S. M. Nayagam Biography 
S. M. Nayagam was one of the early film producers of Tamil talkies. He was a pioneer of Sinhala cinema also. He produced the first ever Sinhala talkie, Kadawunu Poronduwa. Nayagam's first venture into film was the 1946 Tamil language film Kumaraguru, followed by 1947 film, Thainaadu released exactly on the day of Indian independence. After directing two movies in Tamil in the second half of 1940s, he completely switched over to Sri Lankan language movies, beginning with Kadawunu Poronduwa in 1947. He produced 8 movies in Sinhala language, the last one – Nalangana released in 1960.
His full name is Sundaram Mathura Nayagam. He hailed from Madhurai, Tamil Nadu. Nayagam was originally an industrialist and businessman who ventured into soaps and perfumes business, and he owned factories in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. He established his own cinema company, Sri Murugan Navakala Limited in the 1940s, when popularity of talkies just began. He started off with Tamil films, before settling with Sinhala films. His first film was directed by Bengali director Jothish Sinha. The movie titled Kumaraguru was released in 1946.
He released the patriotic Tamil film, Thainaadu exactly on the day of Indian independence. Till then no movie has been made in Singala language, and his friends from Sri Lanka used to enjoy Hindi and Tamil films only. So, he thought of producing movies in Singala language too. His debut venture Kadawunu Poronduwa was based on a Singala play. Critics gave an opinion that it’s an Indian content with different language, and overall he received mixed reviews for the film released in 1947. Prema Tharangaya, Puduma Leli, Ahankara Sthree, Mathalan, Ramyalatha, Sohoyuro and Nalangana are the movies he produced later.
Published: N/A
Updated: June 28, 2018
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