Mohan Raman, actor and writer, M. S. Guhan, film producer, AVM, V.Sriram, historian and heritage activist looking at the History of AVM Heritage Museum in Vadapalani on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: M. SRINATH
From being an innovator to a perfectionist, A.V.Meiyappan was a visionary, actor and film historian Mohan V. Raman said here on Saturday.
In the lecture series organised by Madras Musings, Mr. Raman spoke about the ‘The History of AVM Studios’ at AVM Heritage Museum.
“A.V.Meiyappan’s father Avichi Chettiar ran a department store called ‘A.V. and Son’ in Karaikudi. When A.V.Meiyappan was in class VIII, Avichi Chettiar developed cataract and at that time, the former stepped in to run the business. He brought in a lot of innovations. For instance, he was the first to bring a tubelight to Karaikudi and his shop was the first to have rolling shutters. A huge crowd would gather to watch this happening,” he said.
During the initial period he faced losses in his films yet, it didn’t deter him. Eventually he then made Sri Valli which became a huge hit, Mr. Raman added.
“He was a perfectionist and innovator always. He also thought something novel for his advertising strategy. He had a huge gas filled balloon floating on top of Shanthi Theatre with AVM logo saying Paava Mannippu, [the name of the film starring Sivaji Ganesan and Gemini Ganesan]”, he said.
A.V.Meiyappan was conscious that he had to develop proficiency in English and would read the editorials in The Hindu every morning and took the paper with him to the office with a dictionary. “Any word he didn’t understand he would underline, find the meaning and try to use it at least once that day so that it becomes a part of his vocabulary,” he added.
Historian V. Sriram and film producer M.S. also spoke during the occasion.
Published – August 24, 2025 01:04 am IST
