Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi was an Indian Carnatic singer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour and the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award.
Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from Tamil people from south India, including the land now comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Eelam Tamils from Sri Lanka, as well as the Tamil diaspora.
Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy, better known by his pen name Kalki, was an Indian writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian independence activist who wrote in Tamil. He chose the pen-name "Kalki", the future incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu. He founded a magazine, which was also named Kalki, with T Sadasivam being the co-founder, in 1941. Krishnamurthy‘s writings include over 120 short stories, 10 novellas, 5 novels, 3 historical romances, editorial and political writings and hundreds of film and music reviews.
Bahuleyan Jeyamohan is an Indian Tamil and Malayalam language writer and literary critic from Nagercoil in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Kalki is an avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism.
P. V. Subramaniam, popularly known as Subbudu, was one of the most important dance and music critics of India. He was born on 27 March 1917, and died in New Delhi on 29 March 2007, only two days after his 90th birthday.
Mullum Malarum is a 1978 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Mahendran. Produced by Venu Chettiar and V. Mohan, the film stars Rajinikanth, Sarath Babu, Jayalaxmi and Shoba. It marks Mahendran's directorial debut and is partly based on Uma Chandran's novel of the same name, which was serialised in the Tamil magazine Kalki in 1966. Mullum Malarum tells the story of Kali (Rajinikanth), a winch operator of a cable trolley who dotes on his sister Valli (Shoba) since they were orphaned, and clashes with his boss Kumaran.
Mogam Muppadhu Varusham is a 1976 Indian Tamil-language film directed by S. P. Muthuraman and written by Mahendran. The film stars Kamal Haasan, Vijayakumar, Sumithra, Fatafat Jayalaxmi and Sripriya. It is based on the novel of the same name, written by Maniyan and serialised in the magazine Ananda Vikatan. The film was released on 27 November 1976, and became a commercial success.
Thiagaraja Sadasivam, better known as Kalki Sadasivam, was an Indian freedom fighter, singer, journalist and film producer who was one of the founders, along with Kalki Krishnamurthy of the Tamil magazine Kalki. He is well known as the husband of famous classical carnatic singer M.S. Subbulakshmi.
Subramaniam Srinivasan, popularly known by his screen name S. S. Vasan, was an Indian journalist, writer, advertiser, film producer, director and business tycoon. He is the founder of the Tamil-language magazine Ananda Vikatan and the film production company Gemini Studios, Gemini Film Laboratories and Gemini Picture Circuit. He was a member of parliament from 1964 and served his term till his death.
Kalidas is a 1931 Indian Tamil- and Telugu-language biographical film directed by H. M. Reddy and produced by Ardeshir Irani. It is notable for being the first sound film in the Tamil and Telugu languages, and the first sound film to be made in a language from South India. It was based on the life of the Sanskrit poet Kalidasa; it featured P. G. Venkatesan in the title role and T. P. Rajalakshmi as the female lead, with L. V. Prasad, Thevaram Rajambal, T. Susheela Devi, J. Sushila, and M. S. Santhanalakshmi in supporting roles.
Sathi Leelavathi is a 1936 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Ellis R. Dungan and written by Madras Kandaswamy Mudaliar. It is based on S. S. Vasan's novel of the same name, which had been serialised in 1934. M. K. Radha stars as Krishnamurthy, a man from Madras, who is lured into drinking alcohol by an acquaintance. Believing he murdered his friend in a drunken stupor, Krishnamurthy flees to Ceylon while his wife and daughter, played by M. R. Gnanambal and M. K. Mani respectively, are reduced to poverty. T. S. Balaiah, M. G. Ramachandran, M. V. Mani and P. Nammalvar appear in supporting roles.
Kalvanin Kadhali is a 1955 Indian Tamil-language romantic crime film directed by V. S. Raghavan and written by S. D. Sundharam. Starring Sivaji Ganesan and P. Bhanumathi, it is based on the novel of the same name by Kalki Krishnamurthy. The film was released on 13 November 1955.
Ponniyin Selvan is a Tamil language historical fiction novel by Indian author Kalki Krishnamurthy. It was first serialised in the weekly editions of Kalki, a Tamil magazine, from 29 October 1950 to 16 May 1954 and later integrated into five volumes in 1955. In about 2,210 pages, it tells the story of early days of Chola prince Arulmozhivarman. Kalki visited Sri Lanka three times to gather information and for inspiration.
Parthiban Kanavu is a 1960 Indian Tamil-language historical fiction film, directed by D. Yoganand. The film stars Vyjayanthimala, Gemini Ganesan and S. V. Ranga Rao, with Ragini, S. V. Subbaiah, Kumari Kamala, T. S. Balaiah, P. S. Veerappa and S. A. Ashokan in supporting roles. It is based on the 1942 historical novel of the same name, written by Kalki Krishnamurthy. The film also had actor K. Balaji in a special appearance and actress B. Saroja Devi as an extra.
T. R. Mahalingam, better known by his pen-name Mali, was an illustrator and cartoonist from Tamil Nadu, India, in the pre-independence era. He was the Tamil Press's first caricaturists, according to Chennai historian S. Muthiah in The Hindu. Muthiah has written elsewhere that Mali did as much with his strokes for Vikatan as its celebrated editor Kalki Krishnamurthy did with his words.
Ponvayal is a 1954 Indian Tamil-language film written and directed by A. T. Krishnaswamy, and produced by T. R. Ramachandran. It is based on the story Poimaan Karadu by Kalki Krishnamurthy that was serialised in the weekly magazine Kalki. The film stars T. R. Ramachandran and Anjali Devi. It was released on 12 February 1954 and failed commercially. The film is lost.
Nenjil Or Aalayam is a 1962 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed, produced and written by C. V. Sridhar. The film stars Kalyan Kumar, Devika and R. Muthuraman while Nagesh, Manorama and Kutty Padmini play supporting roles. The original soundtrack album and background score were composed by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy, while the lyrics for the songs were written by Kannadasan.
Samsaram (transl. Wife) is a 1951 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Chandru and produced by S. S. Vasan. A remake of the 1950 Telugu film of the same name, it stars M. K. Radha, Pushpavalli, Kumari Vanaja, Sriram, M. S. Sundari Bai, T. R. Ramachandran, D. Balasubramaniam, R. Balasubramaniam, K. N. Kamalam, and Kamalaveni Ammal. The film was simultaneously filmed in Hindi as Sansar, which Vasan directed.
Kalvanin Kadhali is the debut Tamil-language novel by Kalki Krishnamurthy. It was serialised in the magazine Ananda Vikatan in 1937, and published in paperback form in 1954. The novel was adapted into a play staged in 1953, and a film released in 1955.
