Not many are aware of the fact that Coimbatore was a citadel for movie making. And there were stalwarts whose untiring efforts kept the city alive. Of them P Ramasamy is one of those, whose camera spoke volumes about movies made in this industrial city.
Pappaiyya Naidu worked in the Police department for a number of years. His wife Muniyamma was a hard working go getter and she had installed the icon of ‘Muniyappan’ in the police quarters long ago. The couple had ten children – five boys and five girls. Post retirement, Pappaiyya Naidu was appointed as security in charge at Central Studios by the administrator S.M.Sriramulu Naidu. The studio had been founded by R.K.Ramakrishnan Chettiar in the year 1936. The family stayed in the Rajalakshmi Mills line for a number of years.
Of the five boys, P.Ramaswamy is one among them to start his career as a helper in the ‘electric’ department and for the cinematographers. And was assistant cameraman when the movie ‘Tukaram’ starring Musiri Subramania Iyer (famous musician) was made.
P.Ramaswamy came to be known as Jupiter Ramaswamy later on. The movie ‘Tukaram’ bombed in the box office and the promoters lost interest in the venture thereafter. The studio was purchased by B.Rangaswamy Naidu of Rajalakshmi Mills in the year 1940. The maverick entrepreneur continued with S.M. Sriramulu Naidu and this arrangement went on for some years. Subsequently Jupiter Pictures took the studio of lease and created history.
Cinematographer P.Ramaswamy had done his eighth standard in Coimbatore. He used to watch a number of ‘silent movies’ prior to his ‘movie days’. The niece Sabithadevi was happy to share some titbits about her maternal uncle, “Uncle used to watch a number of dramas which were screened by a number of troupes – Kittappa, Sundarambal, Subbiah Bhagavathar, Rathnabai, Sarswathibai, Gubbi Veeranna etc., Those days a few special plays had Khadar Batcha playing the harmonium and he used to have a separate fan following.”
“My maternal uncle P.Ramaswamy became a full fledged cinematographer when Jupiter Pictures made ‘Valmiki’ at Central Studios in Coimbatore. The Director was Nadkarni. He had been the camera assistant for the movie ‘Haridas’. It was Sundar Rao Nadkarni who had encouraged my uncle P.Ramaswamy initially. The movie had Honnappa Bhagavathar and T.R.Rajakumari as the cast. W.R.Subba Rao, Mastan and my uncle were the camera people for Jupiter. That’s how he came to be known as Jupiter Ramaswamy”, stated N.Venkatesan while playing a frame of snooker in his favourite haunt, Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club.
Central Studios was residential and therefore a number of people associated with the production of movies were ensconced in the campus. Art Director Sekar, Alwar Kuppuswamy, N.S.Krishnan, T.A.Maduram, Sahasranamam, Pulimoottai Ramaswamy, Udumalai Narayanakavi, Art Director Janakiram were living in the houses which existed in the Central Studios line. M.G.Ramachandran, Music Director S.M.Subbiah Naidu used to stay in a lodge in Ramanathapuram while working with movies that were made in Central Studios. In fact Jupiter Ramaswamy had met up with M.Karunanidhi at Central Studios only. Those were happy moments when Ramaswamy, N.S.Krishnan and M.G.Ramachandran used to play volley ball at the studio grounds. M.G.Ramachandran, M.N.Nambiar, Engineer Govindaswamy and Ramaswamy used to visit a near by ‘Nadar Hotel’ which had been famous for non vegetarian food. They used to return by a horse drawn carriage after having a sumptuous meal.
Jupiter Ramaswamy’s became highly acclaimed after his work in the movie ‘Manithan’. It was a Jupiter Production with the T.K.S Brothers doing the roles. K.Ramnath was the Director and he was a great cinematographer himself. It was a matter of honour for P.Ramaswamy to receive encomiums from K.Ramnath. P.Ramaswamy had worked in a few movies done by P.U.Chinnappa.
The movies included Aryamala, Jagadalapradhapan, Prithvirajan etc., The wonderful cinematographer had done work in a number of languages. Quite a few movies in Sinhalese, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi were done by him. He was the cinematographer for the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions of ‘Manohara’.
The great cinematographer was quite close to Sivaji Ganesan and M.G.Ramachandran. He had done work with M.G.Ramachandran for the movies Marmayogi, Arasilangkumari, Parisu, Maduraiyai Meetta Sundara Pandian etc., and the Sivaji movies included Manohara, Edirparathathu, Vanangamudi, Ellam Unnakkaga, Kappal Oottiya Tamilan, Kattabomman and Thanga Padumai. P.Ramaswamy did not belong to any ‘group’ in the world of cinema. M.G.Ramachandran had invited P.Ramaswamy for a meal after becoming the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu. Durai, Gopal, Karnan, Viswanathan, A.V.Ramakrishnan, Ramachandran happened to be the proteges of P.Ramaswamy who had worked for about 200 movies.
Eventually P.Ramaswamy started a production unit called ‘Saravabhava’. P.Ramaswamy, Jupiter son in law Balasubramaniam, Govindaswamy of the sound department, Jupiter production manager Sundaram, Anand Theatre Umapathy were the partners and it was in the Jupiter premises. The first movie was ‘Edirparathathu’ starring Sivaji, Padmini and Nagaiyya. The story and dialogues were by Sridhar. The second movie was ‘Vanangamudi’ and it was directed by Pullaiyya.
Sivaji, Savithri, M.K.Radha, Nagaiyya, Thangavelu, M.S.Saroja and Kannamba acted in this movie. The dialogues used to be given to the artists one week before the schedule. A huge 60 feet ‘cut out’ of Sivaji was made for the movie ‘Vanangamudi’. It was placed at the entrance of Chitra Theatre. P.Ramaswamy used to add a lot of humour while on the sets and make the atmosphere pleasant.
Jupiter Ramaswamy became a resident of Chennai in the year 1950 and success gave him an oppourtunity to build a huge bungalow for himself in Mandaveli. A number of leading artists had attended the house warming. T.M.Soundararajan performed on this occasion. P.Ramaswamy was keen to produce a movie in Malayalam and it happened eventually. Those days the work ‘Odaiyil Ninnu’ by writer Kesav Dev was part of the curriculum for SSLC in Kerala.
It was through actor Satyan that P.Ramaswamy managed to get the rights for the movie. The movie had Satyan, Nazeer and K.R.Vijaya. It was made in Kerala and in Chennai. P.Ramaswamy acquired the rights for the story ‘Rowdy’ from Kesav Dev and made it into a movie. It was produced with the assistance from the owners of Devi Theatres with Satyan and Sheela playing major roles.
Jupiter Ramaswamy shifted to Coimbatore after a certain period. His role in cinema was applauded by not just people from the world of cinema but others as well. He was quite close to his family and Coimbatore. He began his career in Coimbatore and continued in Chennai. He had worked in the field for more than four decades and his work is part of film history.
P.Ramaswamy had worked a couple of ‘cinema generations’. This son of Coimbatore had achieved much in the world of cinema.
—Rajesh Govindarajulu
Close Up View of Cinematographer ‘Jupiter’ P Ramasamy
