G.D. Naidu: the ‘Edison of India’ who might be delivered to life on display in Madhavan-starrer biopic

Innovator and entrepreneur G.D. Naidu. File
| Picture Credit score: Particular Association

Why do peacocks have lengthy tail feathers? Why do the eyes of canines and cats gleam at evening? What powers automobiles to run? These had been among the conversations {that a} barely four-year-old Gopal would have together with his father G.D. Naidu at their dwelling, Gopal Bagh in Coimbatore, as they fed animals, scanned newspapers, and examine automobiles throughout their leisure time within the early Nineteen Forties.

Mr. Naidu, in subsequent years, performed scientific experiments and demonstrations for college kids at his institute run by G.D. Charities each week, and inspired them to ask questions. He began the Arthur Hope Polytechnic and Arthur Hope School of Know-how, gave inputs for the house science course curriculum at Avinashilingam College, and was instrumental in establishing the Tamil Nadu Agricultural College in Coimbatore.

Along with his improvements and experiments, Mr. Naidu got here to be generally known as the ‘Edison of India’, and the legacy he left behind after his passing on January 4, 1974, has been huge. Actor Madhavan enjoying the famend inventor and engineer in an upcoming Tamil biopic, titled ‘G.D.N’, is a testmanent to his affect. Capturing for the movie started in Coimbatore on Tuesday (February 18, 2025).

A science prodigy

Mr. Naidu’s scientific inquisitiveness was evident from his teenage years.

Born on March 23, 1893, at Kalangal in Coimbatore district, Gopalsamy Doraisamy Naidu was so mischievous and rebellious as a scholar that his father needed to pull him out of college and make him work within the area. Mr. Naidu would learn books within the evenings, educating himself a number of topics.

Someday, whereas strolling within the area, Mr. Naidu, who was about 18 then, chanced upon an empty bottle with a label. He couldn’t perceive what it was as a result of he was not well-versed in English. He requested a income inspector who visited Kalangal the subsequent day, and he defined to him that it was a bottle of painkillers made by the American firm Parke Davis. Mr. Naidu took the assistance of the inspector to write down to the corporate, and ultimately began importing the drug. He bought the medication to the villagers, and that was his first enterprise.

A fascination with automobiles

In a village that had solely carts pushed by bullocks or horses, motor autos had been an unknown entity. Someday, Lancashire, an English official, rode to Kalangal on a motorcycle, and that turned the turning level within the lifetime of Mr. Naidu. He was not solely fascinated by the automobile but additionally inquisitive about its operation. He walked all the way in which to Coimbatore, wanting on the factories and motorised autos in awe. He labored as a waiter, earned cash, and acquired the bike from Mr. Lancashire. He dismantled the automobile, understood its functioning, and assembled it once more with a aspect automobile.

He labored on the home of Sir Robert Stanes within the evenings, earned cash, learnt English and mechanics at his workshop, and together with his financial savings, purchased a bus. He operated it between Pollachi and Palladam and shortly started operating UMS Transport Firm.

He travelled overseas, established enterprise hyperlinks with Germans, innovated the electrical razor (Rasant) in 1935, and patented it in Europe. He went on to invent the vote recording machine, radio clock, and orange juice extractor, amongst others. He had deep curiosity in agriculture, technical training, and siddha too.

His researches, improvements, and companies attracted leaders and folks from all walks of life from totally different elements of India and overseas to Coimbatore.

When he died, it marked the passing of a genius, about whom former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai as soon as mentioned, “Our society didn’t make use of G.D, Naidu’s mind. His innovations are a really useful useful resource to the society.”