Those Were The Days: A haunted palace that turned lucky for AV Meiyappan

In the early 1940s, there was an empty palace in Mandaveli. Only that it wasn’t uninhabited. It was said to be housing a ghost. Not an ordinary ghost but a royal manifestation of its erstwhile owner, the Maharaja.

The kingdom of Vizianagaram (spelt with a Z to distinguish it from the doomed Vijayanagar Dynasty) in present-day Andhra Pradesh was an ancient one but had been degraded by the British into a Zamindari. But in 1864 they had been granted the personal title of Maharaja and was allowed a salute of 13 guns, both of which they used to the utmost when they moved to Madras and reestablished themselves. They bought the Admiralty House in Mandaveli on the banks of the Adyar creek overlooking the river.

The Vizianagaram family was perhaps the most popular among the princely families of Madras. One of the British governors called the Raja as the ‘Prince Charming of Madras’. In the 1930s the younger prince Vizzy captained the Indian cricket team and was one of the very few to be invited to attend the Indira-Feroze wedding.

Amongst the many contributions to the growing city was the Vizianagaram fountain on Mount Road (he did donate a similar one in Hyde Park, London) to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. It was exactly where the Anna statue stands today in the middle of Mount Road and was a 40-foot square, Indo Saracenic building topped by a dome and an ornamental drinking water fountain beneath. Sir Alaka Narayana Gajapathi, the Maharaja, had an appalling marriage and having been accused of being insane by his spouse, walked off a balcony in the Mandaveli palace and killed himself in 1937. This led to a lasting reputation that the building was haunted. The palace was given for rent because the family have seen apparitions of the late Maharaja walking around the grounds.

It was then that a young man from Karaikudi was looking for a quiet place to build a cinema studio. Till the movies talked in 1931 in India (four years after Hollywood) there was no real need for a studio and films could be shot anywhere. But once studios came, even the cawing of crows disturbed the shoots. While the film Pavalakodi was being made, the studio employed an Anglo Indian person to shoot the crows and mentioned him in the movie credits as Joe, the crow shooter.

The palace suited Meiyappan’s requirements and the rumours of the ghost did not bother him. And he didn’t have much capital left to succeed either. Three of Meiyappan’s films flopped back-to-back. And none was due to his fault.

Alli Arjuna flopped because of over lighting and the hero acted with his eyes closed throughout the movie. Ratnavali, based on Harsha’s play, flopped because the new camera bought by the over-enthusiastic cameraman could not record the film and sound at the same speed.

The Mandaveli palace was lit by chandeliers, floored by exquisite carpets and fitted with imported sofas. More importantly, the walls were bedecked with Ravi Varma paintings. And all came for a Rs. 325 rent. Meiyappan shifted all the valuables to one room, took an inventory and handed the keys to the royal family. The only favour he asked was a reduction in rent to Rs. 250 because he had one room less.

And in that palace, he started shooting Bhu Kailas — a Telugu movie with a Kannada drama troupe and a Marathi director. He made use of the Theosophical Society and the Palavakkam beach for outdoor shots. The movie was an astounding success and AV Meiyappan went on to make Sabapathy — a full-length comedy which still evokes great laughter when rerun on television.

The hero was TR Ramachandran and heroine was called ‘Lux’ Padma because she had acted in a Lux soap ad. Those were grim days of the Second World War and people laughed well as the evacuation was going on. TR Ramachandran, who was with on a salary of Rs. 35, achieved star status with this film and for a while, even MGR called himself ‘MG Ramachandar’ to be different.

For the subsequent movie, Srivalli AVM had an elephant brought from Thrissur, Kerala and tied in the Mandaveli palace. The pachyderm remained there for four months so the lead actors could acclimatise themselves. The palace changed the fortunes of AV Meiyappan and gave rise to a new brand of entertainment.