''Manamagan Thevai'' () is a 1957 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

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film produced and directed by

P. S. Ramakrishna Rao P. S. Ramakrishna Rao (12 October 1918 – 7 September 1986) was a veteran Telugu film director and producer. He married Bhanumathi, a multi-talented film artist from South India, on 8 August 1943. Filmography *'' Gruhalakshmi'' (1967) (Prod ...

. 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 ...

and Bhanumathi. Based on the American film ''

The Fabulous Senorita ''The Fabulous Senorita'' is a 1952 American musical comedy film directed by R. G. Springsteen and starring Estelita Rodriguez, Robert Clarke and Nestor Paiva. The film came at the tail-end of a cycle of Latin American-themed films, through it did ...

'' (1952), it was simultaneously produced 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 ''Varudu Kaavaali'' with Jaggayya replacing Ganesan. ''Manamagan Thevai'' was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.

Plot

Bhanumathi, the daughter of a wealthy man, desires to marry a shy professor named Vijayakumar instead of the wealthy suitor her father chose. To escape from trouble, she creates the fake identity of a twin sister, and in the hodgepodge that ensues, ends up in bigger trouble.

Cast

as Vijayakumar * Bhanumathi as Bhanumathi *

T. R. Ramachandran Thirukampuliyur Ranga Ramachandran (9 January 1917 – 30 November 1990) was an Indian actor and comedian who acted mainly in Tamil films. He was cast mostly in lead or supportive roles, especially in comical parts, from the 1940s to the 1960s. Kn ...

as K. Dhandapani (K.D) *

Chandrababu Joseph Panimayadas Chandrababu Rodriguez (1927–1974) was an Indian actor, comedian, director, singer and dancer, whose Chaplinesque-style on-screen movements and singing style made him popular from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. He had ...

as Chandrababu *

Karunanidhi Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Art ...

as Manohar * Javar Seetharaman as College Principal * Ragini as the dancer *

Devika Devika Devadoss (born Prameela Devi) (25 April 1943 – 2 May 2002) was an Indian actress who worked in Tamil, Telugu with few Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi film industry. She was a popular lead actress in the 1960s. Devika is the grand daughter ...

(credited as Premila) as Chandramathi *T. N Sivathanu as Karadipatti Jameendar (uncredited)

Production

''Manamagan Thevai'' was based on the American film ''

'' (1952). It was produced by

and his wife Bhanumathi under their company

Bharani Pictures Bharani Pictures is a film production company in Chennai, India. It was established by P. S. Ramakrishna Rao and Bhanumathi Ramakrishna in 1947. They later established Bharani Studios in 1950. It is named after their son Bharani. Dr. Bharani Palu ...

. Rao also served as director, while Bhanumathi played the female lead. The film was produced as a

bilingual (the Telugu version titled as ''Varudu Kaavaali''), with

playing the male lead in Tamil, and Jaggayya replacing him in Telugu.

was cast on Bhanumathi's recommendation, and was credited as Premila.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

G. Ramanathan Gopalan Iyer Ramanathan was an Indian music composer for Tamil movies. He is also known as ''Isai Methai'' (Genius of Music) or ''Sangeetha Chakravarthy'' (Emperor of Music) and is considered to be one of the influential Tamil music composers ...

. Lyrics were written by K. D. Santhanam, A. Maruthakasi and

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 ...

. A carnatic

Kriti Kriti may refer to: Art and entertainment * Kriti (music), a format of musical composition typical to Carnatic music * ''Kriti'' (film), a 2016 Hindi-language short film * Kriti TV, Greek TV station People with the name * Kriti Bharti, Indi ...

composed by Ghanam Krishna Iyer in the raga Bhairavi was used in the film, sung by Bhanumathi. The song "Pambara Kannale" belongs to

Baila Baila (also known as bayila; from the Portuguese verb ''bailar'', meaning ''to dance'') is a form of music, popular in Sri Lanka and among Goan Catholics. The genre originated centuries ago among the Portuguese Burghers and Sri Lankan Kaffirs. B ...

, a Sri Lankan musical genre. It was later sampled in the song "En Peru Meenakumari", composed by

Devi Sri Prasad Devi Sri Prasad (; born 2 August 1979) is an Indian film composer, lyricist, singer-songwriter and performer. Popularly known by his initials DSP, he is best known for his work in Telugu-language films, and has also worked in a few Tamil films ...

for '' Kanthaswamy'' (2009).

Reception

''Manamagan Thevai'' was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0263708 1950s multilingual films 1950s Tamil-language films 1950s Telugu-language films 1957 films 1957 romantic comedy films Films directed by P. S. Ramakrishna Rao Films scored by G. Ramanathan Indian multilingual films Indian remakes of American films Indian romantic comedy films