P. Subramaniam

P. Subramaniam (Malayalam: പി. സുബ്രഹ്മണ്യം) was an Indian director and producer of Malayalam films. Since the mid-1950s he has directed 59 films and has produced 69 films. His venture Merryland Studio (established 1951) was the second film production studio of Kerala, after its major competitor Udaya Studio. The films were produced under the banner of Neela Productions.

Born as the son of Padmanabha Pillai and Neelammal in Thiruvananthapuram on 19 February 1910, Subramaniam completed his education in Thiruvananthapuram itself and got posted as a clerk in Water Authority. After resigning the job, he joined with director K. Subramaniam as his assistant. It was in 1951 that he started producing films, when he started Merryland Studio in Thiruvananthapuram. Neela Productions, his production company, was named after his mother Neelammal. Named after Lord Subramanya and being a devotee himself, he used his namesake's picture as the studio emblem. His first film was 'Athmasakhi', released in 1952. It was the first released film of the legendary actor Sathyan, who later became one of the greatest actors ever in Malayalam film industry.

Subramaniam soon became a major figure in the film industry, and continued to produce and direct films. Along with his competitor M. Kunchacko, he was one of the pioneering figures of Malayalam film industry in its early days. They produced various types of films. Merryland was usually popular for producing epic films, like Bhakta Kuchela, Sree Rama Pattabhishekam, Snapaka Yohannan, Kumara Sambhavam, Sree Guruvayoorappan, Swami Ayyappan, Amba Ambika Ambalika and Sree Murugan. They also used socially relevant stories.

Subramaniam's films were also popular for their songs. Thirunayinaarkurichi Madhavan Nair and Brother Lakshmanan were the duo which created the songs during their early days. Subramaniam was also instrumental in developing the career of the popular singer Kamukara Purushothaman. In almost all films until 1970, the trio was used to add music. The songs like 'Athmavidyalayame', 'Eeswara Chinthayithonne', 'Naale Naale Ennayittu', etc. are very popular songs from this team. Later on, he also used lyricists like P. Bhaskaran, Vayalar Ramavarma, O. N. V. Kurup, Sreekumaran Thampi, etc. and musicians like G. Devarajan, M. S. Baburaj, V. Dakshinamoorthy and M. B. Sreenivasan.

Subramaniam continued to produce films until he died on 4 October 1979, at the age of 69. Now his company is run by his sons S. Karthikeyan and S. Murugan. Merryland later ventured in producing TV serials, and was popular for remaking their old film Swami Ayyappan in TV serial format.

Filmography

Television

Awards

National Film Awards
Kerala State Film Awards

References

  1. ↑ "5th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  2. ↑ "6th National Film Awards". International Film Festival of India. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  • Lekshmy Gopalakrishnan (2 January 2009). "Visionary and entrepreneur". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 March 2011.


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