''Amma'' ( en, italic=yes, Mother) is a 1952

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

film directed by Jairus Paul Victor, written by Nagavally R. S. Kurup and produced by T. E. Vasudevan. The film is based on L. V. Prasad's Telugu movie ''

Shavukar ''Shavukaru'' () is a 1950 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by L. V. Prasad. The film was produced by Nagireddy and Chakrapani under the Vijaya Productions banner as their maiden production. It stars N. T. Rama Rao in his first lead ...

''. The film was a moderate success at the box office. It was one of the two films that enjoyed success among the 11 Malayalam films which released in 1952, the other being the

Prem Nazir Prem Nazir (born Abdul Khader; 7 April 1926 – 16 January 1989) was an Indian actor known as one of Malayalam cinema's definitive leading men of his generation. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential actors in the history of India ...

-starrer '' Visappinte Vili''. The film was also made in Tamil with the same title; ''Amma''. Sandilyan wrote the dialogues.

Plot

The film tells the tale of Lakshmi Amma, a loving mother, and her son Venu. Venu falls in love with Radha, a rich lady, and later marries her. After the marriage, Venu and Radha shift to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. He manages to send some money to his mother in the beginning. But as days went, Radha intervenes and Venu is not able to send any more money to his poor mother. Meanwhile, a private moneylender from whom Lakshmi Amma had borrowed some money for Venu's marriage, kicks her out of the house. Venu brings Lakshmi Amma to his Madras residence, but Radha is not ready to allow her to stay there. This creates problems and Lakshmi Amma has to leave the house. She is thrown to the streets. A lot of dramatic happenings form the rest of the story.

Cast

;Male cast *

Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair (16 October 191611 March 1997) was an Indian poet, playwright, script writer, lyricist, orator, film director and actor, though he is best known as an actor in Malayalam cinema. He is the recipient of Padma Shri ...

* M. N. Nambiar *

T. S. Durairaj T. S. Durairaj (31 December 1910 – 2 June 1986) was a Tamil film comedian, drama artist, producer and director in the early stages of the Tamil film industry (Kollywood). He received a Kalaimamani award from the Tamil Nadu Government in ...

*P. M. Devan *Gopalan Nair *

T. S. Muthaiah T. S. Muthaiah (1923 – 12 February 1992) was a Malayalam and Tamil film actor. He was a very popular actor in both film industries who usually played character and supporting roles in 1950s and 1960s. He acted with M. G. Ramachandran in Thayi ...

*Sharma ;Female cast *

B. S. Saroja B. S. Saroja (born 18 November 1929) is an Indian actress in Malayalam and Tamil films. She is the daughter of Johnson, who acted in the first Malayalam film, Vigathakumaran. She acted with MGR and Sivaji in their only movie together, Koondukk ...

* Lalitha *

Aranmula Ponnamma Aranmula Ponnamma (8 April 1914 – 21 February 2011) was a National Award winning Indian actress known for her roles as mother of the protagonist in numerous films in a career spanning over five decades. She is widely described as a mothe ...

* P. Shanthakumari

Soundtrack

Music was composed by

V. Dakshinamurthy Venkateswaran Dakshinamoorthy (9 December 1919 – 2 August 2013) was a veteran carnatic musician and composer and music director of Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi films, predominantly in Malayalam films. He has set scores for the songs in over 125 ...

for both Malayalam and Tamil editions. ;Malayalam There were 14 songs in the film and many were hits. Lyrics were penned by P. Bhaskaran.

Playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not ap ...

s were

(debut), Gokulapalan (debut), Ghantasala (debut in Malayalam), Balakrishnan (AIR artiste) and P. Leela. ;Tamil Lyrics were penned by Chidambaram Varadarajan. One song by Mahakavi Bharathiyar was also included in the film. The singer was Lalitha, while the

s were

Jikki Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni (3 November 1935 – 16 August 2004), more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, and Sinhalese langua ...

, P. Leela, Jaanamma,

Thiruchi Loganathan Thiruchi Loganathan (24 July 1924 – 17 November 1989) was a playback singer of the Tamil film industry. He is known for his work in movies such as ''Manthiri Kumari'' (1950) and '' Parasakthi'' (1952). He was married to Rajalakshmi, daughter ...

, Ghantasala, Gokulapalan and T. A. Mothi. "Ammaave Deivam Ulaginile", sung by

and "Idhai Yaarodum Sollavum Koodaadhu", sung by T. A. Mothi and Janamma were hits.

Reception

Both Malayalam and Tamil editions of the film fared well at the box office. The film is remembered for the outstanding acting by Aranmula Ponnamma. The film will also be remembered for the debut of Gokulapalan and Dakshinamoorthy as playback singers.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0252228, Amma
''Amma''
at the Malayalam Movie Database 1950s Malayalam-language films Indian drama films Indian multilingual films Films scored by V. Dakshinamoorthy 1950s multilingual films 1952 drama films 1952 films