television fate active founded 1945 founder a. v. meiyappan headquarters vadapalani chennai india area served south india products motion pictures television programs total assets 2000 crores website http www.avm.in avm productions is an indian film production studio . it is the oldest surviving studio in india . 1 2 the filming studios are located in vadapalani chennai . it has produced over 170 films in tamil telugu kannada malayalam and bollywood cinema . 2 avm has introduced numerous actors in southern industries some of the prominent actors are vyjayanthimala sivaji ganesan rajkumar s. s. rajendran and kamal haasan . the avm studios besides the shooting floors has recording dubbing and a preview theatre with state of the art equipment . the complex also houses facilities for production and post production processing . 2 contents 1 early history 1.1 maiden venture 1.2 success 2 filmography 3 references 4 external links early history edit among south india s movie moguls a. v. meiyappan is a far sighted entrepreneur and filmmaker with dash and dynamism he had a finger on the pulse of the moviegoer . entering the world of movies soon after it was introduced in india in the year 1931 for nearly half a century he worked incessantly producing pictures of many kinds in many languages . a man with great foresight he faced much adversity early in his career but like a true pioneer fought relentlessly and made it to the top . a talent scout he opened the doors of opportunity and success to many performing artistes and technicians . born on 28 july 1907 avichi meiyappan hailed from a nattukottai nagarathar family of karaikkudi in tamil nadu . avichi chettiar ran a mini department store named av & sons . it sold gramophone records . meiyappan who joined his father s shop even as a teenager decided to produce gramophone records instead of merely marketing them . he came to madras where along with friends k. s. narayana iyengar subbaiah chettiar and others promoted saraswathi stores . he found excellent support in k. p. varadachari its manager and his lawyer friend thoothukudi govindachari raghavachari he produced many records . maiden venture edit globe at the avm studios in chennai 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 . 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 nanda kumar 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 . success edit diamond jubilee year of avm productions creating a set in avm studio chennai in 1940 meiyappan produced bhoo kailas a mythological film which created history . the film was made in telugu its lead players were from telugu cinema and it 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 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 andha naal 1954 and the national award winning hum panchi ek daal ke 1957 followed . meiyappan died on 12 august 1979 and after his demise his sons took over the mantle . 3 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 . 4 in 2013 avm led by aruna guhan and aparna guhan started producing films to be screened only on the net . 5 their first such production was a 55 minute film titled idhuvum kadandhu pogum . 6 filmography edit films year film cast director language notes 2014 idhuvum kadandhu pogum tamil 2011 mudhal idam tamil 2010 leader rana daggubati richa gangopadhyay priya anand sekhar kammula telugu 2009 evaraina epudaina varun sandesh vimala raman marthand k. shankar telugu vettaikaaran vijay anushka shetty babu sivan tamil ayan suriya tamannaah prabhu k. v. anand tamil a aa e ee navdeep aravind akash monica saranya mohan d. sabapathy tamil 2007 sivaji rajinikanth shriya shankar tamil 2006 thirupathi ajith kumar sadha perarasu tamil 2004 perazhagan suriya jyothika sasi shanker tamil 2003 priyamaana thozhi r. madhavan jyothika sridevi vijaykumar vikraman tamil anbe anbe shaam sharmili mani bharathy tamil 2002 gemeni venkatesh namitha saran telugu remake of tamil film gemini gemini vikram kiran saran tamil 1997 minsara kanavu arvind swamy prabhu deva kajol rajiv menon tamil 50th anniversary film 1994 sakthivel selva kanaka k. s. ravikumar tamil sethupathi ips vijayakanth meena p. vasu tamil 1993 ejamaan rajinikanth meena aishwarya r. v. udayakumar tamil 1992 aa okkati adakku rajendra prasad rambha e. v. v. satyanarayana telugu 1991 pattondru ketten rahman sithara nizhalgal ravi v. c. guhanathan tamil maanagara kaaval vijayakanth suman ranganathan m. thyagarajan tamil 1990 thyagu raghuvaran rekha devi lalitha s. p. muthuraman tamil ulagam pirandhadhu enakkaga sathyaraj gauthami rupini s. p. muthuraman tamil 7 1989 pennbuthi pin buthi ramki gauthami senthilnathan tamil raja chinna roja rajinikanth gauthami baby shalini s. p. muthuraman tamil sondhakkaran arjun nirosha l. raja tamil bamma maata bangaru baata p. bhanumathi rajendra prasad gauthami nutan prasad rajasekhar telugu remake of tamil film patti sollai thatadhe 1988 vasanthi mohan madhuri r. g. gopu tamil patti sollai thatadhe pandiarajan urvashi manorama s. s. chandran rajasekhar tamil thaimel aanai arjun b. saroja devi ranjini raghuvaran madhuri l. raja tamil 1987 manithan rajinikanth rupini srividya s. p. muthuraman tamil per sollum pillai kamal haasan radhika k. r. vijaya s. p. muthuraman tamil anbulla appa sivaji ganesan nadhiya rahman a. c. tirulokchandar tamil shankar guru arjun seetha baby shalini l. raja tamil samsaram oka chadarangam g. maruthi rao sarath babu suhasini s. p. muthuraman telugu remake of tamil film samsaram adhu minsaram 1986 dharma devathai vijayakanth radhika pallavi s. p. muthuraman tamil mella thirandhathu kadhavu mohan radha amala r. sundarrajan tamil samsaram adhu minsaram visu lakshmi raghuvaran visu tamil mr. bharath rajinikanth ambika sathyaraj s. p. muthuraman tamil 1985 siksha chandra mohan sarath babu suhasini rajani narasimha rao telugu uyarndha ullam kamal haasan ambika s. p. muthuraman tamil nalla thambi karthik radha s. p. muthuraman tamil 1984 nallavanuku nallavan rajinikanth radhika karthik tulasi s. p. muthuraman tamil naagu chiranjeevi radha tatineni prasad telugu pudhumai penn pandiya revathi prathap pothan p. bharathiraja tamil 1983 thoongadhey thambi thoongadhey kamal haasan radha sulakshana s. p. muthuraman tamil moodu mullu chandra mohan radhika geetha jadhyala telugu remake of tamil film mundhanai mudichu mundhanai mudichu k. bhagyaraj urvashi deepa k. bhagyaraj tamil paayum puli rajinikanth radha s. p. muthuraman tamil 1982 sakalakala vallavan kamal haasan ambika s. p. muthuraman tamil amma prathap pothan saritha rajasekhar tamil pokkiri raja rajinikanth sridevi radhika s. p. muthuraman tamil 1981 jeene ki arzoo mithun chakraborty rakesh roshan rati agnihotri rajasekhar hindi remake of tamil film punnami naagu sivappu malli vijayakanth chandrasekhar shanthi krishna aruna rama narayanan tamil 1980 murattu kalai rajinikanth rathi sumalatha s. p. muthuraman tamil first film with rajinikanth punnami naagu narasimharaju chiranjeevi rathi rajasekhar telugu 1976 jeevan jyoti vijay arora bindiya goswami murugan kumaran hindi 1975 pooja ramakrishna vanisri manjula murugan kumaran telugu 1974 nomu ramakrishna chandrakala pattu telugu bhakta prahlada s. v. ranga rao anjali devi roja ramani m. balamuralikrishna chitrapu narayana rao kannada dubbed from telugu film bhakta prahlada 1973 puttinillu mettinillu sobhan babu krishna chandrakala lakshmi pattu telugu jaise ko taisa jeetendra reena roy baby sridevi murugan kumaran hindi 1972 akka thamudu a. v. m. rajan jayalalitha master sekhar krishnan panju telugu remake of tamil film anathai ananthan kasethan kadavulada r. muthuraman lakshmi thengai srinivasan r. g. gopu tamil 1971 babu sivaji ganesan sowcar janaki vijayasree vennira aadai nirmala a. c. tirulokchandar tamil bomma borusa chandra mohan s. varalakshmi chalam vennira aadai nirmala k.balachander tamil sudarum sooravaliyum gemini ganesan r. muthuraman nirmala s. r. puttanna tamil main sunder hoon mehmood biswajeet leena chandavarkar krishnan panju hindi remake of tamil film server sundaram 1970 anathai ananthan a. v. m. rajan jayalalitha master sekhar krishnan panju tamil chitti chellalu n. t. rama rao vanisri rajasree m. krishnan tamil enga mama sivaji ganesan jayalalitha a. c. tirulokchandar tamil 1969 annaiyum pithavum a. v. m. rajan jayalalitha vanisri krishnan panju tamil mooga nomu akkineni nageswara rao jamuna d. yoganand telugu 1968 uyarndha manidhan sivaji ganesan sowcar janaki krishnan panju tamil ramu n. t. rama rao jamuna master rajkumar a. c. tirulokchandar telugu remake of tamil film ramu do kaliyaan biswajeet mala sinha neetu singh krishnan panju hindi remake of tamil film kuzhandaiyum deivamum 1967 ave kallu krishna kanchana a. c. tirulokchandar telugu remake of tamil film adhey kangal bhakta prahalad s. v. ranga rao anjali devi roja ramani m. balamuralikrishna chitrapu narayana rao hindi dubbed from telugu film bhakta prahlada adhey kangal ravichandran kanchana a. c. tirulokchandar tamil mehrban ashok kumar sunil dutt nutan a. bhimsingh hindi bhakta prahlada s. v. ranga rao anjali devi roja ramani m. balamuralikrishna chitrapu narayana rao tamil dubbed from telugu film bhakta prahlada bhakta prahlada s. v. ranga rao anjali devi roja ramani m. balamuralikrishna chitrapu narayana rao telugu 1966 major chandrakanth nagesh jayalalitha major sundarrajan k. balachandar tamil letha manasulu haranath jamuna kutty padmini krishnan panju telugu remake of tamil film kuzhandaiyum deivamum ramu gemini ganesan k. r. vijaya master rajkumar a. c. tirulokchandar tamil laadla nirupa roy balraj sahni pandari bai krishnan panju hindi remake of tamil film annai anbe vaa m. g. ramachandran b. saroja devi a. c. tirulokchandar tamil only film with m. g. r. 1965 kuzhandaiyum deivamum jaishankar jamuna kutty padmini krishnan panju tamil naadi aadajanme n. t. rama rao s. v. ranga rao savitri a. c. tirulokchandar telugu remake of tamil film naanum oru penn kakkum karangal s. s. rajendran c. r. vijayakumari s. v. ranga rao sivakumar a. c. tirulokchandar tamil debut film for sivakumar 1964 server sundaram nagesh r. muthuraman k. r. vijaya krishnan panju tamil main bhi ladki hoon meena kumari dharmendra s. v. ranga rao a. c. tirulokchandar hindi remake of tamil film naanum oru penn pooja ke phool ashok kumar mala sinha dharmendra a. bhimsingh hindi pachai vilakku sivaji ganesan s. s. rajendran sowcar janaki c. r. vijayakumari a. bhimsingh tamil 1963 penchina prema p. bhanumathi s. v. ranga rao sowcar janaki krishnan panju telugu dubbed from tamil film annai naanum oru penn s. s. rajendran s. v. ranga rao c. r. vijayakumari a. c. tirulokchandar tamil