''Naalvar'' () is a 1953

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-g ...

directed by V. Krishnan. The film stars

A. P. Nagarajan Akkamappettai Paramasivan Nagarajan (24 February 1928 – 5 April 1977) was an Indian film director, producer, actor and writer who set a trend in film making in Tamil cinema from 1965 to 1977. Film career Nagarajan started his own drama c ...

Kumari Thankam Kumari Thankam was an Indian actress who acted in Malayalam cinema. She was a lead actress during the late 1950s and 1960s in Malayalam. She made her debut in Aathmasakhi in 1952. She acted in more than 50 movies. Personal life Kumari came fro ...

N. N. Kannappa N. N. Kannappa was an Indian stage and film artiste. He worked mainly in Tamil plays and films. He had his own troupe ''Navasakthi'' that staged several plays. N. N. Kannappa featured in the following Tamil language films. # Devaki (1951) - 1st ...

, M. N. Krishnan and

T. P. Muthulakshmi T. P. Muthulakshmi (Native name: தமிழ்: டி. பி. முத்துலட்சுமி) was an Indian actress who was active from the 1950 to 1969. She was a prominent lead comedy actress during the early 1950s in Tamil langu ...

in major roles. Nagarajan, who played the main lead was also the writer of the film. The film revolves around a family consisting of four siblings.

Plot

, a sincere cop is the eldest of four siblings in a family whose father works as a secretary to a mill owner. The second of the four siblings is a lawyer, third is employed in the same mill where their father works as a supervisor, (M. N. Krishnan) and the youngest of all is a social activist. Nagarajan happens to meet Kumari Thangam, not knowing the fact that she is the daughter of his father's boss, charges her for an offence. He is very sincere in his duty to such an extent that he even arrests his own brother when the latter commits a crime, and even takes the blame when his father's enemies try to make that his father was involved in smuggling of gold and printing of counterfeit currency notes, in order to protect his father and the image of the family.

Cast

* S. R. Janaki *

* M. N. Krishnan * V. N. Natesan * R. Balasubramaniam * C. R. Vijayakumari *

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 ...

E. R. Sahadevan E. R. Sahadevan was a Tamil veteran villain actor. He acted as the villain along with M. G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, S. S. Rajendran in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He made his debut film Rajasekaran Emantha Sonagiri, rele ...

* S. S. Majid * Ratnakumari * N. S. Narayana Pillai * A. R. Damodaram * T. K. Swaminathan * V. R. Natarajan * T. V. Satyamurthi * Gauthamdas * K. N. Kanakasabai ;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 ...

* Rita * Sulochana

Production

''Naalvar'' was shot at the Central Studios,

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

and was produced by M. A. Venu under the banner Sangeetha Pictures. V. Krishnan was the director and the script was provided by

. Nagarajan later became a successful film-maker as he went on to direct many successful films such as ''

Thillana Mohanambal ''Thillana Mohanambal'' () is a 1968 Indian Tamil-language musical drama film written, directed and produced by A. P. Nagarajan. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, Padmini and T. S. Balaiah, with A. V. M. Rajan, Nagesh and Manorama in supporting ...

'', ''

Thiruvilayadal ''Thiruvilaiyadal'' () is a 1965 Indian Tamil-language Hindu devotional film written, directed and co-produced by A. P. Nagarajan. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, Savitri, and K. B. Sundarambal, with T. S. Balaiah, R. Muthuraman, Nagesh, T. R. ...

'', ''

Kandan Karunai ''Kandhan Karunai'' () is a 1967 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language Hindu mythological film, written and directed by A. P. Nagarajan. It features an ensemble cast including Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Sivakumar, Savitri (actress), Savith ...

'' and ''

Thirumal Perumai ''Thirumal Perumai'' () is a 1968 Indian Tamil-language Hindu mythological film, directed by A. P. Nagarajan. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini. It was released on 16 February 1968. Plot Thirumal Perumai tells three spell-binding st ...

'' 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 ''Kollywood' ...

within a span of two decades. These films earned a cult status in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. C. R. Vijayakumari, who later became a popular actress in her own right in Tamil films, played a small role in the film.

Soundtrack

The background and soundtrack was provided by

K. V. Mahadevan Krishnankoil Venkadachalam Mahadevan (14 March 1918 – 21 June 2001) was an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician known for his works in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Telugu cinema, Telugu, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam, and Kann ...

. Lyrics were penned by

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 ...

, Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass and

Ka. Mu. Sheriff Ka. Mu. Sheriff was a writer and poet who wrote mainly in the Tamil language. He was a popular Tamil film lyricist during the 1950s and 60s. His lyrics ''Chittukuruvi Chittukuruvi Sedhi Theriyuma?'', ''Yerikaraiyin Maele Poravale Penn Mayile'' a ...

. Nagarajan also lent his voice for a song in the film along with the composer.

Playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...

s are

N. L. Ganasaraswathi N. L. Ganasaraswathi was an Indian playback singer who sang mainly in Tamil language, Tamil films and some Telugu language, Telugu and Malayalam films. She was active in the field during the 1950s and early 60s. She sang many songs based on Carna ...

, U. R. Chandra,

A. G. Rathnamala A. G. Rathnamala ( ta, ஏ. ஜி. ரத்தினமாலா) (1931 – 3 July 2007) was an Indian stage drama artist and playback singer who has recorded over 500 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada language films. Career life ...

, G. Ponnammal,

M. L. Vasanthakumari Madras Lalitangi Vasanthakumari (popularly referred to as MLV) (3 July 1928 – 31 October 1990) was a Carnatic musician and playback singer for film songs in many Indian languages. MLV and her contemporaries D. K. Pattammal and M. S. Subbulak ...

, K. Rani and

Thiruchi Loganathan Thiruchi Loganathan (24 July 1924 – 17 November 1989) was a playback singer of the Tamil film industry. He is known for his work in movies such as ''Manthiri Kumari'' (1950) and '' Parasakthi'' (1952). He was married to Rajalakshmi, daughter ...

. The song "Mayile Maal Marugan" did not take place in the movie.

Release and reception

''Naalvar'' was released on 5 November 1953. The film fared well at the box-office and Nagarajan came to be known as "Naalvar Nagarajan".

Plot

Cast

Production

Soundtrack

Release and reception

References

Further reading