''Padikkadha Medhai'' () is a 1960 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 and co-written by
A. Bhimsingh
A. Bhimsingh or Bhim Singh (1924–1978) was an Indian filmmaker who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Apart from Tamil, he made films in other languages that include 18 films in Hindi, 8 films in Telugu, 5 films in Malayalam and 1 film in ...
. 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 ...
,
S. V. Ranga Rao,
Kannamba
Pasupuleti Kannamba (''Pasupulēţi Kannāṃba'') (5 October 1911 – 7 May 1968) was an Indian actress, playback singer and film producer of Telugu cinema, of Andhra Pradesh, India. She acted in more than 170 films and produced about 25 films ...
and
Sowcar Janaki
Sankaramanchi Janaki (born T. Janaki; 12 December 1931), popularly known as Sowcar Janaki (Tamil) or Shavukaru Janaki (Telugu) or Sahukar Janaki (Kannada), is an Indian actress who has appeared in over 300, films, predominantly in Tamil, Tel ...
. It is a remake of the 1953
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
film ''Jog Biyog'', itself based on the novel of
the same name by
Ashapurna Devi
Ashapurna Devi (8 January 1909 – 12 July 1995), also Ashapoorna Devi or Ashapurna Debi, was a prominent Indian novelist and poet in Bengali. In 1976, she was awarded the Jnanpith Award and Padma Shri by the Government of India, D.Litt. b ...
. The film was released on 25 June 1960 and became a commercial success. It was remade 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 ...
as ''
Aatma Bandhuvu
''Aatma Bandhuvu'' () is a 1962 Indian Telugu-language drama film, produced by Sarathi Studios and directed by P. S. Ramakrishna Rao. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao and Savitri, with music composed by K. V. Mahadevan. It is a remake of the T ...
'' (1962), with Ranga Rao and Kannamba reprising their roles, and in
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
by Bhimsingh as ''
Mehrban
''Mehrban'' () is a 1967 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by A. Bhimsingh, and produced by A. V. Meiyappan. It is a remake of Bhimsingh's own Tamil film ''Padikkadha Medhai'' (1960) which itself was a remake of the 1953 Ben ...
'' (1967).
Plot
Rao Bahadur __NOTOC__
Rao may refer to:
Geography
* Rao, West Sumatra, one of the districts of West Sumatra, Indonesia
* Råö, a locality in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden
Transport
* Dr. Leite Lopes–Ribeirão Preto State Airport , ...
Chandrasekar, a wealthy stockbroker, lives with his wife Parvathi, three sons (Thyagu, Sridhar and Raghu), their wives and two daughters (one widowed and another unmarried). Rangan, an uneducated and naïve orphan, is raised as a family member and he in return is very dedicated to this family, especially his adopters – Chandrasekar and Parvathi. Parvathi promises her dying poor friend that her friend's daughter Lakshmi would be married to Parvathi's son. But since her son loves another woman, Rangan agrees to marry Lakshmi to keep up Parvathi's word. On the day of his younger daughter's betrothal, Chandrasekar loses heavily in the stock market. The engagement is cancelled by the groom's father seeing the sudden change of fortunes. The fate of the house changes dramatically as the creditors storm the house, demanding repayment of their money. The sons' behaviour also changes drastically.
Though Raghu and Lakshmi take good care of Chandrasekar and Parvathi, the other family members insult them now and falsely accuse Lakshmi of stealing valuables. Lakshmi pleads with Rangan to leave the household, but he refuses. Understanding the situation, Chandrasekar and Parvathi forcibly send Rangan and Lakshmi away to enable them to live in peace, away from the turmoil. The naïve Rangan leaves and obtains work in a factory. He saves money to gift Chandrasekar his favourite cigars which he could not live without. When Rangan presents the cigars, he is reprimanded for being a spendthrift by Chandrasekar's family. Rangan leaves with a broken heart.
Rangan misses Chandrasekar's family and tries to come to their help on every occasion. Chandrasekar is pulled into more litigation; unable to take the stress, he dies. Parvathi is neglected by her children; when she falls ill, Rangan gets her treated. The creditors announce a public auction of Chandrasekar's house to recover their dues, and the sons do nothing to save their house. Rangan saves the factory owner's son (whose engagement to Chandrasekar's daughter had been cancelled) from an accident. The owner offers Rangan money, but he makes him realise that money is not everything; with Lakshmi, he convinces him to have his son marry Chandrasekar's younger daughter. The owner buys Chandrasekar's house in the auction and gifts it to Rangan for saving his son, who in turn gives them to Chandrasekar's family. Rangan unites everyone and gets appreciation for his unconditional love for the family.
Cast
;Male cast
*
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 ...
as Rangan
*
S. V. Ranga Rao as
Rao Bahadur __NOTOC__
Rao may refer to:
Geography
* Rao, West Sumatra, one of the districts of West Sumatra, Indonesia
* Råö, a locality in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden
Transport
* Dr. Leite Lopes–Ribeirão Preto State Airport , ...
Chandrasekar
*
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 ...
as Kundupillai
*
T. R. Ramachandran as Raghu
*
T. K. Balachandran as Geetha's husband
*
S. A. Ashokan as Thyagu
*
Muthuraman as Sridhar
;Female cast
*
Kannamba
Pasupuleti Kannamba (''Pasupulēţi Kannāṃba'') (5 October 1911 – 7 May 1968) was an Indian actress, playback singer and film producer of Telugu cinema, of Andhra Pradesh, India. She acted in more than 170 films and produced about 25 films ...
as Parvathi
*
Sowcar Janaki
Sankaramanchi Janaki (born T. Janaki; 12 December 1931), popularly known as Sowcar Janaki (Tamil) or Shavukaru Janaki (Telugu) or Sahukar Janaki (Kannada), is an Indian actress who has appeared in over 300, films, predominantly in Tamil, Tel ...
as Lakshmi
*
E. V. Saroja
E. V. Saroja (1935 - 2006) was an Indian actress and dancer. She was born on 3 November 1935 as Engan V. Saroja. She belonged to Engan village of Thiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu.
Her debut film was '' En Thangai'' in 1952 starring M. G. Ramacha ...
as Geetha
* Sandhya as Thyagu's wife
*
Sundari Bai as Rajamma
*
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 ...
as Ranjitham
* Sivakami as Sridhar's wife
Production
''Padikkadha Medhai'' is a remake of the 1953
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
film ''Jog Biyog'', based on the novel of
the same name by
Ashapurna Devi
Ashapurna Devi (8 January 1909 – 12 July 1995), also Ashapoorna Devi or Ashapurna Debi, was a prominent Indian novelist and poet in Bengali. In 1976, she was awarded the Jnanpith Award and Padma Shri by the Government of India, D.Litt. b ...
. Director and screenwriter
A. Bhimsingh
A. Bhimsingh or Bhim Singh (1924–1978) was an Indian filmmaker who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Apart from Tamil, he made films in other languages that include 18 films in Hindi, 8 films in Telugu, 5 films in Malayalam and 1 film in ...
initially approached
C. V. Sridhar to write the dialogues. Sridhar, after watching the Bengali film, felt it had a weak script and could not be localised for Tamil audiences. Declining Bhimsingh's offer, he instead recommended his then assistant
K. S. Gopalakrishnan
K. S. Gopalakrishnan was an Indian screenwriter, director, producer, and lyricist, who worked in Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films. Since the early 1960s, he directed 70 films. He spent most of his career directing and producing movies with soc ...
. Bhimsingh gave Gopalakrishnan complete freedom while writing the dialogues.
Soundtrack
The music was composed by
K. V. Mahadevan, while lyrics were written by
Mahakavi Bharathiyar,
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 ...
and
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 ...
. "Engiruntho Vanthan" is based on Bharathiyar's poem of the same name.
Release and reception
''Padikkadha Medhai'' was released on 25 June 1960.
''
The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...
'' positively reviewed the film, particularly for Ganesan's performance.
Kanthan of ''
Kalki
Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...
'' appreciated Gopalakrishnan's dialogues and the performances of the various cast members, including Ganesan's, but criticised the music, saying "Ore Oru Oorile" was the only memorable song.
''
Ananda Vikatan
''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India.
History and profile
''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...
'' said that though everyone did a good job, it was Ganesan's acting which stays in their eyes even after the reviewer left the theatre. C. V. Sridhar appreciated Gopalakrishnan for learning the art of converting a script into success. The film was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.
Legacy
''Padikkadha Medhai'' is considered a trendsetter in Tamil cinema for films where a faithful uneducated servant helps the family in times of dire need and thus brings a change in their fortunes, demonstrating that education is not needed for a good character. Films which followed the trend include ''
Muthu Engal Sothu'' (1983), ''
Vaazhkai'' (1984), ''
Per Sollum Pillai
''Per Sollum Pillai'' () is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by S. P. Muthuraman, starring Kamal Haasan, Raadhika, Manorama, K. R. Vijaya and Raveendran. It is loosely based on the 1960 film ''Padikkadha Medhai'', these both ...
'' (1987), ''
Ponmana Selvan'' (1989) and ''
Varisu
''Varisu'' (; ) is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed by Vamshi Paidipally who co-wrote it with Hari and Ashishor Solomon. Produced jointly by Dil Raju and Sirish under the banner of Sri Venkateswara Creations and PVP ...
'' (2023) with similar plot.
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*
{{A. Bhimsingh
1960 drama films
1960 films
1960s Tamil-language films
Films about families
Films based on Indian novels
Films based on works by Ashapurna Devi
Films directed by A. Bhimsingh
Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan
Films with screenplays by K. S. Gopalakrishnan
Indian drama films
Tamil films remade in other languages
Tamil remakes of Bengali films