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Serukulathur Sama
Serukulathur Sama
	Serukulathur Sama in 1943
Born	Swaminathan Vaidyanathan; 26 June 1904; Serukalathur, Thanjavur district, Madras State, India
Died	11 January 1963; Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation(s)	Actor, Singer

Swaminathan Vaidyanathan (26 June 1904^[1]—11 January 1963^[2]), known by his stage name Serukulathur Sama, was an Indian stage and film actor who was primarily known for playing the role of the Hindu god Krishna in Tamil language Hindu mythological films of the 1930s and 1940s.

Early life

Born in the village Serukalathur in Thiruvarur district to Mirasudar (Manager of own farm) Vaidyanadhaiyer, his birth name was Swaminathan. When he was 5 years old his mother died and the father remarried. So Swaminathan went to live with his uncle in Thanjavur. He learned Carnatic music along with academic studies. After passing the S. S. L. C. examination, he married and begot 3 children. He went to Madras in search of employment. There he worked as a clerk for 2 months in the office of the Indian National Congress Party and then for 10 years in the Cosmopolitan Club.^[1]

Film career

He was a handsome person and had the ability to sing in bass voice. While he was working in the Cosmopolitan club he came in contact with a member of the club Ananthanarayanan Narayanan, who established Srinivasa Cinetone, the first sound recording studio of south India in Kilpauk. Narayanan introduced Swaminathan into films. Swaminathan, now known as Serukalathur Sama, had good looks and singing talent. He was cast as Lord Krishna in most of the films.^[3]

Film Producer and Director

With his success as an actor he embarked on production of films. He leased National Movietone Studio on Poonamallee High Road, Chennai and changed its name as Bharat Cinetone. His first production was Shylock, (Tamilized as Shailak) adapted from Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice. He directed the film along with his lawyer friend and signed as Sama-Ramu.^[3]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role
1934	Draupadi Vastrapaharanam	Krishna
1935	Maayaa Bazaar
1936	Bama Parinayam
1937	Chintamani	Krishna
1937	Ambikapathy	Kambar
1938	Vishnu Leela
1939	Thiruneelakantar
1940	Krishnan Thoothu
	Parasuramar
	Sakuntalai	Kanwa Rishi
	Shailak	Shailak
1941	Subadra Arjuna
1941	Thiruvalluvar
1942	Manonmani	Sundara Munivar
	Nandanar	Vedhiyar
	Rajasooyam
1943	Arundhathi
1943	Sivakavi
1944	Baktha Hanuman
	Bharthruhari	Bharthruhari
	Rajarajeshwari
1945	Bhakta Kalathi
	Burma Rani	Buddhist monk
	Meera
1946	Aaravalli Sooravalli
1948	Jeevajothi
1948	Raja Mukthi
1950	Beedala Patlu
	Ezhai Padum Padu
	Vijayakumari
1951	Marmayogi	Sage
1954	Panam Paduthum Padu
1962	Manithan Maravillai
1962	Pattinathar	Sivasarmar