''Ponmudi'' is a 1950

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 film directed by Ellis R. Dungan. It was based on the Tamil poet

Bharathidasan Bharathidasan Birth name: K. Subburathinam, the person's given name: Subburathinam, father's given name: Kanagasabai. (K. Subburathinam by the prevalent patronymic initials as prefix naming system in Tamil Nadu and it is Subburathinam Kanag ...

verse novel A verse novel is a type of narrative poetry in which a novel-length narrative is told through the medium of poetry rather than prose. Either simple or complex stanzaic verse-forms may be used, but there will usually be a large cast, multiple voice ...

''Ethirparatha Mutham''.

Plot

''Ponmudi'' was a love story based on the Bharathidasan novel ''Edhirparatha Mutham''.

Production

Producer T. R. Sundaram of

Modern Theatres Modern Theaters Ltd was an Indian film studio in Salem, Tamil Nadu started by T. R. Sundaram Mudaliar in 1935. The studio produced over more than 150 films until 1982 in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Sinhalese and even English of w ...

wanted to make a film based on ''Edhirparatha Mutham'' (lit. Unexpected Kiss) – a novel written by the Tamil rationalist poet Bharatidasan. Ellis Dungan was hired to direct Bharathidasan's script. The film was made at the Modern Theatres studio in Salem. Some scenes were also filmed in

Yercaud Yercaud is a Hill station in Salem District, in Tamil Nadu, India. History Stone-age implements have been found from the ancient shrine located near Shevaroy Hills (also known as Shevarayan Hills), which is about 5 km from the Yercaud ...

. For shooting beach scenes, Dungan had a beach set constructed in Salem, out of sand brought from Adyar beach. Music was composed by G. Ramanathan and lyrics were written by Marudhakasi-Ka. Mu. Sheriff. Most of the songs were copied from popular Hindi movie tunes. P. V. Narasimha Bharathi and Madhuri Devi were cast in the lead roles and M. G. Chakrapani as the villain. The film had intimate love sequences which were unusual in the (then) conservative Tamil film industry.

Cast

;Male cast * Narsimha Bharathi * R. Balasubramaniam *

Chakrapani Chakrapani may refer to: People with the surname * Aluri Chakrapani (1908–1975), Indian film multilingual writer, producer and director * Chuck Chakrapani, Indian research methodologist, educator, and author * M. G. Chakrapani (1911–1986), I ...

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 ...

* Alwar Kuppusami * Rama Krishnan * K. K. Perumal *

Karunanidhi Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Art ...

Ezhumalai ''Ezhumalai'' is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed by Arjun, who also played the titular character. It also features Simran, Gajala and Mumtaj as the female leads, while Vijayakumar and Ashish Vidhyarthi play supporting r ...

;Female cast *

Madhuri Devi Madhuri Devi (19 September 1927 – June 1990) was a lead actress in Tamil films from the late 1940s until the 1950s. She has paired opposite leading heroes like M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and M. G. R and known for acting in the films ''Ma ...

* Saraswathi * Dhanalakshmi *

Muthulakshmi Muthulakshmi is the widow of Veerappan, sandalwood smuggler who was killed by Special Task Force police in 2004. She lived in Salem, Tamil Nadu, India. She was born in Neruppore village, Dharmapuri District to a farming family. Wife of Veerappan ...

* Lalitha ;Dance * Lalitha- Padmini * Sinha-Party

Release and reception

''Ponmudi'' was released on Pongal day (14 January) 1950. It was a commercial failure as its intimate scenes shocked the Tamil audience. The film was criticised in the press for being "vulgar" and Dungan was accused of "corrupting the population with American ways".J. G. Vijayam's cinematography was acclaimed and won him an award.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by G. Ramanathan while the lyrics were penned by

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 ...

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 ...

. Partial list of songs from ''Ponmudi'' :

References

External links

* {{Modern Theatres 1950 films 1950s Tamil-language films Films based on poems Films directed by Ellis R. Dungan Films scored by G. Ramanathan Indian black-and-white films