''Amara Deepam'' () is a 1956 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

directed by

T. Prakash Rao Tatineni Prakash Rao (24 November 1924 – 1 July 1992) was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked in Telugu cinema, Telugu, Hindi cinema, Hindi, and Tamil cinema, Tamil films. In a career spanning nearly four decades, he directed ov ...

. A remake of the 1942 American film ''

Random Harvest ''Random Harvest'' is a novel written by James Hilton, first published in 1941. Like previous Hilton works, including '' Lost Horizon'' and '' Goodbye, Mr. Chips'', the novel was immensely popular, placing second on ''Publishers Weekly'' li ...

'', it stars

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...

, Savitri and Padmini. The film, produced by Venus Pictures, was released on 29 June 1956. It was remade in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

as '' Amardeep'' (1958).

Plot

Aruna is a girl from a wealthy family. Her parents want her to marry her cousin Sukumar. She, however, does not like him because of his dictatorial behaviour. He even breaks her radio, which convinces Aruna that he is certainly not the person for her. She leaves the house one night without informing anyone to escape from the marriage. She ends up being chased by some goons, and gets saved by a bypasser Ashok. Suddenly, somebody hits Ashok on the head, which causes him to lose his memory. Later, he meets a woman in a gypsy camp called Rupa and falls for her. Aruna, however, cannot forget him and never ceases her search for him. She finally meets him at a show with Rupa. Whether he regains his memory and what eventually happens forms the climax.

Cast

;Main cast *

as Ashok * Savithri as Aruna * Padmini as Roopa *

Nambiar Nambiar may refer to: *Nambiar (Ambalavasi caste), a Hindu caste in Kerala *Nambiar (Nair subcaste), an Indian caste from North Malabar People *A. C. N. Nambiar (1896–1986), Indian nationalist and first Indian ambassador to Germany *Aneil Namb ...

as Sukumar * Thangavelu *

E. V. Saroja E. V. Saroja (1935 - 2006) was an Indian actress and dancer. She was born on 3 November 1935 as Engan V. Saroja. She belonged to Engan village of Thiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu. Her debut film was '' En Thangai'' in 1952 starring M. G. Ramacha ...

;Guest artiste *

V. Nagayya V. Nagayya (born Vuppaladadiyam Nagayya Sarma; 28 March 1904 – 30 December 1978) also known as Chittoor Nagayya was an Indian actor, singer, music composer, and director known for his works in Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, and Telugu theatre. ...

;Supporting cast *

M. R. Santhanam Santhana Bharathi is an Indian film director and actor who has primarily worked in Tamil cinema. Career Santhana Bharathi originally wanted to be a director but didn't get the right opportunity, even after working for a well known director ...

, M. M. Venkatachalam Pillai, Jayasakthivel, Nambirajan, Jayaraman, V. P. Balaraman, K. S. Durai, C. V. Velappa, Saroja, and Kasthuri.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

T. Chalapathi Rao Tatineni Chalapathi Rao (22 December 1920 – 22 February 1994) was an Indian music composer who worked in Telugu cinema. His career spanned more than three decades from early 1950s, till 1980s. He was the cousin of T. Prakash Rao. Early life ...

. G. Ramanathan composed the music for one song "Nadodikkottam Nannga Thiillelelo" and Carnatic musician G. N. Balasubramaniam composed the music for "Enge Maraindhanayo". This song was tuned in the

Carnatic raga Carnatic raga refers to ''ragas'' used in Carnatic music. A Carnatic raga has several components - primordial sound (''nāda''), tonal system (''swara''), pitch (''śruti''), scale, ornaments ('' gamaka'') and important tones. Origins and histo ...

Shubhapantuvarali Shubhapantuvarali (pronounced , meaning ''the auspicious moon'') is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the 45th '' melakarta'' rāgam in the 72 ''melakarta'' rāgam system of Carnatic music. It is ...

. Lyrics by K. P. Kamatchi Sundharam, Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass, M. K. Athmanathan,

Udumalai Narayana Kavi [https://idhatri.com/udumalai-narayana-kavi/ Udumalai Narayana KavUdumalai Narayana Kavi Udumalai Narayana Kavi (25 September 1899 – 23 May 1981) was an Indian poet and lyricist known for his work in Tamil films. Early life Udumalai Narayana wa ...

, A. Maruthakasi and K. S. Gopalakrishnan. The song "Jalilo Jimkana" became popular among children of the decade.

Release and reception

''Amara Deepam'' was released on 29 June 1956. ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' wrote, "Interesting melodrama, packed with cleverly-contrived situations." ''

The Mail Mail is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. Mail or The Mail may also refer to: Newspapers * ''Daily Mail'', a British newspaper **The Mail on Sunday **MailOnline * ''Sunday Mail'' (Adelaide), formerly The Mai ...

'' wrote, "Savithri as Aruna and Padmini as Rupa are striking in their trying roles, and their actions are moving. Sivaji Ganesan, as Ashok, gives a talk on labour rights, which arrests one's attention." ''

Screen Screen or Screens may refer to: Arts * Screen printing (also called ''silkscreening''), a method of printing * Big screen, a nickname associated with the motion picture industry * Split screen (filmmaking), a film composition paradigm in which mul ...

'' wrote, "''Amara Deepam'' produced essentially as an entertainer, has achieved its purpose to a great extent". Kanthan of ''

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...

'' appreciated the film for various aspects, including Sridhar's writing, the songs and the cast performances. ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' wrote, "This is a picture of which the Tamil film world could be legitimately be proud – such is the vivid portrayal on the screen of gripping theme." The film was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0254081 1950s Tamil-language films 1956 films 1956 romantic drama films Films directed by T. Prakash Rao Films scored by T. Chalapathi Rao Indian remakes of American films Indian romantic drama films Tamil films remade in other languages Indian black-and-white films