Overview
Subramaniam Srinivasan (4 January 1904 – 26 August 1969), popularly known by his screen name S. S. Vasan, was an Indian journalist, writer, advertiser, film producer, director and businessman. He was the founder of the Tamil-language magazine Ananda Vikatan and the film production company Gemini Studios, along with Gemini Film Laboratories and Gemini Picture Circuit.
Vasan was born in Thiruthuraipoondi in the then Thanjavur District. Following the death of his father at an early age, the family migrated to Madras. He discontinued his studies before graduation and set up a mail order and advertising business. In January 1928, he purchased Ananda Vikatan, a Tamil magazine that had been published by Budalur Vaidyanadhaiyar since February 1926 and had stopped publication in December 1927. He relaunched it from February 1928, after which it grew to become a leading Tamil magazine in the then Madras Presidency.
Vasan entered the Tamil film industry in 1936, when his novel Sathi Leelavathi was adapted into a film. In 1940, he purchased the Motion Picture Producers Combine, a film studio, and renamed it Gemini Studios. Between 1940 and 1969, Gemini Studios produced a number of Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films, including Mangamma Sapatham, Aboorva Sagotharargal, Nandanaar, Bala Nagamma, Miss Malini, Chandralekha, Vanjikkottai Valiban, Nishaan, Mangala, Sansar, Insaniyat, Paigham, Raj Tilak, Ghunghat, Grahasti, Gharana, Zindagi, Aurat, Shatranj, Vazh