One of the best sources for Madras of the early 20th century is cinema. The black and white era keeps giving us precious nuggets every once in a while. This is even though most of those films were shot inside studios. A real gem among these is the 1942 film En Manaivi. AV Meyyappan was the man behind it, though his famous AVM studios was still in the womb of time. Having hired the Admiralty House at Mandaveli from the Maharaja of Vizianagaram, he was producing films there under the banner of Pragati Pictures.
Madras and the Making of En Manaivi
Meyyappan had tried his hand at films several times before and undeterred by early disasters he kept at it till he found success. En Manaivi was one of his early hits. It was based on Samshay Kallol, a Marathi play by GB Deval, which was based on Moliere’s 17th century French one-act verse play Sganarelle or the Self-Deceived Husband. The plot revolves around suspicion between two couples leading to many comic situations. The lead couple was Sarangapani and KR Chellam. It is interesting to see that the core of the story – a woman fainting on the street and a portrait landing in the wrong hands remains unchanged across the original and the Indian versions.
Madras Through the Opening Frames
But it is Madras that sparkles throughout the Tamil film. The casting credits feature a quick succession of cinematographic footage of some prominent locations in the city. We have what seems a ghostly Egmore railway station, followed by a busier but still fairly empty Central. The camera then moves onto what is presently the Sir T Muthuswami Iyer Bridge, named after the first Indian to become a judge of the High Court of Madras. From here, with a cyclist pedaling furiously we see the Anatomy Block of the Madras Medical College, popularly known as the Red Fort.
Madras Streets and Landmarks on Film
We are next transported to China Bazaar (NSC Bose) Road where the intersection with Broadway (Prakasam Salai) is seen with a tram cutting across. A careful viewing shows one more of the six boundary pillars of the Esplanade standing at the corner. It has vanished along with four of its companions, leaving the one near Dare House as the survivor. We see trams running along the same road, with the old Madras Christian College buildings still standing – Anderson’s Church, College Hall and College House, of which only the first named remains.
Madras Beyond the City Core
Kodambakkam railway station comes as something of a shock – there is not a soul anywhere around as a suburban train arrives. The road by the side is wide and uncluttered, with a few houses visible. This was clearly somewhere in the boondocks then for a dialogue in the film deals with travelling from Madras to Kodambakkam. The Mylapore Kapaliswarar temple makes a fleeting appearance, but the camera lingers long on Thiruneermalai. The temple and hill are just the same, but GST Road is just a two-way country road with plenty of trees and bushes around it.
Madras in Song and Memory
R Padma, she of Lux soap fame appears as a maid and sings a song on the wonders of the city. The first deals with loudspeakers set up at the Marina where the public can listen to radio broadcasts. Meenambakkam is next, where vehicles “not led by bullocks actually traverse the sky” and make landing. A flight is shown landing at the airport when this line is sung. Lastly, the High Court dome functioning as the third lighthouse of Madras is shown, with the second one, the Doric column, standing next to it.
Madras Then and Now
Madras seems another world. From there to the Chennai of today we have come a long way in just 85 years or so. A lot of change has no doubt been to the good, but you sometimes do miss the vast open spaces
This article appeared in The Hindu-https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/madras-as-seen-in-1942/article70642728.ece
A video on this topic can be seen here-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UcHiGlAL6Y&t=262s
My book, Chennai, A Biography can be ordered-http://-http://- https://sriramv.com/2021/12/27/how-to-buy-autographed-copies-of-chennai-a-biography-from-outstation/20.ece
