Ananda Vikatan

History

Ananda Vikatan was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not published due to financial difficulties. In January 1928 Subramaniam Srinivasan bought the rights from Vaidyanadhaiyer and relaunched the publication in February 1928 in a new format. He paid at the rate of ₹25 per letter in the Tamil-language name (ஆனந்த விகடன்) of the publication to buy the rights. He built it into a weekly and sales soon rose. Veteran journalist and media personality and Srinivasan's son S. Balasubramanian served as editor, managing director and publisher of the magazine for nearly fifty years till 2006. He also started the "Manavar Thittam" or student journalism scheme that has been active for the last thirty years and counting. He also launched Junior Vikatan, a biweekly Tamil investigative journal in the 1980s. Balasubramanian later served as chairman emeritus of the Vikatan Group after retiring from active involvement and handing over the reins to his son B. Srinivasan.

Visual media

Vikatan Televistas was launched by Vasan Publications in the late 1990s starting with mega-serials on Sun TV such as Thirumathi Selvam and Thendral. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic it withdrew from Sun TV and decided to move and proceed with other channels, too. Since 2021, it has produced and made stories for Star Vijay. It debuted with shows such as Thamizhum Saraswatiyum and Siragadikka Aasai. In 2023, it also debuted in Kalaignar TV with the show Ranjithame.

In 2024, Vikatan Televistas debuted in Hindi television industry by co-producing Udne Ki Aasha for StarPlus.

The company ventured into film production as Vikatan Talkies, and successfully made the comedy Siva Manasula Sakthi starring Jiiva and Anuya that launched the career of the director Rajesh. They then followed this with the commercially unsuccessful byVaalmiki. The media house still produces a variety of programs for television and has branched out into various streams of media content with an online digital broadcast of snippets of news, views, interviews, etc.

Films

• Siva Manasula Sakthi (2009)
• Valmiki (2009)

Serials

Web series

Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards

Main article: Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards

The awards ceremony has been held since 2008, with the most recent being in January 2019.

Subsidiaries

Ananda Vikatan has had numerous sister magazines. These included Aval Vikatan, Chutti Vikatan, Doctor Vikatan, Junior Vikatan, Motor Vikatan, Naanayam Vikatan, Pasumai Vikatan, Sakthi Vikatan and TimePass. Cinema Vikatan is the YouTube channel that covers cinema.

References

References

1. "Vanitha continues to lead regional language magazines".
2. S. Pasupathy. (10 March 2003). "S. S. Vasan".
3. (23 May 2003). "With a finger on people's pulse". [[The Hindu]].
4. K. Ramachandran. "Trophy to Remember". [[The Hindu]].
5. (16 August 2019). "Explained: How Vikatan became a contextual content company driven by technology".
6. (2024-02-12). "Production house Vikatan steps into the Hindi GEC space with Udne Ki Asha on Star Plus".
7. (21 May 2009). "Preview – Vaalmiki". Kollywood Today.
8. (3 January 2019). "ஆனந்த விகடன் சினிமா விருதுகள் 2018 - திறமைக்கு மரியாதை".
9. (1 September 2019). "Vikatan to close down four magazines, online editions to continue".