In 1928, 24-year-old T.S. Srinivasan, better known as S.S. Vasan went to the office of the Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan to place an advertisement and ended up buying the magazine for 200 rupees.
Vasan, who was born in January 1904 — this year marks his 120th birth anniversary — made some bold decisions soon after he bought Vikatan. He reduced the annual subscription from two rupees to one, and increased the number of pages. He replaced Vikatan’s Vinayaka prayer with Thayumaanavar’s verse: ‘I wish for nothing but for everyone to be joyful.’
Vasan, who lost his father at the age of four, was brought up by his mother Balambal. Not wanting to lean on his mother, he discontinued his studies, and began to look for ways to earn. He started an advertising agency, because it did not require much capital outlay. A rented room in the Brahmo Samaj building in George town served as his residence and office. And then, he became the owner of Ananda Vikatan.
When Vasan bought a printing press for the magazine, he moved to a village-style-house in Mint Street, which became Vikatan’s new office and his new residence. During an interview with this writer many years ago, the late R.A. Padmanabhan, long associated with the magazine, said the words ‘Vasan Puthagasalai’ were painted in blue letters on the parapet wall of the terrace. Until the early seventies, the letters could still be seen, even after being painted over.
The popular drum dance in the film “Chandralekha”. | Photo Credit: Photo: Gemini Studios
Vikatan, with its droll humour, won the hearts of readers. Thumilan, Kalki, Devan and Raali made up the Vikatan editorial team in the early years. Vasan didn’t set much store by age, and R.A. Padmanabhan became an assistant editor at the age of 16! Margan (Margabandhu), Maali, Gopulu and Silpi were among the early illustrators.
Thinnai Pechu, Radio eppadi, Loka sancharam, Thukkada, Yenna yenge yeppodu, Cheema series, Araikurai padamum avasara pichuvum and Naam ondru ninaikka chithirakkarar ondru ninaikkiraar were some of the popular columns.
R.K. Narayan’s Swami and Friends was translated and serialised in Vikatan, which also had articles by P. Sri on Tamil literature. The magazine ran a cover story on Tamil Thatha U. V. Swaminatha Iyer or U.Ve.Sa, for his 80th birthday. His autobiography was also serialised.
The cover of a 1952 issue of Ananda Vikatan. Vasan reduced the annual subscription from two rupees to one
When Vasan bought Vikatan, the circulation was less than 1,000 copies a month. Within two years he was able to increase it to 10,000, and when it became a weekly in 1932 November, it was selling 40,000 copies a month. Vasan introduced short story contests to encourage writers. There were contests for readers too. In one of them, a puzzle had to be solved by picking words from advertisements that appeared in Vikatan.
Advertisements poured in. British companies such as Huntley and Palmer and Peek Freans (both biscuit manufacturers), Vinolia White rose soap, Vauxhall and Vanguard cars and Westminster laboratories of London advertised regularly.
One day, Sarvodaya leader S.R. Subramaniam brought to the Vikatan office a hitherto unpublished photo of a bearded Bharati, with his wife Chellamma standing beside him. R.A. Padmanabhan was keen to carry the picture in the next issue of Vikatan. Vasan wanted copies to be made and shared with all the leading publications of the time.
When he could have sat back and enjoyed Vikatan’s success, Vasan took a huge risk and entered the world of filmmaking. In 1941, he bought K. Subrahmanyam’s Movieland Studio and renamed it Gemini. Along with Amirtham Talkies, Gemini produced Madanakamarajan, starring vocalist V.V. Sadagopan.
In 1942, Gemini produced the musical Nandanar, starring Dandapani Desigar. When the film was released in Wellington, the theatre was decorated to resemble a temple, and the Nandi statue that featured in the film was placed in the foyer. People turned up with coconuts and fruits, and offered prayers to this Nandi, before watching the film. Gemini chose three songs from the film as the best, although the choices were not revealed to the audience. Every member of the audience was asked to write down their favourite songs. Those whose choices tallied with Gemini’s were given prizes.
Kothamangalam Subbu’s dialgoues and lyrics made S.S. Vasan’s film Miss Malini a runaway hit. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Kothamangalam Subbu’s dialogues and lyrics made the film Miss Malini (based on R.K. Narayan’s Mr. Sampath) a runaway hit. In the film, a city girl boasting about modern conveniences is given a set down by a village girl when the power goes off and no gadget can be used. The village girl’s song — ‘Bale jor pattanavasam’ — was on everyone’s lips every time there was a power outage.
M.K. Radha and Bhanumathi in S.S. Vasan’s ‘Apoorva Sahodarargal’. The film was famous for Bhanumathi’s multilingual ‘Laddu’ song. | Photo Credit: ARR
Gemini had a string of successes such as Chandralekha, Apoorva Sahodaragal (famous for Bhanumathi’s multilingual ‘Laddu’ song), Avvaiyar and Vanjikottai Valibhan. The famous drum dance in Chandralekha spawned the trend of Chandralekha dolls, which became a must in the annual Navarathri kolu displays. Irumbu Thirai was remade in Hindi as Paigam, and Kathayee Silk Emporium, Mylapore, came up with a Paigam sari as part of its Deepavali collection.
Vyjayantimala and Sivaji Ganesan in S.S. Vasan’s Irumbu Thirai. The film was remade in Hindi as Paigam. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Despite being busy with filmmaking, Vasan made time to go through every issue of Vikatan before it went to press. Once, when he found that the Deepavali message by Gopu was in Sanskritised Tamil, he wrote in the margin, “Change this. Saraswathi can understand chaste Tamil too.”
Vasan dared to dream, but he knew how to make his dreams come true. It is not wrong to build castles in the air. But as Thoreau said, we must know how to lay strong foundations. And, Vasan knew how to build those foundations.
Published - January 30, 2024 03:52 pm IST
