''Engal Kuladevi'' () is a 1959 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, nativ ...

-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by A. Subba Rao. The film was produced by T. R. Sundaram and stars K. Balaji,

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...

and

Mynavathi Mynavathi (26 July 1935 – 10 November 2012) was an Indian actress. She made her first screen appearance as an actor in the 1955 Kannada film ''Santa Sakhu'' and acted in over 100 Kannada films. She was the younger sister of another popular Ka ...

. It was released on 4 December 1959.

Plot

Sabapathy, a retired postman, has two daughters — Meena, born to his first wife and Shanthi, born to his second wife Valli. Sabapathy arranges marriage for Meena with Vasanthan, who is the manager of a match-box company. Mangalam is a schoolmate of Valli. She poisons Valli's mind saying Vasanthan is more suitable to Valli's daughter Shanthi. Valli tries to coax Sabapathy, but he is determined and marries Meena to Vasanthan. During the first night of Vasanthan and Meena, someone has mixed poison in the milk and it comes to their knowledge. They leave Sabapathy's house and live in another house. Meena becomes pregnant and comes to Sabapathy's house for childbirth. She delivers a boy, Kumar but becomes restless and insane after the child-birth. Vasanthan suspects foul play and takes Meena and child with him. While travelling in the train, while Vasanthan is sleeping, Meena in her deranged state gets out of the train. Vasanthan is shocked when he wakes up and finds Meena is missing. A rumour spreads that Meena is dead, having been caught under the train and her body was mutilated. Now Shanthi comes to live with Vasanthan and to look after the child. Sabapathy learns that it was Valli who poisoned Meena and he dies of shock. In the meantime, Meena is saved by some people while she was lying by the side of the railway track and is admitted to a hospital. She is cured and comes in search of her husband. She sees that Shanthi is now living with her husband and looking after her child well. She does not want to disturb their life and goes to live with her friend Maragatham, who is also the wife of Vasanthan's office-mate. After the death of Sabapathy, Valli comes to live with Shanthi and Vasanthan. Though Vasanthan does not like her presence, he allows her to stay. Valli poisons the child and the child also becomes insane. Shanthi learns that her mother is the culprit. She gets wild with Valli. Vasanthan suspects Shanthi and takes the child to Maragatham and asks her to look after the child. Meena, who was staying with Maragatham realises there is a problem brewing in Vasanthan's home. She asks Maragatham to visit Vasanthan's home and find out what is happening. How everything is solved forms the rest of the story.

Cast

Adapted from the film's song book. ;Male * K. Balaji as Vasanthan *

Javar Seetharaman Javar ( fa, جور, also Romanized as Jūr) is a village in Baraan-e Shomali Rural District, in the Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persi ...

as Mr. Santhosham * V. R. Rajagopal as Shankaralingam * A. Karunanidhi as Chanakiyan * M. A. Ganapathi as Sabapathi * V. M. Ezhumalai as Kannayiram ;Female * M. Pandari Bai as Meena * M. Mynavathi as Shanthi *

M. Saroja M. Saroja was an Indian actress and comedian who worked in Tamil cinema. She was frequently paired alongside K. A. Thangavelu. Career Director K. Subramaniam introduced Saroja to the film industry, when she was 14 years old. She played the role ...

as Maragatham * K. Suryakala as Amutha *

S. N. Lakshmi Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...

as Valli * P. S. Gnanam as Mangalam

Soundtrack

Music was composed by K. V. Mahadevan while the lyrics were penned by

A. Maruthakasi A. Maruthakasi (13 February 1920 – 29 November 1989) was an Indian poet and film lyricist who wrote mainly in the Tamil language. He penned more than 4000 lyrics in more than 250 Tamil films. Early life Born in Melakudikadu in Tiruchirappal ...

References

External links

* {{Modern Theatres 1950s Tamil-language films 1959 drama films 1959 films Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan Indian drama films