam' | ||||
| Malayalam | ||||||
| R. Sudarsanam | Tamil | Debut Film for Kamal Haasan | ||||
| R. Sudarsanam | ||||||
| Akash-Patal | Prabhat Mukherjee | Bengali | First Bengali Film | |||
| 1959 | Sahodari | Tamil | ||||
| Baap Bete | Hindi | |||||
| R. Sudarsanam | Tamil | |||||
| Hindi | Remake of Tamil Film 'Mamiyar Mechina Marumagal' | |||||
| 1958 | Bhookailas | N. T. Rama Rao, A. Nageswara Rao, Jamuna | K. Shankar | Telugu | ||
| Kannada | ||||||
| 1957 | Bhabhi | Balraj Sahni, Pandari Bai, Nanda | Krishnan–Panju | Hindi | Remake of Tamil Film 'Kula Deivam' | |
| P. L. Santoshi | ||||||
| Remake of Telugu Film 'Missamma' | ||||||
| 1956 | Anant Thakur | Hindi | ||||
| R. Sudarsanam | Tamil | |||||
| Sadarama | K. R. Seetarama Sastry | Telugu | Remake of Kannada Film 'Sadarame' | |||
| Sadarame | Kannada | Produced with The Karnataka Films Ltd. | ||||
| Hindi | ||||||
| Naga Devathai | Tamil | Remake of Kannada Film 'Adarsha Sathi' | ||||
| Nagula Chavithi | Telugu | |||||
| Doctor | Sinhala | First Sinhala Film | ||||
| 1955 | Adarsha Sathi | Kannada | ||||
| M. V. Raman | Telugu | Remake of Tamil Film 'Chella Pillai' | ||||
| M. V. Raman | R. Sudarsanam | Tamil | 25th Film | |||
| Shahu Modak, Padmini, Mishra, Pandari Bai, Anant Kumar, Kumari Devi, Sope, Rushendramani, Ramachandra Sastry, Ragini, Deshraj, Raju | H. L. N. Simha | Hindi | Remake of Kannada Film 'Bedara Kannappa' | |||
| 1954 | R. Sudarsanam R. Goverdhanam as Associate | Telugu | ||||
| Jathaka Palam | R. Sudarsanam | Remake of Kannada Film 'Jathaka Phala' | ||||
| M. V. Raman | Remake of Hindi Film 'Ladki' | |||||
| R. Sudarsanam | Tamil | Remake of Hindi Film 'Ladki' | ||||
| H. L. N. Simha | R. Sudarsanam | Kannada | Produced with The Karnataka Films Ltd. Debut Film for Rajkumar | |||
| Tamil | First Film without songs | |||||
| 1953 | Jadhagam | R. Nagendra Rao, K. Sarangapani, T. K. Balachandran, Suryakala, Kamala Bai | R. Nagendra Rao | Remake of Kannada Film 'Jathaka Phala' | ||
| Jathaka Phala | R. Nagendra Rao, K. Sarangapani, T. K. Balachandran, Suryakala, Kamala Bai | Kannada | ||||
| M. V. Raman | R. Sudarsanam | Hindi | ||||
| H. L. N. Simha | R. Sudarsanam | Tamil | Remake of Kannada Film Gunasagari | |||
| R. Sudarsanam | Kannada | Produced with The Karnataka Films Ltd. | ||||
| 1952 | Parasakthi | R. Sudarsanam | Tamil | Debut Film for Sivaji Ganesan | ||
| 1951 | M. V. Raman | Hindi | Remake of Tamil Film 'Vazhkai' | |||
| R. Sudarsanam | Tamil | |||||
| 1950 | A. V. Meiyappan, M. V. Raman | R. Sudarsanam | Telugu | Remake of Tamil Film 'Vazhkai' | ||
| 1949 | R. Sudarsanam | Tamil | Debut Film for Vyjayanthimala | |||
| 1948 | Vedhala Ulagam | T. R. Mahalingam, P. R. Mangalam, K. Sarangapani, K. R. Chellam | R. Sudarsanam | |||
| 1947 | R. Sudarsanam | First Film Produced under 'AVM Studios' | ||||
| 1945 | R. Sudarsanam | Produced under 'Pragathi Studios' | ||||
| 1943 | Satya Harishchandra | Subbaiah Naidu, R. Nagendra Rao, Lakshmi Bai | A. T. Krishnaswamy, R. Nagendra Rao | Kannada | Produced under 'Pragathi Studios' | |
| 1942 | Tamil | |||||
| 1941 | Ramayyar Shirur | Kannada | Produced under 'Pragathi Studios', First Kannada Film | |||
| T. R. Ramachandran, 'Lux Soap' R. Padma | Tamil | Produced under 'Pragathi Studios' | ||||
| Thiruvalluvar | Prem Chethna | |||||
| 1940 | M. V. Subbaiah Naidu, R. Nagendra Rao, Lakshmi Bai | Telugu | Produced under 'Pragathi Studios', First Big Hit for A. V. Meiyappan | |||
| Vaayadi | T. R. Ramachandran, Madhuri Devi, 'Lux Soap' R. Padma | Nandalal Jaswantlal | Tamil | Produced under 'Pragathi Studios' | ||
| Poli Panchali | ||||||
| 1937 | Nandakumar | Keshav Rao Dhaibhar | Produced under 'Pragati Pictures Ltd' | |||
| 1935 | Ratnavali | M. R. Krishnamoorthi, P. S. Rathna Bai, P. S. Saraswathi Bai | Produced under 'Saraswathi Sound Productions' | |||
| 1935 | K. S. Ananda Narayana Iyer, K. R. Kanthimathi Bai, T. S. Bhavani Bai |