Salem played its part with gusto

One of the oldest movie studios in the state that introduced veteran actors, directors and even writers was The Modern Theatres, located in the foothills of the Yercaud hills.

When The Modern Theatres, which opened in 1936 and eventually closed down in 1982, was at its peak, its owner T.R. Sundaram also ran a Tamil publication Sanda Marutham during the late 1930s and its editor was renowned lyricist and writer Kannadasan.

“When Kannadasan was heading the publication, he brought in Karunanidhi as a writer for the publication to revive its circulation. In that sense, Salem and this publication could very well be called the cradle of the Dravidian movement,” says V.M. Ramaswamy, former secretary of the Salem city theatre owners association.

“Today, everybody knows about the popularity of the DMK patriarch as a renowned lyricist. But few know that Salem has been the cradle for these veteran artistes. In many ways, the success or failure of a movie or a politician was decided in this part of the state,” he says.

Salem mayor S. Soundappan, who is also the secretary of the district actors association, points out that they grew up watching the shooting of MGR, Sivaji Ganesan and other legendary artistes at Modern Theatres and Ratna Studios in their hometown. “We plunged into theatre during our youth, attracted by the political ideology and the success of these actors. In many ways, I owe my little success in politics to my theatre background as it made us popular among the people,” he says.

Such an environment no longer exists and, according to Soundappan and other veteran theatre artistes, it could be the reason for movies shifting away from the politics of the land.