Film exhibition and production in Tamil Nadu has grown by leaps and bounds, and has had an outsized influence on popular culture since the silent era in the early 20th Century. But the man who pioneered it barely finds a mention in its history.
Samikannu Vincent, who was born on April 18, 1883 in Kottaimedu, Coimbatore, and worked as a draftsman-clerk in the South Indian Railway, transformed the exhibition business in the State. In just 10 years after famed French inventors and filmmakers, the Lumière brothers, presented their silent movie in public in the West, Samikannu decided to buy an expensive touring cinema set from French film exhibitor Du Pont in 1905, reportedly at a whopping ₹2,250, and took it to places as far away as Peshawar, Lahore, Afghanistan and Myanmar.
It is said that Samikannu used to pitch tents for his touring talkies to screen silent movies such as Ramayana, Birth of Hanuman and Pavazhakodi for a one-anna floor ticket. In the days of silent movies, a person with a microphone explained the sequences that unfolded on the screen, while people sat on the sand floor and watched in awe. Chairs were put up only for important people.
