Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin on May 7 inaugurated the AVM Heritage Museum at AVM Studios in Chennai. The museum houses old equipment used in mixing and editing, movie artefacts and around 40 cars and 20 bikes used by various actors and the founder of AVM, A.V.M. Meyyappa Chettiar.
Actor Kamal Haasan, who was introduced as a child actor in ‘Kalathur Kannama’, produced by AVM Studios, accompanied the Chief Minister, who was flanked by party MP T. R. Balu, Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy and the family of A.V.M. Saravanan.
Actor Sivakumar and poet Vairamuthu were also present.
Mr. Stalin and others watched a video presentation about AVM’s achievements over the years including the distinction of working with five stalwarts C.N. Annadurai, M. G. Ramachandran, M. Karunanidhi, J. Jayalalithaa and N. T. Ramarao, who had gone on to become Chief Ministers.
Speaking about how the AVM group has managed to preserve antique cars and bikes, M. S. Guhan, son of A.V.M. Saravanan said, “There are around 40 cars and 20 bikes on display. Over the years, I have run them regularly. All our films are also preserved in digital form,” he said.
“We decided to set up a museum to display costumes used by MGR in ‘Anbe Vaa’ and other costumes that were worn by Kamal Haasan. We had a lot of old equipment and materials that were used by veterans that we wanted to display,” he added.
Mr. Saravanan said the production house, which has entered the web series space, intends to get back into film production.
The entry fee for adults and children will be ₹200 and ₹150 respectively.
