''Manohara'' is a 1954 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 fantasy Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthur ...

film directed by

L. V. Prasad Akkineni Laxmi Vara Prasada Rao (17 January 1907 – 22 June 1994), known professionally as L. V. Prasad, was an Indian film director, producer, actor, and businessman. He was one of the pioneers of Indian cinema and is the recipient of the Dad ...

and written by M. Karunanidhi. Starring

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 ...

, T. R. Rajakumari,

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 ...

and Girija, the film was based on the play of the same name by

Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar Pammal Vijayarangam Sambandham Mudaliar (1873–1964), who has been described as "the founding father of modern Tamil theatre", was a playwright, director, producer and actor of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth centuries. He was a recipi ...

. It was released on 3 March 1954. The film was simultaneously shot 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 ...

and Hindi under the same title. Those versions were released on 3 June 1954.

Plot

Kesarivarman, an artiste, comes to the court of king Purushothaman, along with his wife Vasanthasenai to perform. The king falls in love with her. To get rid of her husband and be with the king, Vasanthasenai mixes poison in Kesari's milk. Kesari dies, but returns as an invisible man with the help of a sage. He seeks revenge. Though Purushothaman is already married to queen Padmavathi and has a son Manoharan alias Manohara, king Purushothaman becomes attracted to Vasanthasenai and starts living with her. Padmavathi becomes angry with the king, and vows never to see him again till he separates from Vasanthasenai. Vasanthasenai, pregnant with Kesari's child, convinces Purushothaman the child belongs to him. The child is born and named Vasanthan. Years roll by and Vasanthasenai influences Purushothaman in every decision, which annoys Manoharan. Manoharan respects his mother and never violates her orders. Padmavathi makes him promise that he would never harm Vasanthasenai as such an act would affect her husband's happiness. She orders him to restore the honour of their kingdom by retrieving the prestigious throne which was seized by king Muthuvijayan. Manohara and his friend Rajapriyan attack the kingdom of Muthuvijayan; not only does he get the throne back, he also falls for Muthuvijayan's daughter Vijaya, who tries to kill him to protect the country's honour. He marries her and returns to his kingdom with her. Manoharan becomes upset on seeing that instead of his mother, Vasanthasenai is accompanying the king to the prestigious throne. When he accuses her, she abuses his mother, prompting him to raise his hand to attack her. However, remembering his promise, he stops. Purushothaman, angry on seeing Manoharan's act, orders him to apologise. Manoharan refused and is sentenced to death by King Purusothaman. Even his mother's pleas to the king fail. Vasanthasenai also hatches a conspiracy, and gets Padmavathi and Vijaya imprisoned on false charges. When Manoharan is taken in a chariot for his death sentence, the invisible Kesari saves him. Manoharan, with the help of the minister Sathyaseelar and Rajapriyan, re-enters the palace disguised as a messenger Atchayan and works under Vasanthasenai. Ukrasenan, an opponent of Purushothaman, enters the palace disguised as a sage, on the invitation of Vasanthasenai. Manoharan, still disguised, makes Purushothaman see Vasanthasenai and Ukrasenan in a compromising position in the bedroom; when Purushothaman questions her, she imprisons him too. Purushothaman realises his mistakes and feels regret. Vijaya delivers a child in prison. Vasanthasenai orders that the child be brought to the Court and killed. "Atchayan", in his anxiety to see his newborn, visits the prison. Meanwhile, the real Atchayan escapes and meets Ukrasenan. They understand the truth and come rushing to the prison to see the disguised Manoharan with his child. He is arrested and brought to court. Vasanthasenai tries to kill Manoharan's child despite Padmavathi's pleas. When Padmavathi explains to Vasanthasenai why she had been patient all along, Vasanthasenai does not understand and slaps her. Enraged, Padmavathi decides it is enough of patience and time to respond, and advises Manohara to restore the honour of the family. Though he is chained to a wall, his mother's words make him powerful enough to break free and a fight ensues. Manoharan, Sathyaseelar, Rajapriyan and their army attack the queen's army and all the enemies are eliminated. Kesari comes to Manoharan's help in the process. When Vasanthasenai kills Vasanthan, she is taken by Kesari for the ultimate punishment in his hideout. Purushothaman is released and unites with his family.

Cast

;Male *

as Manoharan * Sadhasiva Rao as Purushothaman * S. A. Natarajan as Ukrasenan *

Javar Seetharaman Javar ( fa, جور, also Romanized as Jūr) is a village in Baraan-e Shomali Rural District, in the Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persi ...

as Sathyaseelar *

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 ...

as Rajapriyan * T. V. Radhakrishnan as Vasanthan * Pandian as Vikatan *

V. M. Ezhumalai V. M. Ezhumalai was an Indian actor and comedian who featured in Tamil language films. He was active in the field from 1937 till 1962. He had a style of his own making viewers to laugh by his body language as well as by voice. He started his car ...

as Doctor * M. R. Saminathan as Buddhist Yanan * M. K. Mustafa as Kesarivarman ;Female * T. R. Rajakumari as Vasanthasenai *

as Padmavathi * Girija as Vijaya * P. K. Saraswathi as Vasanthasenai (drama) *

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...

as Padmavathi (drama) *

Muthulakshmi Muthulakshmi is the widow of Veerappan, sandalwood smuggler who was killed by Special Task Force police in 2004. She lived in Salem, Tamil Nadu, India. She was born in Neruppore village, Dharmapuri District to a farming family. Wife of Veerappan ...

as Malini ;Dance *

Kumari Kamala Kumari Kamala (born 16 June 1934) is an Indian dancer and actress (also known as Kamala Lakshman). Initially featured as a child dancer, Kamala appeared in almost 100 Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films throughout her career. In the 1970s, she ...

Production

''Manohara'' was a play staged by

in the 1930s; he even acted in a film version which was released in 1930. K. R. Ramasamy successfully staged ''Manohara'' under his own banner, playing the lead actor,

portrayed the role of the queen in the play.

Jupiter Pictures Jupiter Pictures ( ta, ஜுபிடர் பிக்ச்சர்ஸ்) was an Indian feature film production company founded in Coimbatore in 1934 by M. Somasundaram (popularly known as "Jupiter Somu") and S.K. Mohideen. Jupiter Pictur ...

announced the film adaptation of ''Manohara'' with Ramasamy in the title role and A. S. A. Sami as the director. Elangovan, was engaged to write the script. However, this project was shelved and Ganesan was brought on board. Producer signed Ganesan either for the role of Rajapriyan or Manohara. However Ganesan was keen on doing the titular character and got selected. Elangovan worked on the script for sometime under the new setup, but he was soon replaced by M. Karunanidhi. Karunanidhi rewrote Mudaliar's play, introducing changes like the climactic sequence for which he drew inspiration from ''Samson and Delilah'', especially the part where the blind

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...

pushes the pillars down. L. V. Prasad was selected to direct the film.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by S. V. Venkatraman and T. R. Ramanathan. Tamil Songs Lyrics by K. D. Sundaram, Surabhi, Chellamuthukavi &

Udumalai Narayana Kavi [https://idhatri.com/udumalai-narayana-kavi/ Udumalai Narayana KavUdumalai Narayana Kavi Udumalai Narayana Kavi (25 September 1899 – 23 May 1981) was an Indian poet and lyricist known for his work in Tamil films. Early life Udumalai Narayana wa ...

. T. R. Ramanathan composed the music for ''Singara Paingkiliye Pesu'' and ''Nilaavile Ullaasamaaga Aadalaam''. Telugu Songs Hindi Songs

Release and reception

''Manohara'' was released on 3 March 1954. ''Ananda Vikatan'' wrote "''Manohara'' is an example if there is a good script combined with lively dialogues and powerful acting, the public will appreciate and love such films". According to historian G. Dhananjayan, the film became a success due to the performances of Ganesan and Kannamba and dialogues by Karunanidhi. It was later released in Telugu and Hindi with the same title. Jaggayya dubbed his voice for Sivaji Ganesan in Telugu. Aatreya wrote dialogues for the Telugu version.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{L. V. Prasad 1950s Tamil-language films 1954 films Indian multilingual films 1950s Telugu-language films Films directed by L. V. Prasad Films scored by S. V. Venkatraman Films with screenplays by M. Karunanidhi Indian films based on plays Indian historical fantasy films 1950s historical fantasy films Indian black-and-white films Films scored by T. R. Ramanathan