The firm had been a leading production studio in the Tamil film industry in the 1990s, with director Mani Ratnam also being a partner.
S. Sriram and Mani Ratnam set up Aalayam Productions in 1990 and produced K. Subash's Chatriyan (1990) as their first venture.
Featuring Vijayakanth and Bhanupriya in the lead roles, the film won critical acclaim and performed well at the box office.
[1] The studio also produced Vasanth's Aasai (1995), which gave actor Ajith Kumar his career breakthrough in the Tamil film industry.
[5] Mani Ratnam later left the production house in the mid-1990s to prioritise work on his own studio, Madras Talkies.