''President Panchaksharam'' is a 1959 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

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

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 ...

and written by

B. S. Ramiah Batlagundu Subramanian Ramiah (24 March 1905 – 18 May 1983) was a Tamil writer, journalist, and critic from Tamil Nadu, India. He was also a script and dialogue writer in Tamil films. Biography B. S. Ramiah was born in Batlagundu in 1905. H ...

. It is based on the play of the same name written by Ramiah, itself adapted from the 1836 play ''

The Government Inspector ''The Government Inspector'', also known as ''The Inspector General'' ( rus, links=no, Ревизор, Revizor, literally: "Inspector"), is a satirical play by Russian dramatist and novelist, Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the pla ...

'' by Russian

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

. The film stars

S. S. Rajendran Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, also known by his initials SSR (January 1928 – 24 October 2014), was an Indian actor, director, producer and politician who worked in Tamil theatre and cinema. Film career Rajendran made his acting de ...

S. V. Sahasranamam Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Sahasranamam (29 November 1913 – 19 February 1988), also known as S. V. S., was an Indian actor and director. Primarily a theatre actor, he also worked in over 200 films, mainly in Tamil cinema. Early lif ...

and

B. Saroja Devi Bangalore Saroja Devi (born 7 January 1938) is an Indian actress who has acted in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. She acted in around 200 films in over six decades. She is known by the epithets "''Abhinaya Saraswathi''" (Saraswathi of ...

. It was released on 10 July 1959 and became a commercial success.

Plot

A District Board president has a daughter studying in Madras. While he and his wife have different men as prospective grooms for her in their minds, the girl falls in love with her friend Sigamani. The two aspiring grooms come to the president's town to finalise the marriage. Suddenly, the president receives a letter stating that the government is sending an official to secretly investigate his fraudulent affairs. When Sigamani visits the president and says he loves his daughter, the president mistakenly identifies Sigamani as the official.

Cast

;Male cast *

as Sikhamani *

as President Panchaksharam *

T. R. Ramachandran Thirukampuliyur Ranga Ramachandran (9 January 1917 – 30 November 1990) was an Indian actor and comedian who acted mainly in Tamil films. He was cast mostly in lead or supportive roles, especially in comical parts, from the 1940s to the 1960s. Kn ...

* V. R. Rajagopal *

D. Balasubramaniam D. Balasubramaniam was an Indian actor whose career spanned from the late 1930s through the late 1950s. He was well known for his roles in mythological films and later switched to character roles. Filmography References Male actors in Tam ...

* D. V. Narayanasami * Pakkirisami * Kottapuli Jayaraman ;Female cast *

as Panchaksharam's daughter *

S. N. Lakshmi Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...

* T. V. Kumudhini * N. Chandhini ;Dance * Sayee Subbulakshmi

Production

Playwright

adapted Russian dramatist

's 1836 play ''

'' into a Tamil play titled ''President Panchaksharam'' with

starring. The play, which was produced by Sahasranamam's own company Seva Stage, and had

Devika Devika Devadoss (born Prameela Devi) (25 April 1943 – 2 May 2002) was an Indian actress who worked in Tamil, Telugu with few Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi film industry. She was a popular lead actress in the 1960s. Devika is the grand daughter ...

in a key role, was critically acclaimed, and it was adapted into a film with the same title. Sahasranamam, who appeared in the play, returned for the film as well. The film adaptation was directed and edited by

, and produced by V. Arunachalam and Chinna Annamalai under Savithri Pictures. Ramiah wrote the screenplay and dialogues. Cinematography was handled by

M. Karnan ( ; ; pl. ; ; 1512, from Middle French , literally "my lord") is an honorific title that was used to refer to or address the eldest living brother of the king in the French royal court. It has now become the customary French title of resp ...

, and the art direction by Chowdhury. The film featured a

musical play Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

based on

V. O. Chidambaram Pillai ''V.'' is the debut novel of Thomas Pynchon, published in 1963. It describes the exploits of a discharged U.S. Navy sailor named Benny Profane, his reconnection in New York with a group of pseudo-bohemian artists and hangers-on known as the Who ...

. The final length of the film was .

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by G. Ramanathan, while the lyrics were written by

Subramania Bharati C. Subramania Bharathi Birth name: C. Subramaniyan, the person's given name: Subramaniyan, father's given name: Chinnaswami. (C. Subramaniyan by the prevalent patronymic initials as prefix naming system in Tamil Nadu and it is Subramaniyan C ...

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 ...

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 ...

and Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam.

Release and reception

''President Panchaksharam'' was released on 10 July 1959. 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 ...

'' positively reviewed the film for being different from formulaic Tamil films released before. The film was commercially successful, and film historian

Randor Guy Madabhushi Rangadorai (born 8 November 1937), better known by his pen name Randor Guy, is an Indian lawyer, columnist and film and legal historian associated with the English language newspaper ''The Hindu''. He is also the official editor of the ...

said it would be remembered for "the interesting screenplay and good performances by Sahasranamam, Rajendran and Saroja Devi." Following Rajendran's death in 2014, Prakash Upadhyaya of ''

International Business Times The ''International Business Times'' is an American online news publication that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on busi ...

'' described it as one of his "best works as actor".

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{The Government Inspector 1950s Tamil-language films 1959 comedy films 1959 films Films based on adaptations Films based on The Government Inspector Films directed by A. Bhimsingh Films scored by G. Ramanathan Films set in Chennai Indian black-and-white films Indian comedy films Indian films based on plays