''Koteeswaran'' () is a 1955 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

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

co-written, co-produced, edited and directed by

Sundar Rao Nadkarni Sundar Rao Nadkarni was an Indian film actor, editor, cinematographer, producer and director. He was the director of the first hit film for AVM productions Bhookails in Telugu in the year 1940, and later the record-creating Tamil film '' Haridas ...

. The film stars

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...

, Padmini,

S. Balachander Sundaram Balachander (18 January 1927 – 13 April 1990) was an Indian veena player and filmmaker. He directed, produced, and also composed music for a few of his films. Balachander was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1982. He died of a hear ...

and Ragini. Based on B. V. Warerkar's

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

play ''Haach Mulacha Baap'', it revolves around two friends setting out to fight against the

dowry system The dowry system in India refers to the durable goods, cash, and real or movable property that the bride's family gives to the groom, his parents and his relatives as a condition of the marriage. Dowry is referred to dahez in Hindi and as ''jahez ...

in their village. The film was released on 13 November 1955.

Plot

Chandar and Kannan are two friends. They return to their village after completing their studies, but are shocked by the prevalence of the

. They both set out to fight against it.

Cast

;Male cast *

as Doctor Chandar *

as Pasupathy * Sriram as Kannan * K. A. Thangavelu as

Rao Bahadur __NOTOC__ Rao may refer to: Geography * Rao, West Sumatra, one of the districts of West Sumatra, Indonesia * Råö, a locality in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden Transport * Dr. Leite Lopes–Ribeirão Preto State Airport , IAT ...

Ramasami * Sirukalathur Sama as Jakamba * Sattam Pillai Venkatraman as Rangu Pillai * A. Ganesh Singh as Servant Karuppan ;Female cast * Padmini as Neela * Ragini as Kamala *

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 Parvathi * Baby Saraswathi as Usha * Baby Rajakumari as Rani ;Male support cast * M. A. Ganapathi Bhat, S. V. Shanmugam, Vijaymani.

Production

''Koteeswaran'' is based on ''Haach Mulacha Baap'', a

play written by B. V. Warerkar. It was directed by

who also produced the film with B. Radhakrishna under Sri Ganesh Movietone, and wrote the screenplay alongside Kangeyan. The dialogues were written by

Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass (1914-1965) was an Indian poet and script writer who wrote mainly in the Tamil language. He wrote more than 500 lyrics for Tamil films. Early life Born to Narayanasamy and Pappu at Manampoochavadi in Thanjavur district, h ...

and Kangeyan. Cinematography was handled by G. K. Ramu, the art direction by D. S. Kotkavngar and the editing by Nadkarni. The final length of the film was .

Soundtrack

The music was composed by S. V. Venkatraman. The lyrics were written by

Papanasam Sivan Paapanaasam Raamayya Sivan (26 September 1890 – 1 October 1973) was an Indian composer of Carnatic music and a singer. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1971. He was also a film score composer in Kannada cinema ...

, Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass, Gemini Seetharaman and T. K. Sundhara Vathiyar.

Release and reception

''Koteeswaran'' was released on 13 November 1955,

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...

day. ''

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 ...

'' wrote, "Crisp and spicy dialogue is the highlight" of the film.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0245211 1950s Tamil-language films 1955 comedy films 1955 films Films scored by S. V. Venkatraman Indian comedy films Indian films based on plays