The muse for South Indian movie business

Below the arc lights and behind the digital camera’s gaze, AVM Studios has been the everlasting muse of Tamil cinema.

Long earlier than CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) and inexperienced screens entered the scene, AVM Studios was the final word fantasy manufacturing unit that has churned out classic classics like Vedhala Ulagam to newer, high-octane hits like Sivaji: The Boss. In its heyday, the studio offered all the things a filmmaker needed — from bus stands, and homes to temple units — all inside its premises.

“Till the Nineteen Nineties, the studio flooring have been all the time full. We had 9 flooring, with taking pictures happening on all of them, in addition to open air.” M.S. Guhan, Managing Partner of AVM Productions, mentioned. “We are the oldest surviving movie studio within the nation immediately, and in addition the oldest manufacturing home that’s nonetheless lively,” he mentioned.

Recalling a number of the memorable taking pictures moments on the studio, Mr. Guhan mentioned that for the movie Samsaram Adhu Minsaram (1986), AVM determined to construct an actual home fairly than use a brief set. The home was constructed on the location the place Kauvery Hospital stands immediately. “The home you see within the movie was inbuilt three months. Many different movies have been additionally shot there. It was pulled down when the property was bought,” he mentioned.

Vedhala Ulagam (1948), produced beneath the AVM banner, was the primary film to be filmed at AVM Studios. For the movie Manithan (1987), two streets have been specifically created on the studio premises. The climax battle sequence in Sakalakala Vallavan (1982) that includes a dramatic building-on-fire scene, a couple of scenes from Bharathiraja’s Pudhumai Penn, and parts of the battle sequences in Sivaji: The Boss have been additionally shot right here. “A set was created for the music store scene within the movie [Sivaji: The Boss],” mentioned Mr. Guhan, to whom belonged all of the vehicles and bikes featured within the tune Athiradee.

Songs from the movie Minsara Kanavu, starring Arvind Swamy, Prabhu Deva, and Kajol, have been filmed right here. Several memorable sequences from the movie got here alive throughout the studio premises — from the romantic quantity Thanga Thamarai Magale, filmed in opposition to a specially-constructed synthetic waterfall, to the lilting Vennilave Vennilave and the colourful Mana Madurai, which was shot within the studio’s out of doors areas.

Reduced exercise

At current, exercise on the studio has declined, and far of the area has been transformed for actual property improvement. “Once or twice a month, we host advert movie shoots, and sometimes, a movie promo shoot. For instance, the Thug Life (2025) staff filmed a promo that includes Kamal Haasan and Silambarasan right here,” Mr. Guhan mentioned. The area additionally continues to draw advert productions, although not all the time on a big scale. Celebrities equivalent to M.S. Dhoni, who endorse a number of manufacturers, shoot right here.

If the partitions at AVM Studios might speak, they’d whisper tales of Sivaji Ganesan’s gravitas, Rajinikanth’s swagger, and Kamal Haasan’s brilliance. And let’s not overlook that iconic spinning globe, the unofficial co-star of Tamil cinema, that we noticed within the opening credit of each movie like an auspicious “Suprabhatam” to a typical South Indian morning.