''Menaka'' is a 1955 Indian

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...

film directed by V. C. Subburaman. It is a remake of the 1935 film of the same name, in turn based on the novel of the same name by

Vaduvur Duraisami Iyengar Vaduvur Duraisami Iyengar (1880 – 1942) was a Tamil writer of detective fiction in the 1940s. He is one of the pioneer in detective story writing in Tamil language. His protagonist, Digambara Samiar, was a ''sanyasi'' or holy man on a miss ...

. The film stars K. R. Ramasamy and Lalitha. The film was released on 5 January 1955, and emerged a critical and commercial failure.

Plot

The story is about a loving couple getting separated by designs of evil doers. However, after many sufferings, they reunite.

Cast

List adapted from the database of

Film News Anandan Film News Anandan (born Mani) was an Indian film historian and photographer based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was popularly known as the "walking encyclopedia" of Tamil cinema. Early life Anandan was born as Mani. His father P. K. Gnanasagaram ...

and from

the Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

review article. ;Male cast * K. R. Ramasamy *

K. Sarangapani Kumbakonam Sarangapani (1904-1984) was an Indian actor who worked mainly 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 ou ...

* T. K. Ramachandran *

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 ...

*Acharya *Friend Ramasami *T. N. Sivathanu *M. S. Karuppaiah *T. V. Sethuraman *V. P. Balaraman *V. P. S. Mani ;Female cast * Lalitha * Ragini * C. K. Saraswathi *M. S. S. Bhagyam *K. S. Angamuthu *Indira *S. K. Venubai *K. S. Adilakshmi *K. S. Rajam *K. S. Chandra ;Dance * Padmini * Kushalakumari

Production

This is the second edition of the same story by

that he first published as a novel. Then it was staged as a successful play by TKS Brothers. It was made into a film in 1935 with the same title. K. R. Ramasamy who featured in a supporting role in the 1935 edition, was the hero in this 1955 edition. The film was produced and directed by V. C. Subburaman. Screenplay and dialogues were written by A. T. Krishnaswamy. Cinematography was handled by P. Balasubramaniam, R. R. Chandran and M. S. Mani while the editing was done by B. V. M. V. Ramaraju was in charge of art direction while the choreography was done by V. Madhavan. Still photography was by R. N. Nagaraja Rao.

Soundtrack

Music 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 ...

C. N. Pandurangan Cuddalore Nagarathinam Pandurangan (1912 – 1975) was a noted music director who had scored music for Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Sinhala movies. C. N. Pandurangan was an Indian music director who worked mainly in South Indian films. Early life ...

and

Vedha ‌ ''Vedha'' is a 2008 Indian Tamil language action drama film, directed by R. Nithyakumar starring Arun Vijay and Sheela. The music is composed by Srikanth Deva. The film opened to negative reviews. Plot Vijay (Arun Vijay) is crazy about his ...

while the lyrics were penned by

Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...

, Ku. Sa. Krishnamoorthy,

A. Maruthakasi A. Maruthakasi (13 February 1920 – 29 November 1989) was an Indian poet and film lyricist who wrote mainly in the Tamil language. He penned more than 4000 lyrics in more than 250 Tamil films. Early life Born in Melakudikadu in Tiruchirappal ...

, K. P. Kamatchisundaram, K. D. Santhanam and

S. D. Sundharam S. D. Sundharam ( ta, சே. து. சுந்தரம்) also written as S. D. Sundaram, (22 July 1921 – 10 March 1979) was an Indian Tamil playwright, dialogue writer and lyricist. He also co-directed one Tamil feature film and produ ...

Reception

''Menaka'' was poorly received by critics, and underperformed at the box office.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title 1955 drama films 1955 films Films based on adaptations Films based on Indian novels Films scored by T. G. Lingappa Indian drama films Remakes of Indian films 1950s Tamil-language films Films scored by Vedha (composer) Films scored by C. N. Pandurangan