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Vikatan Group

Indian news magazine

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

The Vikatan Group is an Indian media conglomerate based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Its flagship Tamil-language weekly magazine Ananda Vikatan was launched in 1926.

01History

Ananda Vikatan was started by Pudhoor Vaidyanadha Iyer in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not published due to financial difficulties. In January 1928, S. S. Vasan bought the rights from Iyer and relaunched the publication in February 1928 in a new format. He paid 200 (equivalent to 45,000 or US$470 in 2023) 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.

02Publications

Ananda Vikatan is the group's flagship magazine. It also publishes various other magazines including Aval Vikatan, Chutti Vikatan, Doctor Vikatan, Junior Vikatan, Motor Vikatan, Naanayam Vikatan, Pasumai Vikatan, Sakthi Vikatan and TimePass. Cinema Vikatan is the group's YouTube channel that covers cinema.

03Visual media

Television

Vikatan Televistas was launched by Vasan Publications in the late 1990s starting with Tamil mega-serials on Sun TV such as Thirumathi Selvam and Thendral. From 2008 to 2016, they have also produced Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada serials for Gemini TV, Surya TV and Udaya TV respectively, all of which are part of the Sun TV Network. 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.

TV serials produced by Vikatan
Name First aired Last aired Number of episodes Network Language
Akshaya 1999 50 Sun TV Tamil
Panchavarnakilli 2000 Sun TV
Pushpanjali 2000 38 Sun TV
Anandha Bhavan 2000 60 Sun TV
Alaigal 29 October 2001 23 May 2003 403 Sun TV
Avargal 6 January 2003 2 November 2007 1077 Sun TV
Appa 26 May 2003 21 November 2003 125 Sun TV
Kolangal 24 November 2003 4 December 2009 1533 Sun TV
Alli Rajyam 16 May 2005 21 July 2006 60 Sun TV
Thirumathi Selvam 5 November 2007 22 March 2013 1360 Sun TV
Nilavilakku 1 January 2008 8 November 2011 1006 Surya TV Malayalam
Devatha 12 January 2009 31 May 20131142 Gemini TV Telugu
Thendral 7 December 2009 17 January 2015 1340 Sun TV Tamil
Sravani Subrahmanyam 18 July 2011 27 July 2012 266 Gemini TV Telugu
Ilam Thennal Pole 28 November 2011 20 July 2012 170 Surya TV Malayalam
Thangali 5 December 2011 4 October 2013 472 Udaya TV Kannada
Deivamagal 25 March 2013 17 February 2018 1466 Sun TV Tamil
Bhagyalakshmi 3 February 2014 27 August 2016 804 Surya TV Malayalam
Priyamanaval 19 January 2015 11 May 2019 1315 Sun TV Tamil
Nayaki 19 February 2018 31 October 2020 718 Sun TV
Run 5 August 2019 30 March 2020 197 Sun TV
Thamizhum Saraswathiyum 12 July 2021 19 April 2024 717 Star Vijay
Siragadikka Aasai 23 January 2023 1000+ Star Vijay
Ranjithame 17 July 2023 14 December 2024 436 Kalaignar TV
Budget Kudumbam 22 January 2024 7 March 2025 100 DD Podhigai
Udne Ki Aasha 12 March 2024 800+ StarPlus Hindi
Chinnanchiru Kiliye 21 June 2025 (only initial concept) 250+ Zee Tamil Tamil
Kanaa Kandenadi 19 January 2026 26 June 2026 121 Star Vijay

Films

The company ventured into film production as Vikatan Talkie with the comedy film Siva Manasula Sakthi, starring Jiiva and Anuya, in 2009. It was followed by the commercially unsuccessful film Vaalmiki in the same year. 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.

Web series

Name First aired Last Aired Number of episodes Network
November Story 2021 2021 7 Disney+ Hotstar (Tamil)
Uppu Puli Kaaram 30 May 2024 2 January 2025 128 Disney+ Hotstar (Tamil)
Brothers and Sisters 27 May 2026 present 4 JioHotstar (Tamil)
Lingam 26 June 2026 present 8 JioHotstar (Tamil)

04Ananda Vikatan Awards

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

Watch videos about Vikatan GroupExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Vikatan Group, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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