DoB: 20 April 1904
PoB: Papanasam (Thanjavur District)
To call him the Orson Welles of Tamil Cinema would in a way amount to being disrespectful to him simply ’cause Subrahmanyam pre-dated Welles and worked more hurdles that Mr Welles could’ve endured. Sadly, that’s a parallel one has to draw to bring out the sheer courage in the man’s actions. How do you define a Man who stood up against, Child marriage, Casteism, injustice to Women and evil practices of Hinduism through his Films, even if it meant that his community would excommunicate him? Subrahmanyam, the legend goes, was a rebel who redefined movie-making in Tamil at a time when it was the hardest to do. While everyone around him made Movies based on mythology, he was making ones that got banned or got him banned. KS is often invoked as the person who single-handedly established “a Madras-based Tamil film industry”.
Notable Films:
Pandithavan (1957)
Bhakta Chetha (1940)
Thyaga Bhoomi (1939)
Seva Sadhanam (1938)
Bala Yogini (1936)
Anathai Pen (1931)
Trivia:
- Subrahmanyam introduced M S Subbulakshmi (Seva Sadhanam), M K Thiagaraja Bhagavathar (Pavalakodi), S D Subbulakshmi (Pavalakodi), Papanasam Sivan, ‘Baby‘ Saroja (Bala Yogini), the Bharatanatyam trio Lalita, Padmini & Ragini, V N Janaki, B Saroja Devi and K J Mahadevan to the Movie world.
- K Subrahmanyam is also credited with founding the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, the South Indian Film Artistes Association, the Film Institute, Nataka Kazhagam and the Nadaswaram Artists Association.
- In 1942, Subrahmanyam founded ‘Nrithyodaya‘, a school to provide free training in dance and music to deserving poor students.
- ‘Thyaga Bhoomi’ was the only Indian film banned by the colonial government. KS reportedly rushed the reels to towns and villages, so that the film could be viewed by as many as possible, before the Ban order reached there.
- K Subrahmanyam set up Neptune Studios and the Motion Picture Producers’ Combine. Neptune was later to be owned by R M Veerappan (and MGR) as Sathya Studios. MPPC was to become the Gemini Studios. Neptune was built in the place that was occupied earlier by Meenakshi Cine studios.