''Kumudham'' is a 1961 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 film, directed by Adurthi Subba Rao and written by

K. S. Gopalakrishnan K. S. Gopalakrishnan was an Indian screenwriter, director, producer, and lyricist, who worked in Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films. Since the early 1960s, he directed 70 films. He spent most of his career directing and producing movies with soc ...

. The film stars

S. S. Rajendran Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, also known by his initials SSR (January 1928 – 24 October 2014), was an Indian actor, director, producer and politician who worked in Tamil theatre and cinema. Film career Rajendran made his acting de ...

Vijayakumari Vijayakumari is an Indian stage, television and film actress. She was a stage actress at Kerala People's Arts Club and Kalidasa Kalakendra. She is the winner of the Kerala State award for best stage actress. Currently she is the Secretary of Ka ...

and

Sowcar Janaki Sankaramanchi Janaki (born T. Janaki; 12 December 1931), popularly known as Sowcar Janaki (Tamil) or Shavukaru Janaki (Telugu) or Sahukar Janaki (Kannada), is an Indian actress who has appeared in over 300, films, predominantly in Tamil, Telug ...

. It was released on 29 July 1961 and became a commercial success, later receiving the Certificate of Merit for Third Best Feature Film at

9th National Film Awards The 9th National Film Awards, then known as State Awards for Films, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in 1961. The awards were announced on 5 April 1962 and were pres ...

. The film was remade in

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 '' Manchi Manasulu'' (1962), in

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 ...

as ''Suseela'' (1963) and 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 ...

as '' Pooja Ke Phool'' (1964).

Plot

In Vandalur, Chithambaram, a blacksmith is living with his daughter Anjalai and brother Kumaran. Chithambaram sends Kumaran to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

for his college studies and works hard to send money for his stay there. He becomes seriously ill with tuberculosis and Kumaran learns of this. To relieve his brother's burden, he tries to move into a less expensive lodging. A Public Prosecutor, who instantly likes his good behaviour offers a portion of his house for a very low rent. To convince his wife, he states that Kumaran is married. However, his daughter Shanthi finds out from Kumaran's diary that he is not married and starts liking him. Kumaran also falls in love with her and Shanthi's father and mother, on knowing the truth that he is single, give consent and decide to get them married. Anjalai falls in love with Kasilingam, a ruffian with a blind sister Kumudham. Kasilingam also has a relationship with Mallika (Mohana) from

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, who keeps sending money for his expenses every month, which he spends lavishly. Kasilingam's parents are worried about the wayward behaviour of him and also about their blind daughter, whom no one is willing to marry. Chithambaram becomes seriously ill and Kumaran receives a telegram. He rushes with Shanthi and her parents. When Chithambaram learns that Kumaran will marry Shanthi and live in Chennai, he worries about his daughter Anjalai and how much he thought about his brother's welfare and not the daughter's all along. That's when Kumaran accepts the responsibility to take care of Anjalai. Chithambaram takes a promise from Kumaran to protect Anjalai like his own daughter and then dies. Kumaran is unable to move to Chennai because of the promise. One day. Kumaran finds out that Anjalai is in love with Kasilingam and he disapproves. But Anjalai requests and in order to fulfill his vow to his brother, he goes to meet Kasilingam's parents. They agree to the alliance, provided Kumaran marries their blind daughter Kumdham. Kumaran is shocked and finally agrees for Anjalai's sake. Kumaran goes to Chennai and explains the situation to Shanthi and her parents. She is upset but accepts. Both the marriages take place. Kumaran disturbed about spoiling Shanthi's life and does not lead a happy life with Kumudham. One day Shanthi lands up at the village, sees the situation and makes Kumaran realise his mistake. Soon, Kumaran and Kumudham start living a happy life. Shanthi keeps visiting them regularly and Kumudham realises that it is she, whom Kumaran sacrificed to marry her. Her respect for Shanthi goes up further. Kumaran takes Kumudham to

Mahabalipuram Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is o ...

for a holiday. In the meanwhile, Kasilingam's lady love Mallika arrives from Bangalore and learns of his marriage with Anjalai. Kasilingam takes her to Mahabalipuram and tries to explain. Mallika shows his love letters and threatens to expose him. When he does not budge, she tries to kill him with a knife. He manages to overpower her, stabs her and throws her from the hilltop. Kumaran and Kumudham hear the cry and find the dead body of Mallika and Kasilingam running away. He understands the truth and now is in a predicament, whether to expose Kasilingam or not. Because of his promise to take care of Anjalai, he takes the blame for the murder. Both Shanthi and Kumudham are shocked and plead with him but Kumaran is adamant and accepts the act of murder in the court. The Public Prosecutor is Shanthi's father and Shanthi dons the robes to argue against her father. Step by step she dismantles the case against Kumaran. However, in the absence of any evidence, the court is yet to come to a conclusion. One night, in a drunken state, Kasilingam reveals that it was he who killed Mallika. Anajalai overhears this and to protect her innocent uncle, searches and locates the love letters of Mallika to Kasilingam and hands them over to Shanthi to fight the case. Shanthi shows them in court, but they are not considered as evidence for the murder. Kasilingam gets angry with Anajalai, beats her and dumps her in a temple, where he has hidden the clothing he has worn during the killing and the knife used to kill Mallika. Anjalai finds them while appealing to the goddess. With great difficulty, she reaches the court and hands over the evidences. Kumudham also confirms that the person who stamped her feet while rushing out of the murder spot was Kasilingam, guilty. Realising the way everyone is working for truth and fairness including his wife, Kasilingam reforms and apologises for his mistakes to Anjalai. Finally, Kumaran is acquitted and unites with Kumudham. Shanthi goes back to her life with her parents.

Cast

;Male cast *

as Kumaran * S. V. Ranga Rao as the Public Prosecutor * M. R. Radha as Kasilingam * T. S. Muthaiah as Chithambaram *Rama Rao as Poosari *C. S. Pandiyan *

P. D. Sambandam P. D. Sambandam was a comic actor who has performed many supporting and minor roles in Tamil films. Filmography References

Male actors in Tamil cinema Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Li ...

as Kumudham and Kasilingam's father *Sairam ;Female cast *

as Shanthi *

as Kumudham *

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 ...

as Anjalai * Sundari Bai as Shanthi's mother *Mohana as Mallika *Seethalakshmi as Kumudham and Kasilingam's mother

Soundtrack

The music was composed by K. V. Mahadevan. Lyrics were 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 ...

and

A. Maruthakasi A. Maruthakasi (13 February 1920 – 29 November 1989) was an Indian poet and film lyricist who wrote mainly in the Tamil language. He penned more than 4000 lyrics in more than 250 Tamil films. Early life Born in Melakudikadu in Tiruchirappal ...

. The songs, particularly ''Mama Mama'', ''Kallile Kalai'' and ''Ennaivittu'' were well received. The song ''Kallile Kalai'' which was shot at Mahabalipuram and is based on Jaunpuri raga. The song ''Mama Mama'' was remixed by Deva in ''

Manikanda ''Manikanda'' is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Selva. Arjun plays a dual role, that of father and son. The film, which began production in 2002, went through more production, and was finally released in 2007, was promoted ...

'' (2007).

Reception

The film become a box office success and ran for over 100 days in theatres. It won the Certificate of Merit for Third Best Film in

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil The Indian Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several aw ...

for the year 1961.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Adurthi Subba Rao 1960s Tamil-language films 1961 films Films directed by Adurthi Subba Rao Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan Films with screenplays by K. S. Gopalakrishnan Tamil films remade in other languages