Sivaji 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 based in
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 ...
. Established in 1958, it was involved mainly in
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
and
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language films until 2010.
History
Sivaji Productions company is owned by
Prabhu
''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...
and his brother
Ramkumar Ganesan
Ramkumar Ganesan (born 12 January 1955) is an Indian film producer and actor. He is the head of Sivaji Productions, a film productions company that has produced several films, particularly featuring his father Sivaji Ganesan or his younger broth ...
. It is named after their father, the thespian
Sivaji Ganesan
Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...
. Notable films released under their banner includes
Puthiya Paravai
''Puthiya Paravai'' () is a 1964 Indian Tamil-language romantic thriller film directed by Dada Mirasi. Produced by Sivaji Ganesan, the film stars himself, B. Saroja Devi, M. R. Radha and Sowcar Janaki, with Nagesh, Manorama, V. K. Ramasamy ...
,
Vietnam Veedu
''Vietnam Veedu'' () is a 1970 Indian Tamil-language drama film, directed by P. Madhavan and written by Sundaram. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini, with Nagesh, K. A. Thangavelu, Srikanth, M. Bhanumathi and Rama Prabha in support ...
,
Thanga Pathakkam
''Thangappathakkam'' () is a 1974 Indian Tamil-language action drama film, directed by P. Madhavan and written by Mahendran. Based on Mahendran's play of the same name, the film stars Sivaji Ganesan, K. R. Vijaya, Srikanth and Prameela. It ...
,
Thirisoolam
''Thirisoolam'' () is a 1979 Indian Tamil-language film directed by K. Vijayan. It has Sivaji Ganesan playing triple roles. It was promoted as Ganesan's 200th film in a leading role. It is a remake of the Kannada film '' Shankar Guru'' (1978). ...
'',
Aruvadai Naal
''Aruvadai Naal'' () is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by G. M. Kumar in his debut. The film stars Prabhu and Pallavi. It was released on 1 November 1986. The film was remade in Telugu as ''Muvva Gopaludu'' (1987).
...
,
Vetri Vizha
''Vetri Vizha'' () is a 1989 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Prathap K. Pothen. It stars Kamal Haasan, Prabhu, pairing with Sasikala and Khushbu as lead heroine along with Amala in guest appearance. The film was a blockbuster ...
,
Mannan and
Chandramukhi
''Chandramukhi'' () is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language comedy horror film written and directed by P. Vasu. A remake of Vasu's Kannada film ''Apthamitra'' (2004), which itself loosely based on the Malayalam film ''Manichitrathazhu'' (1993), the fi ...
''.
Sivaji Productions was started in 1956 by Dr. Sivaji Ganesan and his brother Sri V.C. Shanmugam. It was first started as a distribution company and distributed many of Dr. Sivaji's movies. In 1958, Sivaji Productions co-produced its first film Amardeepam which was a Hindi remake of Amardeep. Its first solo production was
Puthiya Paravai
''Puthiya Paravai'' () is a 1964 Indian Tamil-language romantic thriller film directed by Dada Mirasi. Produced by Sivaji Ganesan, the film stars himself, B. Saroja Devi, M. R. Radha and Sowcar Janaki, with Nagesh, Manorama, V. K. Ramasamy ...
in 1964 with Dr. Sivaji in the lead role.
Since then, Sivaji Productions has produced about 18 films till date.
After Sri V.C. Shanmugam's death in 1986, Dr. Sivaji's son Mr. G.Ramkumar took over Sivaji Productions.
Sivaji Productions has also ventured into the production of television serials. It has produced two serials, Kokila engey Pogirral in Tamil and Seethama Maeyamma in Telugu and is currently producing a Tamil serial called Thavam for Kalaingar TV.
During the success meet of the P. Vasu-directed ''
Mannan'' (1992), Rajinikanth announced that he would act in Sivaji Productions' 50th film. However, following their 49th film ''
Rajakumaran'', Sivaji Productions went on hiatus for 12 years. In September 2004, Rajinikanth was impressed with Vasu's Kannada film ''
Apthamitra
''Apthamitra'' () is a 2004 Indian Kannada-language horror film directed by P. Vasu, and stars Vishnuvardhan, Soundarya and Ramesh Arvind in the lead roles with Prema, Dwarakish and Avinash in supporting roles. This was Soundarya's last fil ...
'' (2004) and wanted to remake it in Tamil with Sivaji Productions producing. The remake, titled ''
Chandramukhi
''Chandramukhi'' () is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language comedy horror film written and directed by P. Vasu. A remake of Vasu's Kannada film ''Apthamitra'' (2004), which itself loosely based on the Malayalam film ''Manichitrathazhu'' (1993), the fi ...
'', became Sivaji Productions' 50th film. The film received positive reviews from critics and became a successful venture at the box-office.
Their next project was initially announced with
Gautham Vasudev Menon
Gautham Vasudev Menon (born 25 February 1973) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry. He has also directed Telugu cinema, Telugu and Hindi cinema, Hindi films th ...
as director.
However, the film's production failed to take off, with repeated dates being announced by the directors for the film's first schedule throughout 2009. Subsequently, Menon was removed from the project by the producers due to the film's inactivity, with directors
Dharani
Dharanis (IAST: ), also known as ''Parittas'', are Buddhist chants, mnemonic codes, incantations, or recitations, usually the mantras consisting of Sanskrit or Pali phrases. Believed to be protective and with powers to generate merit for the Bud ...
,
Vishnuvardhan and
Saran leading the race to take over.
In January 2009, the film was reannounced as ''Asal'' by Prabhu and the story was subsequently changed with
Saran being signed up as the film's director.
The film received negative reviews from critics and became a failure at box-office.
Review: Asal is for Ajith fans – Rediff.com Movies
. Movies.rediff.com (5 February 2010). Retrieved on 21 February 2014.
Filmography
;Films
;Television
*'' Kokila Enge Pogiraal'' ( Sun TV)
*''Thavam
''Thavam'' () is a 2007 Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Sakthi Paramesh, written by Puri Jagannadh, and produced by Arjun Sarja, who also has a cameo appearance in the film. A remake of the Telugu film ''Itlu Sravani Subramanya ...
'' (Kalaignar TV
Kalaignar is an Indian general entertainment satellite television channel based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The channel was launched on 15 September 2007 as Kalaignar in respect of former Chief minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi. Malaysia ...
)
References
{{Reflist
Film production companies based in Chennai
Mass media companies established in 1958
Film distributors of India
Film production companies of India
1958 establishments in Madras State