Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin inaugurated the AVM Heritage Museum at AVM Studio in Chennai on 7 May. 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, AVM Meiyappa Chettiar.
Actor Kamal Haasan, who was introduced as a child artist in ‘ Kalathur KannammaProduced by AVM Studios, the chief minister was accompanied by party MP TR Balu, Higher Education Minister K.K. Ponmudi and AVM Saravanan’s family.
Actor Sivakumar and poet Vairamuthu were also present.
Mr Stalin and others watched a video presentation about the achievements of the AVM over the years, in which five stalwarts CN Annadurai, MG Ramachandran, M. Karunanidhi, J.K. This includes the distinction of working with Jayalalithaa and NT Rama Rao, who went on to become Chief Ministers.
Speaking about how the AVM group has managed to preserve the antique cars and bikes, AVM Saravanan’s son MS Guhan said, “There are around 40 cars and 20 bikes on display. Over the years, I’ve run through them regularly. All our films are also preserved in digital form.
“We decided to set up a museum to display the costumes used by MGR in ‘ Ambe Vai‘ and other costumes worn by Kamal Haasan. We had a lot of old equipment and materials that were used by veterans that we wanted to display,” he said.
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 Rs 200 and Rs 150 respectively.