Arun Veerappan, the executive producer in studios like AVM Productions and Gemini Studios, has died at the age of 90. Veerappan was the son-in-law of the legendary producer AV Meiyappan and is known for working as an executive producer for the 1960 film Kalathur Kannamma. Kalathur Kannamma marked the debut of legendary actor Kamal Haasan as a child actor.
Jayendra Panchapakesan, the co-founder of Qube Cinema Technologies, remembered Arun Veerappan’s legacy. Jayendra says, “He was a man who breathed cinema all his life. He founded Media Artists, a leading state-of-the-art music recording and audio post-production studio. He was also the co-founder of Qube, who constantly inspired the company to break new ground and introduce revolutionary technologies to the industry. He watched movies like a kid admiring the finest nuances that would get missed in casual viewing.”
In a career spanning several decades, Arun Veerappan has been credited as an executive producer in films like Mehrban, Paisa ya Pyar, and Main Chup Rahungi among a few others. Not only this but he also directed numerous films including Zameen Aasmaan and Unnidathil Naan. Apart from directing full-length films, Veerappan also directed more than 150 short films and documentaries. He also used to create the Tamil dubbed versions of acclaimed international films like Disney’s The Lion King (1994) and Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi (1982).
The producer also founded Real Image Technologies (Now, Qube Cinema Technologies Pvt Ltd). It is a company that established digital projection in cinemas in Tamil Nadu. He is credited with building an ecosystem that supported digital film projection in hundreds of single-screen cinemas across Tamil Nadu. This helped in reducing the cost of production and distribution. Moreover, it also led to the improved quality of filmmaking as filmmakers were not forced to spend a lot, thereby enabling producers to screen their movies in hundreds of cinemas at the same time.
Arun Veerappan is survived by his wife, two sons Siva and Senthil, and a daughter Vijayalakshmi.
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