R Nataraja Mudaliar

R. Nataraja Mudaliar, also known as Rangaswamy Nataraja Mudaliar, was a prominent Indian director of the Tamil film industry. He was also known as the Father of Tamil cinema. He was born in 1885 in Vellore, Madras Presidency of British India. He started a bicycle business with his cousin S. M. Dharmalingam Mudaliar, titled Watson and Company in Madras. He became a businessman of automobile spare parts. He started the Indian Film Company Limited in Madras. He developed an interest in pictures after watching the films of Dadasaheb Phalke. He was a film director, film producer, writer, and cinematographer.

He made the first silent film in South India titled Keechaka Vadham in 1917. He worked as a cinematographer, director, editor, and scriptwriter for this film. This movie was a hit in the Indian cinema. Under the teaching of Stewart Smith, a British cinematographer, Mudaliar learned the basics of filmmaking. He produced more films like Draupadi Vastrapaharanam in 1917, Mayil Ravana in 1918, Lavakusa in 1919, Kalinga Mardanam in 1920, Rukhmini Kalyanam in 1921, Mahi Ravana in 1921, and Markandeya in 1921. After the death of his son in a fire accident, he left his career in filmmaking in 1923. Mudaliar died in 1971 at the age of 86.