''Pathi Bhakthi'' () is a 1936 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-g ...

directed by P. Y. Altekar. It is based on the Madurai Original Boy's Company (MOBC) theatre troupe's play of the same name. The film stars K. P. Kesavan, Radha Bai and

Kali N. Rathnam Narayana Padaiyatchi Ratnam (c. 1897 – August 1950), popularly known as "Kali" N. Ratnam, was a Tamil stage and film artist known for his roles as a comedian in Tamil movies of the 1930s and 1940s. Renowned Tamil actor and politician M. G. Ra ...

Cast

* K. P. Kesavan * M. M. Radha Bai *

Production

''Pathi Bhakthi'' was a Tamil play written by Te. Po. Krishnaswamy Pavalar in the 1930s. It dealt with the evils of drinking and the impact drinking had on family life. The play was staged all over the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

with great success. Pavalar's original play was re-written for the Madurai Original Boy's Company (MOBC) theatre troupe by another playwright, Madras Kandaswamy Mudaliar, and was staged more than 150 times. A. N. Marudachalam Chettiar of Manorama Films wanted to produce ''Pathi Bhakthi'' as a film, but to his dismay, another film version was already being made without him. P. Y. Alterkar was named director. Mudaliar wanted to launch his son M. K. Radha, a theatre actor, in film with ''Pathi Bhakthi'', but could not because another theatre actor, K. P. Kesavan, had been finalised for the lead role. Kali N. Ratnam made his feature film debut with this film. Radha Bai played the female lead, Jithan Banerjee handled the cinematography, and T. S. Mani was art director.

Reception

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 ...

'' praised the film for the cast performances and less number of songs, but criticised its length. On 14 August 1936, a review from the ''Malaya Tribune'' applauded the film, particularly the performances of Kesavan, Ratnam and Radha Bai.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * {{Cite book , last=Guy , first=Randor , title=Memories of Madras: Its Movies, Musicians & Men of Letters , publisher=Creative Workshop , year=2016 , isbn=978-81-928961-7-5 , editor-last=Gopal , editor-first=T. S. , location=Chennai Films about alcoholism Indian drama films Indian films based on plays 1930s Tamil-language films