Krishnan Thoothu also known as Sri Krishnan Thoothu was a film produced by S. M. Letchumanan Chettiyar and Rajagopal Talkies in the year 1940. The film was directed by R. Prakash. This film was known famously since this was the debut Tamil film of Telugu actress

P. Kannamba Pasupuleti Kannamba (''Pasupulēţi Kannāṃba'') (5 October 1911 – 7 May 1968) was an Indian actress, playback singer and film producer of Telugu language, Telugu cinema, of Andhra Pradesh, India. She acted in more than 170 films and produce ...

.
A short comedy film titled Kozhukattai Kuppu was also screened along with the main film,

Plot

The story of the film was of the history of Lord Krishna undertaking the mission of getting justice for the Pandavas from the

Kaurava ''Kaurava'' is a Sanskrit term which refers to descendants of Kuru, a legendary king of India who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the epic ''Mahabharata''. Usually, the term is used for the 100 sons of King Dhritarashtra and his wif ...

King Duryodhana.

Serukulathur Sama Swaminathan Vaidyanathan (26 June 1904—11 January 1963), known by his stage name Serukulathur Sama, was an Indian stage and film actor who was primarily known for playing the role of the Hindu god Krishna in Tamil language Hindu mythological f ...

played the main role of Lord Krishna. The debut actress P. Kannamba played the heroine role. Both

N. S. Krishnan Nagercoil Sudalaimuthu Krishnan, popularly known as Kalaivanar () and also as NSK, was an Indian actor-comedian, theatre artist, playback singer and writer in the early stages of the Tamil film industry – in the 1940s and 1950s. He is conside ...

and T. A. Mathuram contributed to the short film with their comedies.

Cast

Cast adapted from the database of

Film News Anandan Film News Anandan (born Mani) was an Indian film historian and photographer based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was popularly known as the "walking encyclopedia" of Tamil cinema. Early life Anandan was born as Mani. His father P. K. Gnanasagaram ...

and the film's songbook ;Male Cast *

as Krishnan * Visalur Subramania Bhagavathar as Duryodhanan * Nagainallur Lakshminarayana Bhagavathar as Vidhurar * Sandow Natesa Pillai as Karnan * D. Bala Subramanyam as Balaramar *

S. S. Mani Bhagavathar S. S. Mani Bhagavathar was an Indian Carnatic music singer, cine actor and a playback singer in Tamil language films. Early life Born at Thirupanangudi in Mayavaram and his full name is S. Subramanian Mani Bhagavathar. He was the principal di ...

as Dharmar * Battling. C. S. Dhan Singh as Bhiman * R. S. Ramaswami Iyengar as Arjunan * K. V. Krishnan as Nagulan * Kothamangalam Ramasami as Sahadevan * M. R. Durairaj as Sadhaki * M. A. Ganapathi Bhat as Aswathama * M. S. Velayutham as Devendran ;Male cast (continued) * T. Gopal Rao as Viradarajan * L. Narayana Somayajalu as Sanjayar * C. Chinaiah as Dhritharashtran * K. S. A. Sami as Bhishmar * M. Thiruvenkatam as Dushasanan * K. Devanarayanan as Vikarnan * T. M. Babu as Durvasar * P. G. Venkatesan as Naradar *

! (Kozhukattai Kuppu) * Comedian Jolly Kittu Iyer as Sakuni * Comedian E. Krishnamoorthi as Kandhan * Comedian Kunchithapadam Pillai as Rangan ;Female cast * ''Gruhalakshmi Star''

as Draupadi * M. R. Vasuvambal as Kunti Devi * M. N. Vijayal as Sathyabhama * T. S. Krishnaveni as Rukmani * T. A. Mathuram! (Kozhukattai Kuppu) * M. K. Babuji as Young Kunti * Dhanabhagyam, Janaki Bai as Dancers * Baby Ranga & Sulochana as Baby Dancers ;Female support cast * M. R. Kanakarathnam, M. R. Ramalakshmi, Pushpammal, Rajeevi, Pattu, Sulochana, Lakshmikantham, Shankari, Padmavathi.

Songs

No music director was credited, but 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 ...

and Rajagopala Iyer. The songs were recorded by Jyotish Sinha.

Box office

The film though well directed by R. Prakash, the drawback was with the debut heroine P. Kannamba's poor Tamil accent. She didn't know Tamil and spoke it with a Telugu slang, which didn't go well with the Tamil audiences.

References

1940 films 1940s Tamil-language films {{1940s-Tamil-film-stub