''Konjum Salangai'' () is a 1962 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

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

dance film A dance film (also known as screen dance) is a film in which dance is used to reveal the central themes of the film, whether these themes be connected to narrative or story, states of being, or more experimental and formal concerns. In such films, ...

directed by M. V. Raman. The film stars

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

, Savitri,

R. S. Manohar Rasipuram Subramaniyan Iyer Manohar was an Indian actor who performed roles ranging from hero to villain to comedic characters. He was born at Namakkal in 1925. He acted in over 200 films. He is known for his versatility and dominating personal ...

and

Kumari Kamala Kumari Kamala (born 16 June 1934) is an Indian dancer and actress (also known as Kamala Lakshman). Initially featured as a child dancer, Kamala appeared in almost 100 Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films throughout her career. In the 1970s, she ...

. It was released on 14 January 1962. The film was dubbed into

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 ...

as ''

Muripinche Muvvalu ''Konjum Salangai'' () is a 1962 Indian Tamil-language musical dance film directed by M. V. Raman. The film stars Gemini Ganesan, Savitri, R. S. Manohar and Kumari Kamala. It was released on 14 January 1962. The film was dubbed into Telugu as ...

''. This film is the Indian

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

's one and only Tamil film to be entirely shot and released in

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

Plot

A king Parthiban gifts a rare anklet (''salangai'') to a dancer Aparajita. She incurs the displeasure of people who do not like a dancer having a hold over the kingdom. She begets the king's son, Amarendran and hands him over to a priest along with the anklet. She dies after extracting a promise from him that the truth will be revealed at an appropriate time. Amarendran grows into a strong young man interested in music, dancing and martial arts. One day, a special festival is arranged and the priest thinks it is time to reveal the secret. He carries the anklet in a wooden box, and while crossing a river in floods, he loses the anklet. It is found by Amarendran, who also rescues a dancer Mallika from the floods. He hands over the anklet to the king. Amarendran also happens to meet a singer Shantha, who falls in love with him. Mallika impresses the king, is subsequently appointed the court dancer and gets the anklet as a gift. In another dance competition, Mallika dances with Kamavalli (Kushalakumari) and the anklet gets stolen due to a conspiracy. The villain Nagadevan lusts after Mallika. How Amarendran and Shantha are united forms the rest of the story.

Cast

Credits adapted from the film's songbook: *

as Amarendran * Savithri as Shantha *

Manohar Manohar is a surname and given name. Notable people with the name include: ;given name * Manohar Ajgaonkar, Indian politician * Manohar Das, 17th century Indian Hindu painter * Manohar Joshi, politician * Manohar Lal Chibber, soldier * Manohar L ...

as Nagadevan *

as Mallika *

Kusalakumari Thanjavur Damayanthi Kusalakumari (6 December 1937 - 7 March 2019) was an Indian actress and dancer. She featured in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam language films. Early life Born in Thanjavur, Kusalakumari is a niece of T. R. Rajakumari. Her bi ...

as Kamavalli *S. Peer Mohamed as Panchanatham * S. V. Ramdas as Parthiban *

K. Sarangapani Kumbakonam Sarangapani (1904-1984) was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based ou ...

as Nandhi *C. P. Kittan as Kalamegam *

Rushyendramani Rushyendramani (1 January 1917 – 17 August 2002) was an Indian actress, singer, dancer, and playback singer from South India. She had more than 150 movies to her credit and acted in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi films from the 193 ...

as Shantha's Mother *

T. P. Muthulakshmi T. P. Muthulakshmi (Native name: தமிழ்: டி. பி. முத்துலட்சுமி) was an Indian actress who was active from the 1950 to 1969. She was a prominent lead comedy actress during the early 1950s in Tamil langu ...

as Alankaram *P. S. Gnanam as Mallika's Mother *V. P. S. Mani as Mari *Kumari Madhuri as Aparajitha *V. Seetharaman as Mama *Rathnam as Anjalai ;Supporting cast *T. V. Sethuraman, Gemini Balu, Socrates Thangaraj, Kumari Sasi, Stunt Raji, K. S. Manian

Production

''Konjum Salangai'' was the 100th film for Savitri as an actress. It was shot in 41 different sets at three studios Newtone Studios and Narasu Studios in Madras, and Raman Studio in Bombay.

The Illustrated Weekly of India ''The Illustrated Weekly of India'' was an English-language weekly newsmagazine publication in India. It started publication in 1880 (as ''Times of India'' Weekly Edition; later renamed as ''The Illustrated Weekly of India'' in 1923) and ceasin ...

: 1962, Volume 83, Issue 1 It was processed in London under the direct supervision of Raman. The budget of the film was .

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

S. M. Subbaiah Naidu Subburayulu Munuswami Subbaiah Naidu (a.k.a. SMS) (15 March 1914 – 26 May 1979) was an Indian composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He was one of the oldest music directors. He worked as an in-house music composer for Central Studios an ...

, while the lyrics for songs were written by Kannadasan,

Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam Kurichchi Marimuthu Balasubramaniam better known as Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam (1920-1994) was an Indian writer and poet who wrote mainly in the Tamil language. Early life Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam born on 13 May 1920 at Velukkudi near Mannargudi in ...

, and V. Seetharaman. One of the songs from this film "Singara Velane" was well received and provided breakthrough for S. Janaki who sang the song, Nadaswaram portions for the song was played by Karaikurichi Arunachalam. Regarding the recording of the song, the singing by Janaki was recorded at the Raman Studio in Bombay, while the nadaswaram portions were recorded in Madras, and the two tracks were mixed. The song is based on

Abheri Abheri (pronounced ābhēri) is a raga in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a ''Janya'' raga (derived scale), whose ''Melakarta'' raga (parent, also known as ''janaka'') is ''Kharaharapriya'', 22nd in the 72 ' ...

raga. Another song "Orumuraiyudan" is based on

Bilahari Bilahari is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a ''janya'' rāgam (derived scale) from the 29th '' melakarta'' scale '' Sankarabharanam''. It is a ''janya'' scale, as it does not have all the seve ...

raga. The dance sequence by Kumari Kamala for the song "Kaana Kann Kodi" which is a Ragamaliga, was pictured at the shrines in Chidambaram, Sri Rangam, Madurai, Thiruchendur and Sri Villiputhur. When the 78 RPM record was released before the release of the film, the song included Swaras and had a duration of 6:14 minutes. But in the film, the swaras was cut resulting in a short duration of 5:22 mins. A link to the full version is given under External links.

Release and reception

''Konjum Salangai'' was released in India on 14 January 1962, coinciding with

Pongal Pongal may refer to: * Pongal (festival), an annual Tamil festival * Pongal (dish) Pongal, also known as pongali or huggi, is an Indian rice dish. In Tamil, "pongal" means "boil" or "bubbling up". The two varieties of pongal are ''chakarai pong ...

. It was also released outside India, with the original having subtitles in more than 22 languages by a British company. It was also dubbed into other languages and received a fair amount of notice from critics. The film marked a record for being the first Tamil film to be exhibited in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

with a dubbed version. In a review dated 28 January 1962, ''

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 ...

'' said, "''Konjum Salangai'', the first Technicolor feature film of South India is a revealing experience that even our technicians can bring out in a film the rich, glossy sheen and pleasing tonal gradations comparable with that of any Technicolor product made abroad."

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0259387 1960s dance films 1960s Tamil-language films 1962 films 1962 musical films Films directed by M. V. Raman Films scored by S. M. Subbaiah Naidu Indian dance films Indian musical films