Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan, also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. He was popularly known as Mellisai Mannar. He composed songs for more than 800 Indian films and various albums. across languages primarily in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. He has also acted and sung in a few Tamil films. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa conferred the Thirai Isai Chakravarthy title on him in August 2012 and presented him with 60 gold coins and a new car.
Joseph Panimayadas Chandrababu Rodriguez (1927–1974) was an Indian actor, comedian, director, singer and dancer, whose Chaplinesque-style on-screen movements and singing style made him popular from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. He had a mastery of the Madras Bashai, a dialect unique to the Madras region. His slapstick style of comedy has been emulated by subsequent actors. Many of his songs have remained popular.
Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan, popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 films, including devotional, semi-classical, Carnatic, classical and light music songs. He gave classical concerts starting in 1943.
Arkadu Parthasarathy Komala, commonly known as A. P. Komala, is an Indian playback singer. She has sung songs in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada languages.
Subburayulu Munuswami Subbaiah Naidu was an Indian composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He was one of the oldest music directors. He worked as an in-house music composer for Central Studios and Pakshiraja Studios and well associated with S. M. Sriramulu Naidu. SMS also worked with many films under Jupiter Pictures banner and a favorite of M. G. Ramachandran.
Soolamangalam Jayalakshmi and Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi, popularly known as Soolamangalam Sisters were Carnatic music sister-pair vocalists and musicians known for their devotional songs in Tamil. They were early singers in the trend of duo singing in Carnatic music, which started in the 1950s, with performers like Radha Jayalakshmi, and later continued by Bombay Sisters, Ranjani-Gayatri, Mambalam Sisters, Bangalore Sisters and Priya Sisters. The Soolamangalam Sisters are best known for singing the Kanda Shasti Kavasam, a hymn on the Hindu god Muruga.
Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni, more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, and Sinhalese languages.
Gopalan Iyer Ramanathan was an Indian music composer for Tamil movies. He is also known as Isai Methai or Sangeetha Chakravarthy and is considered to be one of the influential Tamil music composers to take Carnatic music to the masses. Notable for his association with M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. G. Ramanathan also composed for films of Salem Modern Theatres and Coimbatore Central Studios. His career lasted until his death in 1963. During the 1950s G.Ramanathan's music dominated most of the box office hits of the then leading Tamil movie stars Shivaji Ganesan and M. G. Ramachandran.
Tenkasi Vallinayagam Rathnam hailed from Tenkasi, Madras Presidency, British India. She was a playback singer for Tamil films.
G. Govindarajulu Naidu was an acclaimed music director in 1940s and 50s in the south Indian film industry. Hailing from Tiruchirappalli, he was one among the musicians who defined the way of music in South Indian film industry. He composed music for Tamil and Telugu movies.
School Master is a 1958 Indian Kannada language film, produced and directed by B. R. Panthulu. The film starred B.R. Panthulu himself in the lead role along with Dikki Madhava Rao, M. V. Rajamma, Udaykumar, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan and B. Saroja Devi in important roles. It was the first Kannada film to complete a Silver Jubilee Celebration. This film had its children's dance drama in Gevacolor, taken by cinematographer W. R. Subba Rao. It was later remade in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi in spite of it being dubbed in Tamil and Telugu as Engal Kudumbam Perisu and Badi Pantulu, respectively.
Sozhavanthan Varadharajan Venkatraman, also known as SVV, was an Indian actor, singer, and music director, who was active in the Indian film industry from 1938 to the 1970s.
Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's Panam to 1965's Aayirathil Oruvan. After their split, Ramamoorthy worked on 16 films between 1966 and 1986. He and Viswanathan reunited in 1995 for Engirundho Vandhan.
Kalyanam Panniyum Brahmachari is a 1954 Indian Tamil-language comedy film, directed by P. Neelakantan and produced by B. R. Panthulu. The film stars T. R. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Padmini and Ragini. The film had musical score by T. G. Lingappa. It was released on 13 April 1954 and became a box office success.
Mudhal Thethi in Tamil, Modala Thedi in Kannada is an Indian bilingual film, directed by P. Neelakantan and produced by B. R. Panthulu. This was the first film produced by Panthulu under Padmini Pictures banner. The Tamil version starred Sivaji Ganesan, Anjali Devi, N. S. Krishnan and T. A. Madhuram in lead roles. The film had musical score by T. G. Lingappa scoring for his first feature film. The film was a remake of Hindi film Paheli Tarikh (1954).
Thiruchi Loganathan was a playback singer of the Tamil film industry. He is known for his work in movies such as Manthiri Kumari (1950) and Parasakthi (1952). He was married to Rajalakshmi, daughter of actress C. T. Rajakantham. His sons are, T. L. Maharajan, Deepan Chakravarthy, and T.L. Thyagarajan, who are also popular playback singers.
K. Rani was an Indian playback singer who has sung songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, Sinhalese and Uzbek. Rani was the first female singer from India to sing in Sinhalese and Uzbek, and sang the national anthem of Sri Lanka.
Maya Manithan is a 1958 Indian Tamil language science fiction film produced and directed by T. P. Sundaram. The film stars Sriram, S. A. Asokan, and Chandrakantha.
A. G. Rathnamala was an Indian stage drama artist and playback singer who has recorded over 500 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada language films.
S. C. Krishnan (1929-1983) was an Indian actor and playback singer who worked mainly in Tamil dramas and films.
