P. Subramaniam was born to Padmanabha Pillai and Neelammal in Nagercoil,[1] (present-day Kanyakumari District) on 19 February 1910.
It was during this project that his hard work and honesty made an impression with members of the royal family and the Diwan of Travancore, Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer.
[1] One year later, Subramaniam joined the government Stationery Department, where he continued to make an impression with the Diwan.
[1] His connections with the Diwan and the royal household helped him quit his job and start his first business - a bus service in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of erstwhile Travancore.
Even before this venture, Subramaniam produced Prahlada, a film that is believed to have been actually financed by the royal family.
Along with his competitor M. Kunchacko, he was one of the pioneering figures of Malayalam film industry in its early days.
Thirunainar Kurichi Madhavan Nair and Br Lakshmanan were the duo which created the songs during their early days.
Merryland later was popular for remaking their old film Swami Ayyappan in TV serial format.
The eldest son, S. Kumar, later became a noted film producer on his own right, and founded a new company named 'Sastha Productions' after his father's death.
Subramaniam was a deeply religious Hindu throughout his life, and was a devotee of his namesake Lord Murugan.
Despite being relocated to Thiruvananthapuram long back, he used to visit Velimai Kumaraswamy Temple in Thuckalay whenever possible.