Great late Director Sridhar’s experience.

The first time a comedy film broke all records : _A forward_ Today morning I got up with, "Enna parvai undhan parvai" song ringing in my ears. Today I would like to share a few snippets on the movie. Before Balachander - there was a C V Sridhar. A Very successful director - he turned Co-Producer as a Proxy for many people in the 1950s but never produced a single film on his own until 1961s Then Nilavu. Sridhar had two talents - he roped in big stars like Gemini or he made medium budget movies that would make big profits. His financiers were Velaiyyan Chettiar - a famous financier in Tamil Industry (The Jains of the 1990s - 2000s and the Madurai Anbus and Arul Naveens of 2010s) In 1963 - Sridhar decided to do a Comedy Film. No Problems. He had a script thanks to his close friend and buddy Gopu. He approached the Financiers and asked for a loan of Rs. 15 Lakhs The Financiers were hugely shocked!!!! Comedy Films were made in those days for around 6 Lakhs and to demand a 250% higher sum was ridiculous. Who were the stars? Two newcomers who have never acted - a Aspiring Medical Student Ravichandran from Malaya and a former Air Hostess Vasundara Devi (Who became Kanchana) and a near new face Rajashree and Nagesh who was famous only through one film until then. Why such a high budget? Sridhar wanted to focus on the American Formula for a Musical. Outdoor shootings, Outdoor Songs and best of all Eastman Color. The Financiers were in a huge fix. 15 Lakhs was a huge sum of money. Enough for 3 Comedies. And why make a Color film for a Comedy???? And newcomers!!! The Financiers suggested that Sridhar approach other actors but Sridhar refused (He did approach Krishna - Mahesh Babus father but Krishna turned the role down citing dubbing issues). Everyone told Sridhar - “Thambi - you will make a loss. 15 Lakhs is too much money”. Sridhar said - “I wont”. Finally the Financiers shrugged, prayed to Lord Muruga (Lord Kartik) and agreed to finance the film Problem after Problem:- * A Power Cut on the Day of Editing at Gemini Studios. The Technicians spent sleepless nights terrified that their entire work would get spoilt but Sridhar went to his club, had dinner and came home without a care in the world and decided to shoot some more scenes. * The Budget rose. Eastman Kodaks License fee rose in the middle and a further Rs. 2 Lakh was increased. Then some more money was blown and by the time the film was ready for release - the budget was Rs. 24 Lakhs - Equivalent to 4 Comedy Films of that time. * A Pongal release was out. Too many films slated for release. Sridhar was told - the movie would have to be released only in Late February to early March. Not a great time for release. Sridhar laughed and shrugged “My film will change that trend” - he said. * The Re-Recording was horrible and lip syncings were horrible - one night before the film was due to go to the Censor. MS Viswanathan and his boys worked 17 hours straight from 7 PM to 12 PM the next day with partial sleep and submitted their final version to the Censor. It worked like a Dream. Ten days before the release - the Territory rights were offered. Nobody offered money. Even the Distributors of Kalayana Parisu were reluctant to offer outright money and instead offered to Distribute the film on a 20% commission basis. Sridhar had to give them the deal. His Financiers were deeply worried. Sridhar owed Rs. 30 Lakhs including interest and the film had not sold any territories!!!! Sridhar smiled - “When the film is released - we will all reap rewards” On the night before release * The FInanciers could not sleep * Nagesh could not sleep. He was nervous * Gopu could not sleep * Ravichandran and Kanchana could not sleep. It was their first film * Even Muthuraman was tensed about the Business news and the Distribution news. Would he never have his own value and be a Supporting Actor for life???? * C V Sridhar Slept like a Baby Kathalikka Neramillai became one of the Biggest Blockbusters in the History of Comedy Cinema in Tamilnadu. The counters did not stop. Radio Ceylon ran the songs of Viswanathan - Ramamoorthy - a record 34 Weeks (Anubhavan Pudhumai) and 27 weeks (Viswanathan Velai Venum) and 21 Weeks (Malar Ondru Mugam). It was only in 1966 that Rajavin Parvai from Anbe Vaa ran for 38 weeks and broke the record of Anbubhavam Pudhumai. The Movie grossed Rs. 1.60 Crore - the First Tamil film to gross 1 Crore in the history of Tamil Cinema and only the Eleventh Film in the history of Tamil Cinema to Gross 1 Crore until that point. It was also the first film in Tamil History to gross 1 Crore which did not star MGR, Sivaji or Gemini Ganesan. Sridhars own share in the movie came to a whopping Rs. 59 Lakhs after having paid off his Financiers and everyone else!!!!! It began the Trend of Full Length Comedy Films without major actors in Tamil Cinema. *For Movie buffs*