K. Amarnath

K. Amarnath (1 Dec 1914 – 14 May 1983) was one of the earliest film makers of Indian Cinema. His career as a movie producer and director spanned over four decades in the film industry.

Amarnath Gelaram Khetarpal was born in Mianwali, Punjab, British India. He spent his childhood in Mianwali and college years in Lahore. Inspired by Hollywood and British movies, Amarnath left home at a young age of 17 to join the film industry to become an actor.

Initially, K.Amarnath struggled for 4 years, first in Calcutta and then in Bombay acting in minor roles only. While working as a junior artiste, he realized that the director played a very important role in the making of a movie. So, his interest in acting in movies transferred to directing movies.

After assisting various directors such as B.R.Patel and Dhirubhai Desai, he finally got his first break as a director in 1936 by Mr. Lakhia of Metro Movietone for the film titled "Matwali Jogan" aka "A Girl from Lahore". He was only 21 years old when he directed his first movie.

However, his major break came in 1937 when Ramaniklal & Mohanlal Shah, founders of Mohan Studios, Mumbai, offered him the opportunity to direct "Danger Signal" in Tamil.

At first, he directed 5 Tamil movies for Mohan Studios; two of them, "Minnalkodi" and "Veer Ramani" - both released in 1937 and both starring K.T.Rukmini and B.Srinivas Rao became super hits.

From 1937 to 1951, he directed 14 movies for Mohan Studios and its sister concern, Ramnik Productions.

Excepting for "Village Girl", mostly all of them were action movies.