Aalayam Productions was an Indian

film production Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

and

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

company headed by S. Sriram. The firm had been a leading production studio in the Tamil film industry in the 1990s, with director

Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...

also being a partner.

History

S. Sriram and

set up Aalayam Productions in 1990 and produced

K. Subash K. Subash (1959 – 23 November 2016), was an Indian director and screenwriter who directed Tamil and Hindi films. He is the son of R. Krishnan. Career K. Subash started his career as an assistant to Mani Ratnam in ''Nayakan''. He made his di ...

's ''

Chatriyan ''Chatriyan'' () is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language crime drama film, written and produced by Mani Ratnam under Aalayam Productions. The film was directed by K. Subash, an assistant of Mani Ratnam. The film stars Vijayakanth, Bhanupriya and Thila ...

'' (1990) as their first venture. Featuring

Vijayakanth Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami (born 25 August 1952), better known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is an Indian politician and former actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Leg ...

and

Bhanupriya Bhanupriya (born Mangabhanu; 15 January 1967) is an Indian actress, Kuchipudi dancer, and voice artist. In a career spanning over 4 decades, Bhanupriya has appeared in 155 feature films- predominantly in Telugu & Tamil, in addition to occasiona ...

in the lead roles, the film won critical acclaim and performed well at the box office. Following the release of ''

Roja Roja may refer to: * ''Roja'' (film), a 1992 Tamil-language film by director Mani Ratnam * ''Roja'' (soundtrack), a soundtrack album from the film * Roja Selvamani Roja Selvamani (born Sri Latha Reddy; 17 November 1972), also known as R. K. ...

'' (1992), director Mani Ratnam opted to stop making films for external production houses and chose to work solely for Aalayam Productions. The pair collaborated on Mani Ratnam's films including the heist comedy ''

Thiruda Thiruda ''Thiruda Thiruda'' () is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language black comedy caper film directed by Mani Ratnam written along with Ram Gopal Varma. The film stars Prashanth, Anand, Anu Aggarwal and Heera Rajagopal while S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Salim ...

'' (1993) and the romantic drama ''

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

'' (1995). As ''Bombay'' had faced political trouble prior to release, Sriram had said that he hoped that the film's plight and clearance would make it easier for future filmmakers to make films on religious riots without leading to controversy. ''Bombay'' went on to become one of the highest-grossing films from the Tamil industry and was also screened at many international film festivals. The studio also produced

Vasanth Vasanth is an Indian director well known in Tamil language films for directing films such as ''Keladi Kanmani'' (1990), '' Aasai'' (1995), '' Nerrukku Ner'' (1997), ''Rhythm'' (2000) and '' Satham Podathey'' (2007). Career Vasanth began his ...

's ''

Aasai ''Aasai'' () () is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language romantic thriller film, written and directed by Vasanth and produced by Mani Ratnam. The film stars Ajith Kumar and debutant Suvaluxmi, with Prakash Raj, Rohini, Poornam Viswanathan, Nizhalgal R ...

'' (1995), which gave actor

Ajith Kumar Ajith Kumar (born 1 May 1971) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil films. To date, he has starred in over 60 films. His awards include four Vijay Awards, three Cinema Express Awards, three Filmfare Awards South and three Tamil N ...

his career breakthrough in the Tamil film industry. Mani Ratnam later left the production house in the mid-1990s to prioritise work on his own studio,

Madras Talkies Madras Talkies is an Indian entertainment company, which was established by director Mani Ratnam and his brother G. Srinivasan as partners in 1995. Madras Talkies has actively involved in production of films and television serials, which are d ...

. Sriram died following a heart attack on 4 September 2019. Sriram was survived by his wife Nalini Sriram, a costume designer in the Indian film industry, and son, Nikhil Sriram.

Filmography

References

{{Mani Ratnam Film distributors of India Film production companies based in Chennai Indian film studios 1990 establishments in Tamil Nadu Indian companies established in 1990 Mass media companies established in 1990