''Chitra'' is a 1946

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 film produced by T. R. Sundaram of

Modern Theatres Modern Theaters Ltd was an Indian film studio in Salem, Tamil Nadu started by T. R. Sundaram Mudaliar in 1935. The studio produced over more than 150 films until 1982 in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Sinhalese and even English of ...

. Directed by Wahab Kashmiri, it features

K. L. V. Vasantha Kundrathur L. V. Vasantha (1923–2008) was an Indian actress, singer and dancer who worked mainly in Tamil language films. Biography Vasantha was born in 1923 in Kundrathur, then based in Ramanathapuram district. As a young girl, she was ...

T. S. Balaiah Thirunelveli Subramaniyan Balaiah (23 August 1914 – 22 July 1972) was an Indian actor. He is best known for playing supporting roles in Tamil films. Born in Sundankottai, near Udankudi in Thoothukudi, Balaiah was introduced to the cine fiel ...

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 ...

, K. K. Perumal, M. E. Madhavan and V. S. Susheela. The film was released on 30 March 1946 and failed commercially.

Plot

A widowed police commissioner's daughter (Vasantha) falls in love with another police officer (Balaiah). Vasantha's father realises that a man has been committing treason by secretly sending radio messages to enemies, so he hires Balaiah to discover who it is. Balaiah, aided by two incompetent helpers (Durairaj and Madhavan), sets out to find the culprit, but the culprit imprisons them in an isolated bungalow. Unable to find Balaiah, Vasantha is devastated. She and her father make several efforts to locate Balaiah and his aids but fail. At the bungalow, one of Balaiah's aids finds a tie-pin, which is a gift from Vasantha to Balaiah. Balaiah throws it out through a keyhole. Vasantha finds it, after which her father and his men storm the bungalow, free Balaiah and later capture the culprit. Balaiah and Vasantha re-unite.

Production

''Chitra'' was launched in 1945, soon after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

ended. Directed by Wahab Kashmiri, it was produced by T. R. Sundaram under the banner of

, with

, K. K. Perumal, M. E. Madhavan and V. S. Susheela as the lead actors. The film's final length was .

Release and reception

Although censored on 19 December 1945, ''Chitra'' was released only on 30 March 1946. The magazine ''Pesum Padam'', then known for invoking English-language American films in the context of Sundaram's films, compared Sundaram's deft portrayal of the maid character Kannamma, "who steals the audience's hearts", with that of the minor characters in English films who often steal the show from the main actors. Swarnavel Eswaran Pillai, author of the 2015 book ''Madras Studios'', believes the invocation of "English films" was deliberate as the reviewer's intention to paint Sundaram's sensibilities as Western was very conspicuous. According to film historian Randor Guy, the film was not successful because of the "wrong casting" of Balaiah, then known for playing negative roles, in a heroic role, and audiences disliked seeing him "going about smartly dressed in suits" and holding a pipe. The song "Ahahahahaha...Aanandham", picturised on Vasantha, attained popularity. The film's theme of a man leaking secrets to enemies via radio was later used in '' Andha Naal'' (1954).

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Modern Theatres 1940s spy thriller films 1940s Tamil-language films Films about kidnapping in India Indian black-and-white films Indian spy thriller films Indian World War II films World War II spy films