''Chandrahari'' is a 1941 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 P ...

film directed by K. S. Mani. The film featured

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 ...

, T. A. Mathuram in the lead roles.

Plot

It is a spoof of a legendary story of King

Harishchandra Harishchandra () is a legendary king of the Solar dynasty, who appears in several legends in texts such as the '' Aitareya Brahmana'', '' Mahabharata'', the '' Markandeya Purana'', and the '' Devi Bhagavata Purana''. The most famous of these s ...

who never told a lie. The main character of this story, King Chandrahari, will never tell a truth. Sage Vistavasi challenges

Yama Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities. ...

that he will make Chandrahari to tell a truth. He leaves the heavenly abode and comes to Earth with 9000 gold coins. He asks Chandrahari to give him 1000 gold coins to make it 10,000. The king says he does not have even a penny. The sage gives the 9000 coins to the king as a loan and goes away. During a nightly rounds, the king meets two women in a hut and misbehaves with them. The sage learns of this incident and demands the king to marry the women. The king abdicates his kingdom and walks away with his wife and son. The sage takes over the kingdom. Many complications follow and finally the king wins. The sage restores everything to normalcy.

Cast

List adapted from the song book *

as Chandrahari * T. A. Mathuram as Mathichandrai *

Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975), natively Radhakrishnayya, was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He served as the 2nd President of India from 1962 to 1967. He also 1st Vice President of India from 1952 ...

as Dhasadevan * C. P. Kittan as Sathyakirthi * L. Narayana Rao as Esha Nakshatran * P. G. Kuppusami as Sishtavasi * M. Thiruvenkatam as Mithravasu * Narasimhachari as Kandakalan * Kamalam as Kandakali * Shankara Moorthi as Sivan * Velu Pillai as Yaman * Lakshmi Narayanan as Bhaguveer * Babuji as Girl Dancer * Lalitha as Girl Dancer

Production

This was a stage play of the same name by

Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar Pammal Vijayarangam Sambandham Mudaliar (1873–1964), who has been described as "the founding father of modern Tamil theatre", was a playwright, director, producer and actor of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth centuries. He was a recipi ...

, one of the two founding fathers of Tamil theatre (the other being

Sankaradas Swamigal Sankaradas Swamigal (7 September 1867 – 13 November 1922) was a Tamil writer, actor, playwright, songwriter and drama producer whose boys company is known for launching the careers of Tamil artists such as S. G. Kittappa, K. B. Sundarambal, M. R. ...

adapted it and produced as a film under his own banner ''Asoka Films''. The film was directed by K. S. Mani. Cinematography was handled by E. R. Cooper while the editing was done by Surya. The film was shot at Central Studios, Coimbatore. As this was a short film, it was package as part 2 with another film

Ezhandha Kadhal ''Ezhandha Kadhal'' () is a 1941 Indian Tamil-language film directed by K. S. Mani. The film stars N. S. Krishnan, T. A. Mathuram, T. Premavathi and K. P. Kamakshi. Plot A rich man on his death bed gave 5000 rupees to his trusted friend and as ...

(Part 1).

Reception

Film historian Randor Guy wrote in 2014 that the film is "Remembered for the humorous dialogue with satire and the performances of NSK and Mathuram as the lead pair.

References

Indian comedy films Indian black-and-white films Indian films based on plays 1940s Tamil-language films 1941 comedy films 1941 films Films directed by K. S. Mani {{1940s-Tamil-film-stub