''Padithal Mattum Podhuma'' () is a 1962 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, nati ...

-language

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

written and directed 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 ...

. Based on the 1961 novel ''Naa'', by the

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 ...

writer

Tarashankar Bandopadhyay Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay (23 July 1898 – 14 September 1971) was an Indian novelist who wrote in the Bengali language. He wrote 65 novels, 53-story-books, 12 plays, 4 essay-books, 4 autobiographies, 2 travel stories and composed several songs. ...

, 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 ...

K. Balaji Krishnamachari Balaji (24 June 19342 May 2009) was an Indian film producer and actor. He was a prominent actor in the 1960s and 70s, playing lead, supporting and antagonist roles. He appeared in many Sivaji Ganesan films. Early life Balaji was ...

, Savitri,

M. R. Radha Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan (14 April 1907 – 17 September 1979) was an Indian actor and politician active in Tamil plays and films. He was given the title "Nadigavel" (spearhead of acting) by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. He mostly play ...

and Rajasulochana. It was released on 14 April 1962 and became a commercial success, running for more than 100 days at all centres in Tamil Nadu.

Plot

This story mainly revolves around an anonymous poison letter which causes turbulence among the people affected. Raju and Gopal are cousins who are very attached to each other. Gopal, the son of a

Zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

and Mangalam, is uneducated, rough and loves hunting. Raju is the orphaned son of the Zamindar's elder brother, raised by Zamindar and Mangalam as their first son, is educated, well mannered and cowardly. Zamindar and Mangalam plan to get Raju and Gopal married and they seek the marriage broker Kailasam. Kailasam, a

Saivite Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangin ...

is married to Andal, a

Vaishnavite Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

and they have a daughter Manorama. The couple often quarrel pertaining the difference between their beliefs which provides comic relief. Kailasam suggests that Raju be married to the educated and wealthy Meena, daughter of Rao Bahadur and Gopal to be married to uneducated, country girl Seetha, sister of farmer Moorthy and daughter of a widow. It happens that Zamindar and Mangalam are unable to visit the brides' place, Kailasam arranges that Raju visit Seetha and Gopal to visit Meena. Gopal learns a few English words from Raju before leaving to Rao Bahadur's place. Rao Bahadur and Meena were impressed with Gopal and mistakenly conclude that he is well educated. A. Karunanidhi, who is the servant of Rao Bahadur, serves Gopal. At the same time, Raju sees Seetha and was very much impressed with her deeds and wishes to marry her. Raju, who is a coward and unable to express himself to Zamindar and Mangalam, hatches a wicked plan by writing an anonymous poison letter to Rao Bahadur defaming himself as drunkard, womaniser and non-worthy and to Moorthy defaming Gopal as the same. Raju's plan works, where Rao Bahadur is irked by this and plans to have Gopal to be the groom for Menna and Moorthy plans to have Raju to be the groom for Seetha. Much to Kailasam's persuasion to Zamindar, the wedding takes place where Raju is married to Seetha and Gopal marries Meena. Matters become serious on their first night, where Meena found out that Gopal is uneducated and blames Gopal as a liar for posing as an educated man before her. On the other hand, Raju and Seetha lead a happy life. The next day both couples leave to their in-laws place. Raju has no problems, but Gopal was embarrassed to face Meena's educated friends and leaves home without Meena. Upon reaching home, Gopal lies to Zamindar and Mangalam that Meena had to stay behind in order to sit for examinations. Rao Bahadur and Meena believe that the letter was sent by none other than Gopal, who liked Meena at first sight, cheats them as an educated and would like to have her instead of Raju. When Raju and Seetha arrive back, Zamindar and Mangalam lead them to Raju's father's house where the couples live happily. Gopal gets very much attached to Seetha and accepts her and treats her as his mother. Gopal continues on hunting and is assisted by A. Karunanidhi. As time moves on, Zamindar calls in Kailasam to find out from Rao Bahadur when is he sending Meena down. Rao Bahadur angrily tells Kailasam and shows him the letter. Kailasam also believes in this and reveals the matter to Zamindar and Mangalam. Furious on hearing this, Zamindar hits Gopal and drives him away, but Mangalam believes that her son is innocent. Upon knowing this, Raju becomes restless and guilty that his deed led to a serious matter and tries to steal the letter from Gopal at night. Gopal wakes up suddenly and unsuspectingly questions, but Raju behaves under the pretext on searching for his books and unknowingly drops the letter on the floor while leaving the room. Seeing the lights were on, Mangalam enters Gopal's room and found out that the handwriting of the letter belongs to none other than Raju and gets very mad. Gopal urges Mangalam on promising not to let anyone know about this. In conjunction with this event, Gopal falls ill and Seetha nurses him back to be healthy again. Raju and Seetha sets off to Rao Rahadur's place to compromise, where Bahadur's wife insists that Meena reunite with Gopal, but Rao Bahadur and Meena does not give in at all. Kailasam suggests that Zamindar to send a letter to Rao Bahadur stating that should Meena not live with Gopal, he would seek another bride for Gopal to remarry. Rao Bahadur forcefully sends Meena to Gopal's place. Meena, disgusted at the sight of Gopal, hurts him badly with insults. Gopal angrily leaves the room, gets drunk and returns to Meena and when a quarrel broke out again, whips her, which results in her fleeing back to her parents' place. Seetha, in dismay, orders Gopal to apologise to Meena and bring her back. Gopal goes over to Rao Bahadur's place and pleads to Meena to forgive him and to follow him back, but she refuses. Left with no option, Gopal tries to pull Meena forcefully when Rao Bahadur intervenes and hits Gopal badly with his walking stick. Gopal leaves Rao Bahadur's house with much embarrassment. He is very much humiliated and the feeling of being unable to fulfill Seetha's orders makes him go berserk. On the way back, Gopal goes to the jungle and grabs the rifle from A. Karunanidhi, who is hunting and shoots whatever comes in his path. A. Karunanidhi rushes over to Zamindar's place and informs them of the situation. Raju, who feels guilty feeling that all these problems originated from his stupid deeds, goes over and tries to stop Gopal. In turn, Gopal who is devastated blames Raju for all his miseries. Seetha comes over and is shocked to see that Gopal is pointing the rifle at Raju. Seetha tries to stop him when Raju also tries to prevent Gopal from pulling the trigger, when the rifle shoots, killing Raju and Seetha faints. Before dying, Raju requests Gopal to promise not to inform regarding that he is the one who composed the letter. Gopal is arrested. Mangalam falls ill and informs Zamindar, Rao Bahadur, his wife and Meena that the letter originated from Raju and not Gopal. Rao Bahadur and Meena feel guilty of their actions towards Gopal all the while and repent. Meanwhile, the public prosecutor proves to the judge that Gopal is guilty. Rao Bahadur and Meena rush to Seetha's home town, but Moorthy understands the situation, but is unable to help as Seetha avoids meeting anyone. Rao Bahadur and Meena plead to Seetha and she agrees to testify in court. Seetha's testimony saying that the rifle was handled by Seetha, Raju and Gopal unsure of who pulled the trigger, gets Gopal released. Gopal and Meena live happily, while Seetha goes back to her home town.

Cast

as Gopal * Savitri as Seetha * Rajasulochana as Meena *

as Raju *

R. Muthuraman Muthuraman Radhakrishnan (4 July 1929 – 16 October 1981) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil language films. He was a leading actor during the 1960s and 1970s and was fondly called as ''Navarasa Thilagam''. He had paired w ...

as Moorthy *

S. V. Ranga Rao Samarla Venkata Ranga Rao (3 July 1918 – 18 July 1974), popularly known as SVR, was an Indian actor, producer, and director known for his works majorly in Telugu and Tamil films. He is regarded as one of the finest actors in the history of ...

as Rao Bahadur * S. V. Sahasranamam as Zamindar *

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 ...

as Mangalam *

M. V. Rajamma M. V. Rajamma (10 March 1918 – 23 April 1999) was an Indian actress, producer and playback singer of films mostly in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu languages from the 1930s through 1970s. She has the distinction of having acted as both heroine and ...

as Rao Bahadur's wife *

as Kailasam *

C. K. Saraswathi C. K. Saraswathi (died 1998) was an Indian actress who featured mainly in Tamil films. She was active in the field from 1945 till 1998. During the early days she featured in character roles and in comedy tracks. Later she became famous for her a ...

as Aandal *

A. Karunanidhi A. Karunanidhi ( Tamil : கருணாநிதி) was an Indian actor and comedian who featured mainly in Tamil-language films. He was active in the field from 1948 till 1978. Though he was a comedian, the roles he played in some of the film ...

as servant of Rao Bahadur * Manorama as Kailasam's daughter *Radhabhai as Moorthy and Seetha's mother *

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 ...

as Lawyer (Guest role) *

A. Veerappan A. Veerappan (21 June 1933 2005) was an Indian comedian, screenwriter, and film director. While having worked in more than 100 films. He is notable for his comedian roles along with fellow actor Nagesh in the 1960s. He wrote comedy tracks ...

(guest appearance in the song "Kaalam Seidha Komalithanatthil")

Production

One song depicting Ganesan's character riding a horse was shot at

Raj Bhavan Raj Bhavan () is the common name of the official residences of the governors of the states of India and may refer to: List of Raj Bhavan See also * Raj Niwas *Rashtrapati Bhavan *Rashtrapati Nilayam *Rashtrapati Niwas The Rashtrapati Niwas ...

Themes

The underlying theme of the film is "how a deep friendship between cousins is affected due to both of them being besotted with a woman."

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's '' Panam'' to 1965's '' Aayirathil Oruvan''. After their split, Ramamoorthy wo ...

. The song "Pon Ondru Kanden" is set in the

Hindustani raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradition, and as ...

known as

Brindavani Sarang Brindavani Sarang or Brindabani Sarang, also known as raga Sarang, is a Hindustani classical raga. It is also called Vridavani Sarang. This raga falls under the category of Sarang ragas. Theory Brindabani Sarang is a Kafi thaat raga. It wa ...

Reception

Kanthan of '' Kalki'' positively reviewed the film, saying watching it just once was not enough.

References

External links

* {{A. Bhimsingh 1962 romantic drama films 1960s Tamil-language films 1962 films Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police Films about families Films about fratricide and sororicide Films based on Indian novels Films based on works by Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay Films directed by A. Bhimsingh Films scored by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Films set in Tiruchirappalli Films shot in Chennai Indian romantic drama films