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Kodambakkam (also known as K-Town or Kollywood) is a business and residential neighbourhood in Central
Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
,
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
, India. The neighbourhood is served by Kodambakkam railway station of the Chennai Suburban Railway Network. Kodambakkam has a high concentration of film studios and has been known for its status as the hub of the
Tamil film industry Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollyw ...
, lending its name to the industry's monicker Kollywood.


Location

Kodambakkam is situated at 13.0481 N latitude and 80.2214 E longitude. It is one of the westerly located neighbourhoods of Chennai city. It is bounded by the neighbourhoods of Nungambakkam to the east and West Mambalam and
T. Nagar Thyagaraya Nagar, commonly known as T. Nagar, and historically known as East Mambalam, is a very affluent commercial and residential neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is surrounded by Nungambakkam in the North, Teynampet in the Ea ...
to the south. It is bounded by Vadapalani to the west and K. K. Nagar and Ashok Nagar to the south-west. Kodambakkam is located at a distance of 8 kilometres from Fort St. George.


Etymology

It is believed that the name "Kodambakkam" itself might have been derived from the
Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...
here. There is still a temple for Lord Shiva by the name Vengeeshwarar in Kodambakkam. Several sculptures and images of the snake Karkodagan can be seen in the temple, even today. There is another etymology for this name from Soundarya Lahari according to Sudha Seshayyan. "Kodu-am-bakkam" Kodu means hill, am - denotes arrow. The place is associated with lord Shiva using the meru mountain as bow for destroying Tripura.


History

The neighbourhood of Kodambakkam has a history going back to about 2,000 years. During the period of the
Pallavas The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The dynasty rose to prominence after the downfall of the Satavahana dynasty, with whom they had formerly served as f ...
and the Later Cholas, the western part of Kodambakkam formed a portion of the historically important temple town of Vadapalani. One of the oldest temples in Kodambakkam is the Bharthukesavar temple which is over 500 years old. Present-day Kodambakkam originated in the 17th and 18th centuries CE, when it supposedly served as source for the
horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...
s of the stable of the Nawab of the Carnatic. Under the British, Kodambakkam was administered as a
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
in Chingleput district till the draining of the Long Tank in 1921, when Kodambakkam was incorporated into the Madras city and formed the Kodambakkam-Saligrammam-Puliyur district of Greater Madras along with other localities to the west of the now extinct Long Tank, with a population of 497 people in 1939. Kodambakkam also played an important role in the Anti-Hindi agitations of 1938 when
Maraimalai Adigal Maraimalai Adigal (15 July 1876 – 15 September 1950) was a Tamil orator and writer and father of Pure Tamil movement. He was a fervent Tamizh Saivite. He wrote more than 100 books, including works on original poems and dramas, but most famous ...
presided over a conference denouncing the imposition of Hindi in the
Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
on 3 June 1938. The first movie studio was established by
Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar (28 July 1907 – 12 August 1979), also known as A. V. Meiyappan, A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar or AVM, was an Indian film producer, director and philanthropist who established AVM Productions in Vadapalani, Chennai. He ...
in 1948. Since then, a number of other movie studios have been established, notable among them being
L. V. Prasad Akkineni Laxmi Vara Prasada Rao (17 January 1907 – 22 June 1994), known professionally as L. V. Prasad, was an Indian film director, producer, actor, and businessman. He was one of the pioneers of Indian cinema and is the recipient of the Dad ...
Studios and Vijaya Vauhini studios. Liberty theater which was the oldest movie theater in Chennai was based here too, it was the place to be seen in the 1950s for movie premieres. However, the theater been demolished in the year 2010 and been replaced by a hotel and condos.


Infrastructure

The neighbourhood got one of the city's first flyovers in 1967. It is 623 m long and 12.8 m wide and connects the localities of K. K. Nagar, Vadapalani, and Ashok Nagar. The district is also home to the Meenakshi Sundararajan Engineering College, which is affiliated to Anna University.


Religion

There are old temples dedicated to Lord Shiva namely Vengeeswarar Temple and Bharadvajeswarar (Valeswarar) Temple belonging to 13th Century built during Chola Period.


Film industry

Kodambakkam is the centre of the
Tamil film industry Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollyw ...
known as Kollywood, a
portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsHollywood. A. V. M. Studios established by
Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar (28 July 1907 – 12 August 1979), also known as A. V. Meiyappan, A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar or AVM, was an Indian film producer, director and philanthropist who established AVM Productions in Vadapalani, Chennai. He ...
was the first movie studio to be established in Vadapalani-Kodambakkam. The Vijaya Vauhini Studios was established a little later followed by Prasad Labs in 1974. Today, many Tamil movie studios are located in and around Kodambakkam. Residences of many film and television stars are located in and around Kodambakkam due to proximity to the movie studios. A film directors' colony situated in Kodambakkam is the home of many Tamil film directors and producers. Indian music director
A.R.Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...
's house and his AM Studios is located in the same street.


Localities

Some of the important localities of Kodambakkam include: * Rangarajapuram * Trustpuram * United India Colony * Vishwanthapuram * Ganga Nagar * Dhanakodiammal Street


Photo gallery

File:ChennaiSuburbanRailway Kodambakkam.jpg, Kodambakkam Railway Station Image:Sunset_Chennai.jpg, Sunset at Kodambakkam


References


External links

* Neighbourhood Newspaper in kodambakkam http://arcotroadtalk.in * Entertainment for kids in kodambakkam http://riyatoyslibrary.com {{Chennai Topics Neighbourhoods in Chennai Suburbs of Chennai Cities and towns in Chennai district