''Mathar Kula Manikkam'' () is a 1956 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

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

T. Prakash Rao Tatineni Prakash Rao (24 November 1924 – 1 July 1992) was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked in Telugu cinema, Telugu, Hindi cinema, Hindi, and Tamil cinema, Tamil films. In a career spanning nearly four decades, he directed ov ...

. The film stars

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

Akkineni Nageswara Rao Akkineni Nageswara Rao (20 September 1923 – 22 January 2014), widely known as ANR, was an Indian actor and producer, known for his works majorly in Telugu cinema. He starred in many landmark films in his seventy five-year career, and became on ...

, Anjali Devi and Savitri, with music composed by S. Rajeswara Rao. It is based on

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

's 1906 novel '' Noukadubi''. The screenplay and dialogue were written by

Vempati Sadasivabrahmam Vempati Sadasivabrahmam shortly Sadasivabrahmam () (b: 1905 – d: 1968) was a writer of film stories, dialogues and lyrics in the early period of Telugu cinema.Sadasivabrahmam Vempati, Luminaries of 20th Century, Part II, Potti Sriramulu Telugu U ...

and C. V. Sridhar, respectively. The film was simultaneously made 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 ...

under the title ''

Charana Daasi ''Charana Daasi'' () is a 1956 Indian Telugu-language drama film written by Vempati Sadasivabrahmam and directed by T. Prakash Rao. It stars N. T. Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Anjali Devi and Savitri, with music composed by S. Rajeswara ...

'', both versions were critical and commercial successes.

Plot

The film is based on two couples – where the first couple Dr. Chandra Shekar and Parvathi and the second couple is Ravi and Lakshmi. Ravi and Lakshmi are happy lovers. Ravi is summoned and asked to marry another girl forcibly. Since his father's life and honor are at stake, Ravi agrees to the marriage. Simultaneously, another marriage takes place in the same village; Dr. Chandra Shekar visits his best friend's sister's marriage, but the marriage cancels at the last moment due to dowry problems. To keep up his friend's prestige, Shekar marries his sister, Parvathi. Due to the sudden marriage, the couple hasn't seen each other. Thereby because marriage is happening without his wish, Ravi has also not seen the bride's face. Both the bridal parties are traveling on the same train, which meets with a disastrous accident. In the accident, Ravi's parents and wife are killed. Parvathi was lying unconscious in a bridal dress and Ravi mistakes her for his wife and takes her home. Shekar thinks that both his friend & wife are dead. Before it is too late, Ravi realizes his terrible mistake. He keeps it secret from Parvathi and engaged himself in the relentless task of finding Parvathi's husband and restoring them. Before he could succeed, there arise clashes between him and Lakshmi because she mistakes Parvathi as Ravi's wife. Parvathi also discovers the truth and fled from Ravi's house with shame and agony, She falls into a river, and fate again intervened to be saved by her mother-in-law and lands in her husband Shekar's house. Living with her in-law she is not able to reveal her identity because of a hesitation that Shekar may doubt her virginity. Meanwhile, fate again struck; Lakshmi gets mentally sick because of the cheating done by Ravi and she is admitted to Shekar's hospital; only during the time of treatment do Lakshmi, Shekar, and their families come closer. Their parents want to make the married. Parvathi also happily agrees to make remarriage to her husband. During the time of the engagement, Ravi arrives and reveals the entire truth. Shekar also accepts Parvathi wholeheartedly and both of them thank Ravi. Lakshmi also says sorry to him. Finally, the movie ends on a happy note with the marriage of Ravi & Lakshmi.

Cast

Cast according to the opening credit of the film ;Male cast *

as Chandrasekar *

A. Nageswara Rao Akkineni Nageswara Rao (20 September 1923 – 22 January 2014), widely known as ANR, was an Indian actor and producer, known for his works majorly in Telugu cinema. He starred in many landmark films in his seventy five-year career, and became on ...

as Ravi * S. V. Ranga Rao * K. A. Thangavelu *

D. Balasubramaniam D. Balasubramaniam was an Indian actor whose career spanned from the late 1930s through the late 1950s. He was well known for his roles in mythological films and later switched to character roles. Filmography References Male actors in Tam ...

* K. Sarangapani * Kaka Radhakrishnan * Friend Ramasami * Balaji * C. V. V. Panthulu * M. A. Ganapathi Bhat * M. S. Natarajan * K. M. S. Mani ;Female cast * Anjali Devi as Parvathi * Savithri as Lakshmi *

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 ...

* M. N. Rajam * K. R. Chellam *

S. D. Subbulakshmi Srivaikundam Duraisamy Subbulakshmi was an Indian actress and singer who was active in Tamil cinema during the 1930s and 1940s. She was the wife of film director K. Subramanyam. She is credited with having introduced the singer and family fri ...

;Dance * Kamala Lakshmanan * Ragini * Rita

Production

The film is based on

's novel, ''The Wreck''. The director

chose to replace the boat crash sequence in the novel with a train accident in the film, inspired by a real event that took place near

Ariyalur Ariyalur () is a town and district headquarters of Ariyalur district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is rich in limestone, surrounded with seven cement factories and two sugar factories. The town is located at a distance of from th ...

. C. V. Sridhar, then an up-and-coming writer, was recruited as the dialogue writer. The film was shot simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu languages, with the Telugu version titled ''

''. ''Mathar Kula Manikkam'' was the only Tamil film in which Anjali Devi and Savitri co-starred.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by S. Rajeswara Rao and lyrics were written by

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 w ...

, Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass and A. Maruthakasi.

Release

''Mathar Kula Manikkam'' and ''Charanadasi'', the Tamil and Telugu versions respectively, were released the same year and were box-office successes. The former helped Gemini Ganesan and Anjali Devi establish a career in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywo ...

References

External links

* {{authority control 1950s Tamil-language films 1956 films 1956 romantic drama films Films based on Indian novels Films based on works by Rabindranath Tagore Films directed by T. Prakash Rao Films scored by S. Rajeswara Rao Indian black-and-white films Indian romantic drama films