Pammal Vijayarangam Sambandham Mudaliar (1873–1964), who has been described as "the founding father of modern Tamil theatre",[1] was a playwright, director, producer and actor of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth centuries.

[6] Influenced by his father, who had a large library and instilled in his son a love of books, and by his mother's telling of folktales and Indian epics, Mudaliar developed an interest in drama as a child.

Influenced in particular by his childhood reading of works written by William Shakespeare, Mudaliar wrote his own plays from an early age.

It was inspired by his witnessing of the excitement caused when Sarasa Vinodini Sabha, an amateur theatre company headed by a lawyer, Bellary Krishnamacharlu, visited Madras to perform several Telugu productions in that year.

The lack of success did not deter him and nor did his full-time work as a lawyer and, later, as a judge: Mudaliar maintained his involvement in drama thereafter, as a writer, director, producer and actor.

[4] In later life, and following the successful introduction of talkies to Tamil cinema in 1931, Mudaliar's output was also adapted for film.

He also changed the structure of dramatisations by emphasising the function of acts and scenes and also placing more stress on dialogue rather than song.

[11] Mudaliar's work included adaptations of English and Sanskrit plays, as well as original output.

The title of the film Pammal K. Sambandam (2002), starring Kamal Haasan, was inspired by Mudaliar.