Commemorative postage stamp on S.S. Vasan
The Department of Posts has released a commemorative postage stamp on S.S. Vasan, today. Thiruthuraipoondi Subramanian Srinivasan, popularly known as S.S. Vasan, was an unparalleled film producer, distributor, journalist and media baron. Vasan was conferred with Padma Bhusan for his meritorious services in the field of art and culture.
Vasan commenced his career as a journalist by translating English novels to Tamil and by writing original novels, which he sold to publishers. He sensed immense business potential in catalogue trading through VPP – a predecessor to tele-shopping.
Besides his advertising business, Vasan’s other line of activity, mail order, equally novel for the day, did fairly well. He wished to run a publication of his own. So in 1928 he acquired “Ananda Vikatan” a Tamil weekly and within months he had increased its circulation threefold by doubling the contents and reducing the price. “Ananda Vikatan” became the nursery for many budding writers and cartoonists. He was also actively associated with the Indian and Eastern Newspaper Society and All India Newspaper Editors’ Conference.
Later, Vasan founded the famous Gemini Studios in Madras in 1941 soon after he put his foot in the film industry in 1939. Vasan occupies a prominent position in the film world and is a pioneer in the production of Hindi films in South India. He was the first Chairman of the Film Federation of India and also the President of the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce and the South Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1964. The stamp release day coincides with his death anniversary day, who passed away on August 26, 1969. The stamp is in the denomination of Rs. 5.
(Release ID :3488)