''Maragatham'' () is a 1959 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

crime thriller film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

produced, directed and co-written by S. M. Sriramulu Naidu. It is an adaptation of the novel ''Karunkuyil Kunrathu Kolai'' by T. S. D. Sami. 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 Padmini. It was released on 21 August 1959.

Plot

Cast

;Male Cast *

as Varendran *

T. S. Balaiah Thirunelveli Subramaniyan Balaiah (23 August 1914 – 22 July 1972) was an Indian actor. He is best known for playing supporting roles in Tamil films. Born in Sundankottai, near Udankudi in Thoothukudi, Balaiah was introduced to the cine fiel ...

* Chandrababu as Gundan *

S. Balachander Sundaram Balachander (18 January 1927 – 13 April 1990) was an Indian veena player and filmmaker. He directed, produced, and also composed music for a few of his films. Balachander was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1982. He died of a hear ...

as Anandar, Maranamarthanda Zamindar *

T. S. Durairaj T. S. Durairaj (31 December 1910 – 2 June 1986) was a Tamil film comedian, drama artist, producer and director in the early stages of the Tamil film industry (Kollywood). He received a Kalaimamani award from the Tamil Nadu Government in ...

O. A. K. Thevar O. A. K. Thevar (1924–1973) was an Indian actor. He acted in over 200 films and stage plays. He is known for his antagonistic roles. In 1955 he acted his debut movie ''Maman Magal''. His notable movie are Mahadhevi, Thaikkupin Tharam, Utha ...

* Narayana Pillai * Santhanam * Kanaiah * Pakkirisamy * Natarajan ;Female Cast * Padmini as Maragatham, Alamu * Sandhya as Karpagavalli * Gnanam *

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 ...

* Lakshmiprabha * Lakshmirajam *

Saraswathi Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a god ...

Production

''Maragadham'' was directed by S. M. Sriramulu Naidu, who also produced it under

Pakshiraja Studios Pakshiraja Studios was a motion picture movie studio in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, established by S. M. Sriramulu Naidu in 1945. The studio predominantly produced movies in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam languages, also having ma ...

. The film was based on ''Karunkuyil Kunrathu Kolai'', a novel by T. S. D. Sami. Naidu wrote the screenplay and

Murasoli Maran Murasoli Maran (17 August 1934 – 23 November 2003) was an Indian politician and an important leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party which was headed by his maternal uncle and mentor, M. Karunanidhi. A Member of Parliament for 3 ...

wrote the dialogues. Cinematography was handled by Sailen Bose, art direction by A. K. Sekhar, and editing by Velusamy.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by S. M. Subbaiah Naidu, with lyrics by Yogi Shuddhananda Bharathiar,

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 ...

, Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam & Ra. Balu. "Kunguma Poovey Konjum Puraavey" became a hit song. However, there is a controversy about this song. It is said that the tune for this song was composed by

T. G. Lingappa Thiruchirappalli Govindarajulu Lingappa (22 August 1927 – 5 February 2000) was an Indian music director who worked predominantly in Kannada language films. He also worked in Tamil and Telugu movies. He was the son of G. Govindarajulu Naidu w ...

for the film ''

Sabaash Meena ''Sabaash Meena'' () is a 1958 Indian Tamil-language comedy film produced and directed by B. R. Panthulu. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, B. Saroja Devi, Chandrababu and Malini, with Panthulu and S. V. Ranga Rao in supporting roles. It was rele ...

''. However, for some reason, Chandrababu refused to sing the song for that film. Later he gave this tune to Subbaiah Naidu and it was included in this film.

Release and reception

''Maragadham'' was released on 21 August 1959, and failed commercially.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0323188 1950s crime thriller films 1950s Tamil-language films 1959 films Films based on Indian novels Films directed by S. M. Sriramulu Naidu Indian crime thriller films Films scored by S. M. Subbaiah Naidu