''Madhuraiyai Meetta Sundharapandiyan'' () is a 1978 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

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

, directed by

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

, starring himself in the lead role, with M. N. Nambiar,

P. S. Veerappa P. S. Veerappa (10 September 191111 September 1998) was an Indian actor and a producer of Tamil cinema. Early life Born in 1911, Veerappa belonged to Kangeyam, then part of Coimbatore District in Madras Presidency. But he grew up in his gra ...

, Latha and

Padmapriya Padmapriya (born Padmalochani; died 16 November 1997) was an Indian actress who worked in Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. Her first movie was in Telugu, ''Adapillala Tandri'' (1974). In Kannada, she debuted with ''Bangarada Gudi'' ...

. It was Ramachandran's final film as an actor. The film, based on the

serial novel In literature, a serial is a printing or publishing format by which a single larger work, often a work of narrative fiction, is published in smaller, sequential instalments. The instalments are also known as ''numbers'', ''parts'' or ''fascicle ...

''Kayalvizhi'' by

Akilan Akilandam, better known by his pen name Akilan, was an Indian writer and novelist who wrote in Tamil. He was attracted by Gandhian philosophy during his school days and he discontinued his college education at Pudukkottai to join the freedom st ...

. Though it was released after Ramachandran became

chief minister of Tamil Nadu The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with th ...

, In its initial theatrical release, box office collection was dismal by the standards set by MGR's movies. However, subsequently, the movie gained high recognition for its historical value.

Plot

A brave prince named Sundharapandhiyan saves a kingdom from the hands of a terrible king. Under the identity of an itinerant poet, Paintamizh Kumaran, he is going to fire the consciousness of the people with his words and reunite them in his cause, which is the defence of freedom and rights.

Cast

as Paintamizh Kumaran alias Sundharapandhiyan * Latha as Kayalvizhi *

as Princess Bhamini * M. N. Nambiar as Prince Raja Rajan *

as The Minister Thaigum Valavarai * K. Kannan as The King Narasihma * S. V. Subbaiah as The King Chozhan *

S. V. Sahasranamam Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Sahasranamam (29 November 1913 – 19 February 1988), also known as S. V. S., was an Indian actor and director. Primarily a theatre actor, he also worked in over 200 films, mainly in Tamil cinema. Early lif ...

as The King Kulasegara Pandiyan *

Shanmugasundaram Shanmugasundaram was an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil films. He began his career as an actor by starring in ''Ratha Thilagam'' (1963) and '' Karnan'' (1964), and continued his career for seven decades. He is also a dubbing artist. He h ...

as Son of Minister *

V. S. Raghavan V S Raghavan (18 February 1925 – 24 January 2015) was an Indian actor, who has acted both in Tamil films as well as television. He started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a character actor in films, starting ...

as The Minister *

Thengai Srinivasan Thengai Srinivasan (21 October 1937 – 9 November 1987) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil language, Tamil-language films and plays from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was given the prefix ''Thengai'' (coconut) after his role as a coco ...

as Vilava, The Prince Sundharapandhiyan's spy *

Isari Velan Isari Velan was an Indian actor, politician and former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. His daughter Azaghu Tamil Selvi is a doctor who is also an educationist. His son Ishari K. Ganesh is an educationist who acted in few films ...

as Naghavana * Mustapha *

Ennatha Kannaiya Ennathe Kannaiah (1925 - 7 August 2012) was a comedian who appeared in Tamil-language films. In the Ravichandran-Jayalalita starrer Naan, as he spoke his dialogues, he frequently used the word Ennathe and this became his nickname. Decades later, ...

as Salabu * T. K. S. Natarajan as Iyer *Trichy Sounderarjan as Kingdom's doctor

Production

''Madhuraiyai Meetta Sundharapandiyan'' is based on the

''Kayalvizhi'' by

. The film began production in 1974, with

B. R. Panthulu Budaguru Ramakrishnaiah Panthulu (26 July 1910 – 8 October 1974) was an Indian film director, producer and actor. He is best known for directing films in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. His most popular films are '' Karnan'', ''Veerapandiya ...

as director and producer; however, following his death,

took over directing while Sokkaiah and Subramani Iyer of Soleswar Combines took over production. It was Ramachandran's final film as an actor, after which he became a full-time politician. (When this film was released, Ramachandran was already Tamil Nadu's

chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

for months).

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. He was popularly known as ''Mellisai Mannar''. He compose ...

. The song "Amutha Thamizhil" is based on Dwijavanthi raga.

Release and reception

''Madhuraiyai Meetta Sundharapandiyan'' was released on 14 January 1978. In its initial theatrical release, box office collection was sub-par for an MGR movie, with many people attributing it to the poor timing of release.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0259412 1970s Tamil-language films 1978 films Films based on Indian novels Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films set in the Chola Empire Films set in the Pandyan Empire Indian historical action films Films directed by M. G. Ramachandran