S M Nayagam

S M Nayagam was a film producer who pioneered Sinhala cinema. Sundaram Mathura Nayagam was born on 24th September 1906 in Madurai and brought up there. He was an industrialist from Madurai who had business ties in Ceylon. He was running a soaps and perfumes business in Madurai and Ceylon. He was interested in venturing into the cinema industry during the 40s when Indian cinema started vesting its branches. Nayagam launched his production house Sri Murugan Navakala Limited with a studio Chitrakala Movietone in Tirupparankundram, Madurai. In 1946, he produced Kumaraguru, directed by Jyotish Sinha. D. S. Krishna Iyer Krishna Iyer is a professional playback singer, ra >> Read More... , Jayabala, Vidwan Mani, Radha, and Thanjavur Mani were featured in the film. In 1947, Nayagam produced Thaai Naadu, directed by TS Mani. Battling Mani Battling Mani is an Indian cinema artist who worke >> Read More... , ST Williams, VPS Mani, TK Krishnaiah, MR Sundari, and NC Meera played the lead roles.

When Nayagam was chatting with his Sinhala friends, they told him that they enjoy Tamil and Hindi films made in India, and they expressed their disappointment in not having a Sinhala movie. Nayagam decided to fulfil their wish. In 1947, Nayagam brought the Sinhala actors to Madurai and shot the first-ever Sinhala movie, Kadawunu Poronduwa. The film was shot in his studio in Tirupparankundram. Rukmani Devi, Gemini Kantha, B. A. W. Jayamanne, Peter Peiris, Miriam Jayamanne, J B Perera, Hugo Fernando, Stanley Mallawarachchi, Eddie Jayamanne, Timothius Perera, and Rupa Devi featured in the film. The movie was directed by Jyotish Sinha. Though the film received mixed reviews stating that it is mostly Indian, common people in Ceylon loved to watch the film, as it was the first time, they watched their language film.

After producing the first Sinhala film, he started producing only Sinhala movies. He worked with director A Bhaskarraj in three films, including Prema Tharangaya, Ahankaara Sthree, and Ramyalatha. Nayagam worked with director AS Nagarajan in Puduma Leli and Mathalan. His production ventures, Sohoyuro in 1958 and Nalangana in 1960, were directed by LS Ramachandran.  

SM Nayagam died on 3^rd February 1972.