''Kodimalar'' is a 1966 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, na ...

-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- ...

written and directed by

C. V. Sridhar Chitthamoor Vijayaraghavalu Sridhar (22 July 1933 – 20 October 2008) was an Indian screenwriter and film director. He has directed nearly 60 films in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu Languages. Early life Sridhar hailed from Chitthamur, a villa ...

. The film stars Muthuraman and R. Vijayakumari, with

A. V. M. Rajan Shanmugasundaram, known by his stage name A.V.M. Rajan, (26 July 1935) is a former Indian actor in Tamil cinema who was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Born in Pudukottai, Shanmugasundaram was very eager to join cinema though he held a bachel ...

Nagesh Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor, mostly remembered for his roles as a comedian in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 fi ...

M. V. Rajamma M. V. Rajamma (10 March 1918 – 23 April 1999) was an Indian actress, producer and playback singer of films mostly in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu languages from the 1930s through 1970s. She has the distinction of having acted as both heroine an ...

and Kanchana in supporting roles. It is a remake of the

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

film '' Shyamali'' (1956), itself based on Debnarayan Gupta's play of the same name. The film was released on 4 March 1966 and failed commercially.

Plot

Lakshmi, a mute woman, faces numerous troubles with her mother-in-law.

Cast

;Male cast * Muthuraman as Ramu *

as Thambi Durai *

as Annamalai ;Female cast * R. Vijayakumari as Lakshmi *

as Ramu's mother * Kanchana as Parvathi

Production

Although the

film '' Shyamali'' (1956), based on Debnarayan Gupta's play of the same name was a failure, C. V. Sridhar still decided to adapt the story in Tamil. The remake, titled ''Kodimalar'', was produced by Sree Productions and directed by Sridhar who also wrote the screenplay. Cinematography was handled by Balu, and editing by N. M. Shankar. Filming was suspended, but resumed in October 1965 after sixth months.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by M. S. Viswanathan, with lyrics by

Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...

Release and reception

''Kodimalar'' was released on 4 March 1966, and distributed by Rajshri Productions. On 12 March 1966, ''

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 be ...

'' wrote, "The main defect with the film is that its characters and incidents are so strikingly similar to those seen in some previous Tamil movies that we do not feel like viewing a new film." Writing for ''

Sport and Pastime ''Sport and Pastime'' was a weekly sports magazine published by The Hindu Group from 1947 to 1968. Founded by S. K. Gurunathan, the magazine was eventually stopped in 1968. It was replaced with ''Sportstar ''Sportstar'' is an Indian monthly ...

'', T. M. Ramachandran wrote "The delineation of the story follows the conventional pattern. The direction by Sridhar is uninspiring in the first half of the film, in which they are dull patches though it improves in the second". ''

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...

'' said Vijayakumari's performance salvaged the film's flaws. The film was commercially unsuccessful.

References

External links

* {{C. V. Sridhar 1960s Tamil-language films 1966 drama films 1966 films Films about disability in India Films directed by C. V. Sridhar Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films with screenplays by C. V. Sridhar Indian drama films Indian films based on plays Tamil remakes of Bengali films