''Barthruhari'' is a 1944 Indian

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

film produced by

K. Subrahmanyam Krishnaswamy Subrahmanyam (19 January 1929 – 2 February 2011) was a prominent international strategic affairs analyst, journalist and former Indian civil servant. Considered a proponent of ''Realpolitik'', Subrahmanyam was an influential vo ...

, who co-directed it with C. S. V. Iyer. The film stars

Serukalathur Sama Swaminathan Vaidyanathan (26 June 1904—11 January 1963), known by his stage name Serukulathur Sama, was an Indian stage and film actor who was primarily known for playing the role of the Hindu god Krishna in Tamil language Hindu mythological f ...

and

B. Jayamma B. Jayamma (15 November 1915 – 20 December 1988) was an Indian actress and singer. She began her career on stage as a 14-year-old when she joined a theatre group owned by Gubbi Veeranna, her future husband. She went on to perform for 45 years ...

, with G. Pattu Iyer,

N. S. Krishnan Nagercoil Sudalaimuthu Krishnan, popularly known as Kalaivanar () and also as NSK, was an Indian actor-comedian, theatre artist, playback singer and writer in the early stages of the Tamil film industry – in the 1940s and 1950s. He is conside ...

, V. N. Janaki and T. A. Mathuram in supporting roles. Based on the life of the king Bharthari, it was released on 13 April 1944 and failed commercially.

Plot

King Barthruhari is married to 300 wives. He spends most of his time with the youngest of them and his most favourite, Pingala. The chief

groom A bridegroom (often shortened to groom) is a man who is about to be married or who is newlywed. When marrying, the bridegroom's future spouse (if female) is usually referred to as the bride. A bridegroom is typically attended by a best man an ...

of the king's horses, Aswapaalan resorts to thievery to satisfy the needs of his mistress, Sundari. The people who were robbed complain to the king, who decides to find the culprit and punish him. Through sheer happenstance, Aswapaalan meets Pingala and both start having an

extramarital affair An affair is a sexual relationship, romantic friendship, or passionate attachment in which at least one of its participants has a formal or informal commitment to a third person who may neither agree to such relationship nor even be aware of i ...

without the king's knowledge.

Vikramaditya Vikramaditya (IAST: ') was a legendary king who has been featured in hundreds of traditional stories including those in ''Baital Pachisi'' and ''Singhasan Battisi''. Many describe him as ruler with his capital at Ujjain (Pataliputra or Pratis ...

n, the king's brother, catches Aswapaalan one night and puts him in custody in Pingala's palace. To escape from the situation lest her affair with Aswapaalan is discovered, complains to Barthruhari that Vikramadityan tried to seduce her, which Vikramadityan denies. The king immediately banishes Vikramadityan without looking into the matter properly. Later, the king realises that his younger brother was telling the truth when he sees Aswapaalan and Pingala together. Shocked and aggrieved, he gives up his throne, brings Vikramadityan back and crowns him as the new king. Barthruhari then becomes a hermit and retires to the forest to do penance.

Cast

as Barthruhari *

as Pingala *G. Pattu Iyer as

n *

as Aswapaalan * V. N. Janaki as Pingala's companion * T. A. Mathuram as Sundari

Production

co-produced the film under his own banner Madras United Artistes Corporation with Kalaivani Films. C. V. Ramakrishnan worked as the film's cinematographer. Both Nagoor and S. R. Sarma were in charge of the production design.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

for the film was done at Newtone Studio. ''Bharthruhari'' featured intimate romance sequences between Jayamma and Krishnan which, according to film critic and historian

Randor Guy Madabhushi Rangadorai (born 8 November 1937), better known by his pen name Randor Guy, is an Indian lawyer, columnist and film and legal historian associated with the English language newspaper ''The Hindu''. He is also the official editor of the ...

, "people thought was in bad taste" and that it was "certainly far ahead of the times". The scenes generated negative controversy for the film, Jayamma and Krishnan and created an adverse impact on its box office performance.

Soundtrack

V. S. Parthasarathy Iyengar composed the film's music and score while

Papanasam Sivan Paapanaasam Raamayya Sivan (26 September 1890 – 1 October 1973) was an Indian composer of Carnatic music and a singer. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1971. He was also a film score composer in Kannada cinema ...

, Rajagopal Iyer and

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 ...

wrote the lyrics for the songs. Jayamma and Krishnan sang a duet in the film. ;Some songs * ''Neere Neere Maaran'' – B. Jayamma * ''Umaiyodu'' – Serukalathur Sama, B. Jayamma

Release and reception

''Barthruhari'' was released on 13 April 1944, and was distributed by SIP. The film received neither positive critical response nor commercial success, and became controversial for the intimate scenes between Jayamma and Krishnan.

Notes

References

{{reflist 1944 drama films 1944 films Films about infidelity Films directed by K. Subramanyam Indian black-and-white films Indian historical drama films 1940s Tamil-language films 1940s historical drama films