Category: Classic Kovai

Long ago, decent and well meaning citizens were appointed as Honorary Magistrates by the authorities. They used to handle their tasks in a decent manner. Lakshmi Venugopal of the yonder years was once such person. She hailed from Udumalpet and was the daughter of Bhasyakarulu and Kaveriammal. However she grew up under her aunt and people’s representative Alamelu Manga Thayar in Chennai. She studied at Queen Mary’s College and was quite good with botany and mathematics. Lakshmi Ammal was married to advocate C.V.Venugopal who had been practicing at Big Bazaar…

Plea For ‘S M Sriramulu Naidu Award’ To Keep His Memory Alive Not many are aware of the fact that Manchester of the South was a hotspot for film making between 1935 and 1972. Thanks to multi-talented S M Sriramulu Naidu, known as Movie Moghul of South India to establish three studios during the golden days of cinema. Years have rolled on, but the memories still linger in the minds of Kovaiites mostly oldtimers about films made in the city. Here octogenarian Dr.S.Srihari, the first neurologist from Coimbatore and son…

Need For An Award In His Name To Startups For Exceptional Excellence Indeed, Swamikannu Vincent is a name to reckon with as he was known to be the first movie millionaire of India. His untiring efforts took him to dizzy heights to bring pride to Kovai. From a draftsman – clerk earning a salary of Rs.25 per month with the South Indian Railway (a joint stock company incorporated in England with its headquarters in Trichy) to a film exhibitor, producer and what not, Swamikannu Vincent during his stint in Trichy…

Quite interesting to infer that Central Studios had contributed to Kannada cinema soon after it changed hands to B.Rangaswamy Naidu of Rajalakshmi Mills from R.K.Ramakrishnan Chettiar and his associates in the year 1940 with a condition that S.M.Sriramulu Naidu must continue as the administrator. In fact, two Kannada movies were produced at Central Studios which created a history. The first movie ‘Jeevan Nataka’ was produced by Gubbi Veeranna of ‘Gubbi Films’. The second movie was ‘Vani’, produced by violin wizard Mysore T.Chowdiah on music theme in 1943. Gubbi Veeranna was…