''Dasi Aparanji'' is a 1944 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, nati ...

-language

historical fantasy Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthur ...

film directed by B. N. Rao and produced by

S. S. Vasan Subramaniam Srinivasan (4 January 1904 – 26 August 1969), popularly known by his screen name S. S. Vasan, was an Indian journalist, writer, advertiser, film producer, director and business tycoon. He is the founder of the Tamil-language maga ...

. The film stars

Pushpavalli Pushpavalli (3 January 1926 – 28 April 1991) was an Indian actress who predominently worked in Telugu and Tamil films. She entered the film industry as a child actress with a small role as young Sita in the film ''Sampoorna Ramayanam'' (1936) ...

and

M. K. Radha Madras Kandaswami Radhakrishnan (20 November 1910 – 29 August 1985), professionally known as M. K. Radha, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was born in Chennai and took up acting in Tamil stage at the age of 7. He was ...

. It revolves around the antics of king Vikramadithan after his soul enters the body of a parrot, and manipulates a girl named Aparanji. The film was released on 10 August 1944. No print of it is known to survive, making it a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

Plot

Vikramadithan, the king of

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani language, Hindustani pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Prad ...

, goes for his wonted six-month retirement to the forest. Unable to bear the anguish of a mother parrot at the death of her offspring, he arranges that his soul enters the body of the parrot. Vijayan, his greedy friend, seizes the opportunity to further his own designs and abuses the trust reposed in him by the king who had taught him the art of transmigration of souls, by himself entering the body of the king and destroying his own body. Vijayan's trick is found out by Prime Minister Bhatti who makes queen Padmavathi keep off from the bogus king on the pretext of a vow of celibacy. The parrot containing the soul of Vikramadithan is bought by a miserly

Chettiar Chettiar (also spelt as Chetti and Chetty)is a title used by many traders, weaving, agricultural and land-owning castes in South India, especially in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. They are a subgroup of the Tamil community ...

whose son fritters away all his wealth for the sake of Aparanji, a dancing girl. When the Chettiar is holding the village panchayat to decide a complaint by the dancing girl against the priest of the local temple, the parrot puts her to shame saying that one day she would walk the streets with a begging bowl. Aparanji persuades the Chettiar's son to steal the parrot to help her vow that she would have it killed and eaten. Aparanji's servant Singari is entrusted with the cooking of the parrot, but it escapes by a ruse. Singari cooks a bowl and serves it to Aparanji who believes the parrot is dead. When she goes to the temple, a voice (the parrot's) tells her to spend all her riches in charity and come to the temple as a beggar with a begging bowl; Aparanji thinks it is God's voice. She gives away all her wealth and walks to the temple as a '' sanyasini'' with the bowl where the parrot reveals itself. Aparanji however decides to continue as a ''sanyasini''. Bhatti, by a ruse, makes Vijayan, who is posing as the king, enter the body of a ram and in that form he is exiled.

Cast

as Aparanji *

as Vikramadithan * N. A. Sundaram as Padmavathi * M. V. Mani as Bhatti * M. R. Swaminathan as Vijayan * Puliyoor Duraisami Iyer as Dhanapal Chetty *

Kothamangalam Seenu ''Kothamangalam Seenu'' (17 February 1910 - 30 August 2001) was a Tamil Stage, Cinema actor and a Carnatic music singer. Early life Kothamangalam Seenu whose birth name is V. S. Srinivasan, was born in Vathirairuppu (anglicised as ‘Watrap'), ...

as Bangaru Chetty * L. Narayana Rao as Mama *

Kothamangalam Subbu Kothamangalam Subbu (born S. M. Subramanian, 10 November 1910 – 15 February 1974) was an Indian poet, lyricist, author, actor and film director based in Tamil Nadu. He wrote the cult classic Tamil novel ''Thillana Mohanambal'' and was awarded ...

as Gurukkal *

M. S. Sundari Bai Madurai Saurashtra Sundari Bai (2 March 1923 – 12 March 2006) was an Indian actress, singer and dancer who worked mainly in Tamil cinema from the 1940s to the 1970s. Sundari Bai was the wife of writer and director Kothamangalam Subbu. Her mos ...

as Singari * S. Vasudeva Iyer as Shastri * Jayalakshmi Ammal as Apoorvam

Production

''Dasi Aparanji'' was directed by B. N. Rao and produced by

Gemini Studios Gemini Studios was an Indian film studio based in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was launched when S. S. Vasan, a businessman of many ventures (including the ownership of Ananda Vikatan) bought Motion Picture Producers' Combines from Krishnaswamy Subr ...

. Cinematography was handled by B. S. Ranga, and art direction by A. K. Shekar.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by M. D. Parthasarathy and S. Rajeswara Rao. The lyrics were written by

Release and reception

''Dasi Aparanji'' was released on 10 August 1944. The film became controversial upon release because of the numerous sexual references. Kay Yess Enn of ''

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, "Mr. S. S. Vasan deserves congratulations on two very welcome reforms he has effected in this picture. It does not run to more than two hours and utilises only

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...

. It is to be hoped that the days of long dreary Tamil pictures glorifying Hindustani tunes are gone once and for all." ''

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, "The story has been well depicted. The film offers good entertainment and maintains the technical excellence of the Gemini Studios." ''

Swadesamitran ''Swadesamitran'' was a Tamil language newspaper that was published from the then Madras city from 1882 to 1985. One of the earliest Tamil newspapers and the longest in print, ''Swadesamitran'' was founded by Indian nationalist G. Subramania Iyer f ...

'' wrote, "One can go on seeing this picture a number of times just for the sake of the temple corridor, the statue of Aparanji and other effective settings." ''

Dinamani ''Dinamani'' is a Tamil language, Tamil daily newspaper. The newspaper was established in 1933 and is owned by The New Indian Express Group. The first edition was published on 11 September. It is printed and published from Bangalore, Chennai, C ...

'' wrote, "The songs are a noteworthy feature of this film – especially the aptness of the tunes and the fact that they are all Karnatic." ''Sunday Times'' wrote, "Well acted and directed, superbly photographed, full glamour and humour and masterly edited, ''Dasi Aparanji'' is really enjoyable and has good production values." ''

Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a centre- ...

'' wrote, "The fitting cast, the standard of photography and audiography, skillful direction, the first rate dialogues abounding with wit, fine dances and settings together with the " Itness" of Pushpavalli, all contribute to the success of the picture."

References

External links

* {{Gemini Studios, state=expanded 1940s lost films 1940s Tamil-language films 1944 films Films scored by M. D. Parthasarathy Films scored by S. Rajeswara Rao Gemini Studios films Indian black-and-white films Indian historical fantasy films Lost Indian films