Lena Chettiar
Born
S. M. Letchuman Chettiar

Managiri, Sivaganga district, India[1]
NationalityIndian
OccupationFilm producer
Years active1934–1960

Lena Chettiar (born S. M. Letchuman Chettiar) was an Indian film producer from Chettinad known for his works in Tamil cinema.[2]

Career

S. M. Letchuman Chettiar hailed from the Nattukottai Nagarathar clan in Chettinad.[3] Early on in his career, Lena was known for staging plays in southern Tamil-speaking areas and was a used car dealer, who became the first person to circulate handbills about cars in Tamil. He advised M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, a stage actor, against producing films. Bhagavathar's first film Pavalakkodi, which ran well in Tamil-speaking areas of India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), marked the debut of Lena as a film producer.[4] Soon after the release of Pavalakkodi, Lena moved to and managed his own production unit titled Krishna Pictures, which marked the Tamil debut of P. Kannamba.[5] Lena was never credited as producer in any of his films as he was an "undischarged insolvent" in the later half of his life, because of which he could not carry on any business under his name. According to historian Randor Guy, he died "unsung and unhonoured".[6]

Filmography

Year Film Ref.
1934 Pavalakkodi [7]
1940 Krishnan Thoothu [5]
1944 Prabhavathi [4]
1949 Krishna Bhakthi [8]
1953 Marumagal [9]
1953 Ammalakkalu (Telugu) [9]
1955 Kaveri [10]
1956 Madurai Veeran [11]
1958 Mangalya Bhagyam
1960 Raja Desingu [12]

References

  1. ^ Guy, Randor (20 December 2001). "Studios – the scene of action". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  2. ^ "The story of Lena Chettiar, the used-car dealer who turned into a film producer!". The Cinema Resource Centre. 3 May 2013. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  3. ^ Guy 2016, p. 206.
  4. ^ a b Guy, Randor (10 December 2011). "Prabhavathi 1942". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 17 October 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  5. ^ a b Guy, Randor (20 April 2013). "Krishnan Thoothu 1940". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  6. ^ Guy 2016, p. 208.
  7. ^ Ramarkrishnan, Venkatesh (22 December 2019). "Those Were The Days: Pavalakodi, the first Tamil talkie blockbuster that launched the first superstar". DT Next. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  8. ^ Guy, Randor (15 February 2008). "Krishna Bhakthi 1948". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 30 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  9. ^ a b Guy, Randor (22 December 2012). "Marumagal 1953". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  10. ^ Guy, Randor (19 October 2013). "Kaveri (1959)". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  11. ^ Sri Kantha, Sachi (22 December 2013). "MGR Remembered – Part 13 – Ilankai Tamil Sangam". Ilankai Tamil Sangam. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  12. ^ Guy, Randor (15 August 2015). "Raja Desingu (1960)". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2020.

Bibliography

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