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A. S. A. Samy | |
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| Born | Arul Soosai Anthony Samy 1915 Colombo |
| Died | 1998 (aged 82–83) Tamil Nadu |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | B.A. (Honours), London |
| Occupation(s) | Scriptwriter, director |
Arul Soosai Anthony Sami (1915–1998) also written as A. S. A. Samy, was an Indian director and screenwriter who worked in Tamil films. [1]
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Born in 1915, A. S. A. Samy was from a devout Catholic family. His father had a business enterprise in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He spent his young life there and had his education in Colombo. He received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from the University of London. He started his career as a teacher in a college in Colombo. He studied literature of both the East and the West and showed a flair for writing plays.
He wrote his first play Bilhanan based on a Sanscrit literature known as Bilhaniyam. He produced the drama and staged during his College's annual day celebrations.
The family returned to India in late 1930s.
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A. S. A. Samy presented his play bilhanan to the All India Radio, Tiruchi station and it was accepted for broadcast.
M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar who was a rising super star in Tamil Cinema at that time played the title role. The radio play became a hit. Another celebrity from the Tamil Stage happened to listen to this play. T. K. Shanmugam, who owned Bala Shanmuganantha Stage troupe together with his brother T. K. Shanmugam bought the play from A. S. A. Samy and successfully staged it. Later, in 1948, he made it as a film with the same title Bilhanan. A. S. A. Samy wrote the screenplay and dialogues. The film produced by Jupiter Pictures.
Following the success of Bilhanan, A. S. A. Samy became acquainted with M. Somasundaram (Somu) and Mohideen, owners of Jupiter Pictures who at that time were working from Central Studios in Coimbatore.
In 1946, Jupiter Pictures produced two films, Valmiki and Sri Murugan. A. S. A. Samy wrote the screenplay and dialogues for both these films. M. G. Ramachandran was a monthly paid actor in Jupiter Pictures. He performed a dance with another actress K. Malathi. The Siva – Parvati dance was well received.
During the shooting of Sri Murugan, M. G. R. and Samy became friends. M. G. R. addressed A. S. A. Samy as Annae (elder brother) as Samy was senior to him. Samy addressed M. G. R. by his name, Ramachandran. He continued to address him by name till the end. It is said that A. S. A. Samy is the only person who addressed M. G. R. by his name.
In 1947, Samy scripted a Raja-Rani story and presented it to M. Somasundaram. Somu was impressed by the story and asked A. S. A. Samy to write the screenplay and dialogues. He also appointed Samy as the Director. Somu wanted to book P. U. Chinnappa and T. R. Rajakumari for the lead roles. A. S. A. Samy did not want to experiment with star actors in the first movie he is going to Direct. He suggested M. G. R. and Malathi for the lead roles.
Samy appointed M. Karunanidhi, then an aspiring young man in his twenties, to write the screenplay and dialogues. Rajakumari was a success film.
In 1949, he directed C. N. Annadurai's Velaikari film.
A. S. A. Samy was active till the end of 1960s. His last film as director, Thirumagal, was released in 1971.
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During M. Karunanidhi's Cinema Golden Jubilee celebrations held at Marina Beach, Chennai, he was honoured by Karunanidhi who has become Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu State by then. On the occasion, Karunanidhi said Samy was his teacher in script writing.
A. S. A. Samy was appointed Principal of the Script and Direction Department in the Tamil Nadu Cinema TrainingCollege. When Samy was suffering from paralysis, Karunanithi arranged a payment of ₹100,000 to be paid from the Murasoli Trust.
Parasakthi is a 1952 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Krishnan–Panju and written by M. Karunanidhi. The film stars V. C. Ganesan, S. V. Sahasranamam, S. S. Rajendran, Sriranjani Jr., and Pandari Bai. It is the cinematic acting debut of Ganesan and Rajendran. Based on Pavalar Balasundaram's play of the same name, Parasakthi narrates the misfortunes that befall the members of a Tamil family during World War II.
Rajakumari (transl. Princess) is a 1947 Indian Tamil language film directed by A. S. A. Sami, starring M. G. Ramachandran and K. Malathi. It was released on 11 April 1947.
Sri Murugan is a 1946 Indian Tamil-language film produced by Jupiter Pictures and directed by M. Somasundaram and V. S. Narayanan. The film featured Honnappa Bhagavathar in the lead role. M. G. Ramachandran performed a dance number, Shiva Thandavam along with K. Malathi in the film.
Arasilankumari (transl. Princess) is a 1961 Indian Tamil-language historical adventure film directed by A. S. A. Sami and A. Kasilingam, and produced by M. Somasundaram under Jupiter Pictures. An adaptation of the 1952 film Scaramouche, itself based on a 1921 novel of the same name, it stars M. G. Ramachandran, Padmini and Rajasulochana. The film was originally directed by Sami, and completed by Kasilingam. It was released on 1 January 1961, and failed commercially.
M. G. Ramachandran, popularly known by his initials "MGR", was an Indian actor, director and producer who had an extensive career primarily in Tamil language films. After starring in numerous commercially successful films from the 1950s to the early 1970s, he has continued to hold a matinée idol status in Tamil Nadu. Ramachandran made his debut in Ellis R. Dungan's 1936 film Sathi Leelavathi, where he played a police inspector. He followed it with a string of minor appearances and supporting roles in many films, notably Ashok Kumar (1941), where he played the general of emperor Ashoka's army, and as a captain in Dungan's Meera (1945).
Marmayogi is a 1951 Indian Tamil-language swashbuckler film directed by K. Ramnoth and produced by M. Somasundaram. An adaptation of the novel Vengeance by Marie Corelli and William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, the film was shot simultaneously in Hindi as Ek Tha Raja. It stars M. G. Ramachandar, Anjali Devi and Madhuri Devi, with S. V. Sahasranamam, Serukalathur Sama, N. Seetharaman, S. A. Natarajan, M. N. Nambiar and M. Pandari Bai in supporting roles.
Abhimanyu is a 1948 Tamil-language film produced by Jupiter Pictures and starring S. M. Kumaresan as Abhimanyu, a character from the Mahabharatha. The screenplay was written by A. S. A. Sami, while M. Karunanidhi assisted in the script. This was the second film for Karunanidhi as scriptwriter. The film also starred M. N. Nambiar in a supporting role.
Velaikari is a 1949 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by A. S. A. Sami and produced by M. Somasundaram under Jupiter Pictures. It was based on the play of the same name written by C. N. Annadurai, while incorporating plot details from the Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo (1844). The film stars K. R. Ramasamy, V. N. Janaki and M. V. Rajamma. It was released on 25 February 1949 and became a success. The film was remade in Telugu as Santhosham (1955), in Hindi as Naya Aadmi (1956), and in Kannada as Malli Maduve (1963).
P. S. Veerappa was an Indian actor and a producer of Tamil cinema.
Anbu (transl. Affection) is a 1953 Indian Tamil-language drama film produced and directed by M. Natesan. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, T. R. Rajakumari and Padmini. It was released on 24 July 1953.
Thanga Padhumai is a 1959 Indian Tamil language film starring Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini. The film was co-written and directed by A. S. A. Samy, produced by M. Somasundaram under Jupiter Pictures, and had music by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy. Thanga Pathumai proved to be a hit in its re-release, and won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil for the year 1959.
Sampoorna Ramayanam is a 1958 Indian Tamil-language Hindu mythological film directed by K. Somu. It is based on Valmiki's Ramayana. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao in the lead role of Rama and Sivaji Ganesan as Bharatha. It was released on 14 April 1958 and ran for over 264 days in theatres, thereby becoming a silver jubilee hit. The film was dubbed into Hindi as Ramayan in 1960.
Naam (transl. Us) is a 1953 Indian Tamil-language film directed by A. Kasilingam, starring M. G. Ramachandran and V. N. Janaki. It is based on Kaadhal Kanneer, a novel by Kashi. The film was released on 5 March 1953 and failed commercially.
Kaithi (transl. Prisoner) is a 1951 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film written and directed by S. Balachander for Jupiter Pictures. Balachandar also composed the music, and stars alongside S. A. Natarajan, S. Revathi and V. Meenakshi. Adapted from the American film Dark Passage (1947), it revolves around a man being wrongfully convicted, and escaping to clear his name. Kaithi was released on 23 December 1951, and emerged a commercial success. No print of the film, however, is known to survive, making it a lost film.
Karpukkarasi is a 1957 Indian Tamil-language swashbuckler film directed by A. S. A. Sami and produced by M. Somasundaram under Jupiter Pictures. The story and screenplay were written by A. S. A. Sami and Aru. Ramanathan. The dialogues were written by Siva-Sundaram. The film stars Gemini Ganesan, M. N. Nambiar, R. Balasubramaniam, and K. A. Thangavelu, with G. Varalakshmi, M. K. Radha, Savitri E. V. Saroja and M. Saroja in supporting roles.
Menaka is a 1935 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by P. K. Rajasandow and produced by Sri Shanmuganandha Talkie Company. The film stars T. K. Shanmugam and T. K. Bhagavathi with N. S. Krishnan, S. V. Sahasranamam, K. R. Ramasamy and T. K. Muthusamy in supporting roles. The film is about two lovers who get separated because of the designs of some envious persons and their reunion after much anguish and anxiety.
Ammaiyappan is a 1954 Indian Tamil-language film written by M. Karunanidhi and directed by A. Bhimsingh in his directorial debut. The film stars S. S. Rajendran, G. Sakunthala and S. Varalakshmi. It was released on 24 September 1954 and became a major breakthrough in the career of Bhimsingh.
Jupiter Pictures was an Indian feature film production company founded in Coimbatore in 1934 by M. Somasundaram and S.K. Mohideen. Jupiter Pictures was a major production house with 46 releases with 36 films released in Tamil, 5 in Telugu, 2 each in Kannada and Hindi and one joint release in Tamil and Telugu. In the late 40s and early 50s, they operated out of Central Studios in Coimbatore. Following the closure of the studio, they relocated to Chennai and took over Neptune Studio in Adayar which would later become Sathya Studios. In Chennai, the Jupiter Pictures office operated from a leased historic and palatial building in Mylapore known as "Mangala Vilas".
Vijayakumari is a 1950 Indian Tamil language film directed by A. S. A. Sami. The film stars K. R. Ramasamy and T. R. Rajakumari.
Inspector is a 1953 Indian Tamil language film directed by R. S. Mani. It is an adaptation of the play of the same name. The film stars T. K. Shanmugam, S. Balachander, Anjali Devi and P. K. Saraswathi.