Potpourri of tidbits about Tamil cinema - AVM. Rajan

Shanmugasundaram of Pudukottai was very eager to join cinema. But his parents wanted to see him, a graduate, as a police officer. Shanmugasundaram came to Madras to write the examination, but he didn’t bother to write it. Instead, he tried his luck in cinema knocking on the doors of every film company he could contact. At long last, his relentless efforts yielded result by getting him the opportunity to enter cinema through the film ‘Aayiram kaalathu payiru’. Soon after, he was signed to act in the AVM’s film ‘Naanum oru penn’ also. AVM’s film released much earlier than his debut film and Shanmugasundaram changed his name as A. V. M. Rajan, putting AVM’s name as a prefix to his name. He fell in love with Pushpalatha, who starred opposite to him in that film and married her.

A plethora of offers followed. Rajan soon became a busy artiste donning the role of the hero in many films making a mark with his handsome looks. He carved a niche for himself in the field through his individualistic performance and style. He shared screen space with leading heroes like MGR, Shivaji, Gemini Ganesh, Jaishankar, Muthuraman, and Ravichandran and won a permanent place in the hearts of the cine-goers. His performance in films like ‘Thillana Mohanambal’, ‘Engal Thangam’, ‘Thunaivan’, ‘Karpooram’, ‘Makizhampoo’, ‘Darisanam’, ‘Enga veettu penn’, ‘Anaathai Aanandan’ and ‘Manam oru kurangu’ was laudable and deserved special mention. He started his own production company but incurred heavy loss in the business. This led to the total disappearance of the couple from the film industry. They kept aloof from the film industry people as well as media-persons. Both of them converted to Christianity and became preachers. Rajan used to have lot of respect and affection for me from his early days. I used to visit him once in two months at his Habibullah Road residence in T. Nagar, but we would never discuss about film industry. He would show incessant concern for the welfare of our nation and people. He would chant for the prosperity and welfare of India and its people with so much anxiety in his heart. Indeed he is proving a true citizen and patriot!