Gobichettipalayam - a ‘paradise’ for cinema directors

Cleared/Ali

Gobichettipalayam, famously known as ‘Chinna Kodambakkam’ or ‘Mini Kollywood’, has seen shootings for more than 5,000 films in various languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. The first film shot in Gobichettipalayam was ‘Bhaagapirivinai’ in 1959. The film was produced by G N Velumani, a native of Gobichettipalayam. “Many scenes of the film was shot in Gobichettipalayam,” said ‘Kallepatti’ Jyothy, producer cum location consultant. Talking to TOI, he said after ‘Bhaagapirivinai’, ‘Ithu Sathiyam (1963), Kannadi Maaligai (1962), Soaappu Seeppu Kannadi (1968), Annakkili (1976) and Disai Mariya Paravaigal (1979) were taken in Gobichettipalayam.

According to Jyothy, the lone location consultant in Erode district since 1980, at least 18 cinema shootings were taking place across Gobichettipalayam and its surrounding villages in a day in those days.

Gobichettipalayam is surrounded by Western Ghats, which form the border of the region. River Bhavani traverses across the region. The temperature is moderately warm in Gobichettipalayam. Similarly, rainfall is also moderate and during monsoon season it may go high, unpredictable and unevenly distributed. Gobichettipalayam is not so windy. “But, the abundance of trees and vegetation surrounding the town makes its climate pleasant always. The surrounding water logged rice fields contribute to the high humidity levels all the times. These are the reasons why cinema people prefer Gobichettipalayam for film shootings,” Jyothy said. Gobichettipalayam is also has plenty of scenic places such as Bhavanisagar dam, Bannari temple, Gunderipallam, Vellode birds sanctuary, Kodiveri dam, paddy fields, Sathyamangalam forest and temples.

Vellangkoil near Gobichettipalayam is the native place of film director and actor K Bhagyaraj, who had shot almost all of his movies in Gobichettipalayam and its surrounding areas.

Like Bhagyaraj, directors S A Chandrasekar, Manivannan, R Sundarrajan, Liyakath Alikhan, P Vasu, Kasthuri Raja, T P Gajendran, Manojkumar, V Shekar, Manivasagam, K S Ravikumar, Dasari Narayanan, Koti Ramakrishna, Sundar C, Ramarajan and Mishkin had shot their films in Gobichettipalayam taluk.

The last film in Gobichettipalayam was shot by Sundar C. “He had taken ‘Kalakalappu’ (2012) first part here and after that no films had been shot,” Jyothy said.

Apart from Tamil films, other language cinema shooting also had taken here. Raja Badsha, a Bengali film, was taken in 1990. Similarly, Telugu films such as ‘Naari Naari Naduma Murari’, Balagopaladu, Sandi, Chinna Rayudu, Ramuru Ochadu and Rowdi Boss were taken in ‘Chinna Kodambakkam’.

Likewise, Brajapathi, a Malayalam film shooting and other language films such as Cheran Pandiyan (Hindi dub), Rasukutty (Hindi dub), Senthamilpattu (Oriya dub), Marudu Pandi (Hindi dub), Chinna Thambi (Hindi dub), Enga Chinna Rasa (Hindi dub) also taken in Gobichettipalayam.

“Famous Hindi artists like Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Venkatesh, Karishma Kapoor, Govinda, Shilpa Shetty came and stayed in Gobichettipalayam for several weeks for shooting,” Jyothy said and added that, other super stars like Sivaji, Mammootty, Prabhu, Vijayakanth, Murali, Parthiban, Arjun, Mohan, Sarath Kumar, Radhika, Vijayashanthi, Banupriya, Kushboo, Suganya, Meena, Roja, Soundarya, Nagma, Simran, Ramba, Devayani, Ramyakrishnan and Kamalini Mukharjee also came to Gobichettipalayam during cinema shooting.


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, Location Guesser and Mini Crossword.