Krishnaswami Subrahmanyam

Krishnaswami Subrahmanyam Biography

Krishnaswami Subrahmanyam was a Tamil film director during the first phase of cinema in the 1930s and 1940s, when talkies had just come into existence. He has been a key figure behind the establishment of the Tamil film industry. He predominantly worked in Tamil cinema, apart from a few works in Malayalam and Singalese languages. Famous classical dancer, Padma Bhushan Padma Subrahmanyam is his daughter. He is credited to introducing M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar to big screen, through his debut film Pavalakkodi as a full-fledged director, Pavalakkodi.

He was born on 20 April 1904 in Papanasam, Madras Presidency in British India. He started his film career as a scenarist and producer in the 1930s where he worked in silent movies. As a film director, he marked his debut with 1934 film, Pavalakkodi starring M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. The movie also launched the theatre artist M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar in film arena, and he went on to become the biggest Tamil star in the 1940s. After that he has directed many movies based on mythology, social drama and social causes, and tasted success multiple times. He tried to give a social message through his movies.

K. Subrahmanyam married twice. At first he married Meenakshi and had 8 children of whom Padma Subrahmanyam became a well-established Bharatanatyam dancer. Later he married actress S. D. Subbulakshmi with consent of his first wife, and the couple had one son. Subbulakshmi has worked in many movies of K. Subrahmanyam including his debut flick. His first grandson Raghuram was a film choreographer, whose daughter Gayathri Raghuram is also into films. Noted cine personalities, Hrishikesh and Anirudh Ravichandran are his great grandsons. Thus his fourth generation has entered the cine world.

Published: September 22, 2018

Updated: September 22, 2018