''Jeevitha Nouka'' () is a 1951

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

-language film directed by K. Vembu and jointly produced by K. V. Koshi and

Kunchako Kunchacko (19 February 1912 – 15 June 1976) was an Indian film producer and director who worked in the Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film industry. His venture Udaya Studios influenced the gradual shift of Malayalam film industry from its origi ...

. It was the first "blockbuster cinema" in

Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ''Elippathayam' ...

, with a theatrical run of 284 days. Made at a budget of 20000, this cinema did extremely well at the box office, such that very few cinemas could surpass it later. It was simultaneously shot in

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 ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

, and was dubbed and released in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

. This cinema portrayed the life of simple folk in a small village in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. It stars

Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair (16 October 191611 March 1997) was an Indian poet, playwright, script writer, lyricist, orator, film director and actor, though he is best known as an actor in Malayalam cinema. He is the recipient of Padma Shri from t ...

and

B. S. Saroja B. S. Saroja (born 18 November 1929) is an Indian actress in Malayalam and Tamil films. She is the daughter of Johnson, who acted in the first Malayalam film, Vigathakumaran. She acted with MGR and Sivaji in their only movie together, Koondukk ...

, with the latter making her debut and the former in his first major role. Its music is composed by V. Dakshinamoorthy and popular playback singer Mehboob debuted through this cinema. It is a remake of the Hindi cinema ''

Jeevan Naiya ''Jeevan Naiya'' is a 1936 Hindi film directed by Franz Osten, and produced by Himanshu Rai for his studio Bombay Talkies. It is famous for being the screen debut early superstar Ashok Kumar. The film is about the ostracism of dancing girls. ...

'' with revised screenplay. The Tamil version was titled ''Pichaikkaari'' ( en, Lady beggar) and released on 18 May 1951. Vidwan P. Adhimoolan wrote the dialogues and lyrics. The song ''Vanaraniye enthan manaraniye'' sung by

Thiruchi Loganathan Thiruchi Loganathan (24 July 1924 – 17 November 1989) was a playback singer of the Tamil film industry. He is known for his work in movies such as ''Manthiri Kumari'' (1950) and '' Parasakthi'' (1952). He was married to Rajalakshmi, daughter ...

and

P. Leela Porayathu Leela (19 May 1934 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian playback singer, Carnatic vocalist and a music director. She has recorded more than 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, ...

was a popular number.

Cast

Malayalam

Main cast *

as Soman *

as Lakshmi * Adhimoolam as Kaniyan *

Pankajavalli Pankajavalli is an Indian actress in Malayalam movies. She was known for her supporting roles during the late 1960s and 1970s in Malayalam. She made her debut in Jeevitha Nouka in 1951. She has acted in more than 50 movies. Her grand daughter ...

as Janu, Raju's wife *

S. P. Pillai S. P. Pillai (28 November 1913 – 12 June 1985) was an Indian film and stage actor, best known for his comic roles in Malayalam films. Biography S. Pankajakshan Pillai alias S. P. Pillai was born in 1913 in the temple town of Ettumanoor in ...

as Shanku, Janu's brother * Nanukuttan as

Zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar (Born 9 February 1901 Ambalappuzha, Alappuzha district– 1985) was a Malayalam theatre actor, singer, and author. He is known for his contributions to Malayalam '' sangeetha natakam'' (musical operas). Along w ...

as Raju, Soman's elder brother ;Supporting cast * Ponnappan Arckatty as SI of Police *

Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai (1900–1979) was a Malayalam dramatist, poet, screen play writer and actor who was well known in the role of Ashaan in Kavyamela. He was born in 1900 in Muthukulam, a small village near Haripad in Alappuzha District ...

, Ambalappuzha Ravunni, Baby Girija, Jagadamma, Janamma, Mathappan, Mulavana, Soman Pillai.

Tamil

;Main cast *

as Soman * Kunju Kunju Bhagavathar as Raju *

as Lakshmi *

as Janu * Adhimoolam as Kaniyar *

as Lawyer *

as Shanku * Mathappan as Kunju ;Dance * C. R. Rajakumari * Indira Acharya *

* Gopalakrishnan * Balachandran

Soundtrack

V. Dakshinamoorthy composed the music for both Malayalam and Tamil versions. All the tunes for all the songs for both languages are the same with slight changes in playback singers. ;Malayalam songs (Jeevitha Nouka) Lyrics were penned by

Abhayadev Abhayadev (25 June 1913 – 26 July 2000) was an Indian poet and lyricist during the 1970s in Malayalam movies. He wrote lyrics for around 500 films and dialogues for 25 Malayalam movies. He was born as Ayyappan Pillai, to Karimalil Kesava Pillai ...

and

Vallathol Narayana Menon Vallathol Narayana Menon (Malayalam: വള്ളത്തോൾ നാരായണ മേനോൻ) (16 October 1878 – 13 March 1958) was a Malayalam poet and one of the triumvirate of modern Malayalam poetry, along with Asan and Ulloor ...

Playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...

s are

, Ghantasala,

, V. Dakshinamoorthy, Mehboob,

, Alappuzha Pushpam and

Kaviyoor Revamma Kaviyoor C. K. Revamma (14 April 1930 in Kaviyoor – 13 May 2007 in Kollam) was a popular Carnatic vocalist. Revamma, who started learning Carnatic music at the age of eight, had her initiation into the career of a musician at Aruvipuram at t ...

. ;Tamil songs (Pichaikkaari) Lyrics were penned by P. Aadhimoolan.

s are

, Ghantasala, Mehboob,

and

Box office

This film was a critical and commercial success and ran over 284 days in theatres. The film was screened in Kozhikode for 175 days and ran for 107 days in Ernakulam. 100 days have been completed in Kollam, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Kannur and Thrissur districts.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0251155, Jeevitha Nouka
''Jeevitha Nouka''
at the Malayalam Movie Database 1950s Malayalam-language films Indian black-and-white films Indian drama films 1951 drama films