''Iru Sahodarargal'' (also spelled as ''Iru Sakodarargal''; ) is a 1936 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

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-g ...

directed by

Ellis R. Dungan Ellis Roderick Dungan (May 11, 1909 – December 1, 2001) was an American film director, who was well known for working in Indian films, predominantly in Tamil cinema, from 1936 to 1950. He was an alumnus of the University of Southern Californ ...

. This was the second film for

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

(later Chief Minister of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

) and Dungan. This film cemented the reputation of Dungan as the most successful Tamil film director of that period. It is one of the earliest Tamil films to be set in a contemporary social setting. No print of the film is known to survive, making it a lost film.

Plot

Vijayakumar and Sukumar (K. P. Kesavan) are brothers. Sukumar, the younger brother is an actor and goes to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

to earn a living. There he gets a break and becomes famous. The money he sends for his family's upkeep is stolen by Vijayakumar and his wife. Because of their greed, the joint family gets split. After some time, the wayward brother and sister in law have a change of heart and repent for their actions. The family is once again reunited.

Cast and crew

*P. K. Kesavan — Sukumar *K. K. Perumal *M. M. Radhabai *T. S. Krishnaveni *T. S. Balaiah *S. N. Vijayalakshmi *P. G. Venkatesan *S. N. Kannamani *

*M. G. Chakrapani *

– Director * S. D. S. Yogi- Story, Screenplay and Lyrics *Parur S Anantharaman — Music *Gopalaswami — Music *S. K. Murthy — Art Direction

Production

''Iru Sahodarargal'' was produced by Parameshwaran Chettiar of

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

under the banner of Parameshwar Sound Pictures. It was shot at Saroj Movie tone studios at

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. This was the second film for Dungan after ''Sathi Leelavathi''(1935). K. P. Kesavan, a stage actor, was cast as hero.

(credited as G. Ramachandran) was cast as a policeman along with his brother M. G. Chakrapani. Dungan cast seventy-year-old Alamelu Ammal to play the role of the grandmother to lend realism to the role. The screenplay and lyrics were written by Tamil scholar and poet S.D.S. Yogi

Reception

The film was released in 1936 at the Elphinstone Cinema House, Madras. It was a modest box office success. It was one of the earliest Tamil films to have a family oriented story. The art magazine ''Aadal paadal'' in its January 1937 issue appreciated the film for its social setting and pointed it out as an example for the success of social themed films. Congress leader

S. Satyamurti Sundara Sastri Satyamurti (19 August 1887 – 28 March 1943) was an Indian independence activist and politician. He was acclaimed for his rhetoric and was one of the leading politicians of the Indian National Congress from the Madras Presidenc ...

arranged a special screening for

Rajaji Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and Indian Independence M ...

at the Elphinstone theatre . Rajaji was impressed by the film and appreciated it. The proceeds of the show he attended were donated to the Patel Purse Fund to finance the nationalist cause. Reviewing the film in ''

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History and profile ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...

'' on 3 January 1937,

Kalki Krishnamurthy , birth_name = Ramasamy Aiyer Krishnamurthy , birth_date = , birth_place = Puthamangalam, near Manalmedu , death_date = , death_place = Chennai, India , occupation = journalist, critic and writer , nationality = Indian , education = ...

wrote :

References

External links

* * {{Ellis R. Dungan 1936 films 1930s Tamil-language films Lost Indian films Films directed by Ellis R. Dungan Indian black-and-white films 1936 lost films