''Shylock'' is a 1940 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 film directed by Kinema Ramu and

Serukalathur Sama Swaminathan Vaidyanathan (26 June 1904—11 January 1963), known by his stage name Serukulathur Sama, was an Indian stage and film actor who was primarily known for playing the role of the Hindu god Krishna in Tamil language Hindu mythological f ...

(under the name Sama-Ramu) and produced by Bharat Pictures. It is based on

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

'', and features Sama as the

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

. The film was released on 23 November 1940 and failed commercially. No print of it is known to survive, making it a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

Cast

Shylock Shylock is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play ''The Merchant of Venice'' (c. 1600). A Venetian Jewish moneylender, Shylock is the play's principal antagonist. His defeat and conversion to Christianity form the climax of the ...

* T. S. Santhanam as

Bassanio Bassanio is a fictional character in Shakespeare's ''The Merchant of Venice ''Bassanio,'' the best friend of Antonio. He is a spendthrift who wasted all of his money in order to be seen as a respectable man. To regain his fortune, he is determ ...

* S. G. Kasi Iyer as

Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

* T. V. Janakam as

Portia Portia may refer to: Biology * ''Portia'' (spider), a genus of jumping spiders *'' Anaea troglodyta'' or Portia, a brush-footed butterfly *Portia tree, a plant native to Polynesia Medication A form of birth control made of ethinylestradiol/lev ...

* Jayagouri as Jessica * Halasyam as Lancelot * P. S. Sivaramalingam as the Duke

Production

Kinema Ramu, a lawyer based in

Kumbakonam Kumbakonam (formerly spelt as Coombaconum or Combaconum) or Kudanthai is a city municipal corporation in the Thanjavur district in the States of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located from Thanjavur and from Chennai and is the headq ...

and scholar on

, wrote the screenplay for ''Shylock'', a Tamil adaptation of Shakespeare's play ''

''. He and his friend Serukalathur Sama directed the film under the name Sama-Ramu. The film was produced by Bharat Pictures. Sama also played the

. The lyricists were Yaanai Vaidyanatha Iyer, P. S. Sivaramalingam (who acted onscreen as the Duke) and Papanasam Rajagopala Iyer, brother of

Papanasam Sivan Paapanaasam Raamayya Sivan (26 September 1890 – 1 October 1973) was an Indian composer of Carnatic music and a singer. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1971. He was also a film score composer in Kannada cinema ...

. S. G. Kasi Iyer, the brother of Tamil theatre actor

S. G. Kittappa Shencottah Gangaadhaara Kittappa (25 August 1906 – 2 December 1933) was a Tamil classical singer and stage actor who was active in the pre-cinema days of the 1920s. His wife was the famous singer and film actress K. B. Sundarambal. Early li ...

, was the music director, besides playing

onscreen. Cinematography was handled by K. Prabhakar, and editing by T. R. S. Raghavan. Shooting took place at Bharat Movietone in

Kilpauk Kilpauk is a semi residential area located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The distance from Chennai's city to Kilpauk is about 6 km. The region is situated off the Poonamallee High Road in the west. Adjacent areas of Kilpauk include Chetp ...

. The makers went to great lengths to recreate an authentic

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

look for the narrative through the costumes and setting.

Release and reception

''Shylock'' was released on 23 November 1940. Kay Yess Enn of ''

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 ...

'' wrote on the same day, "To attempt to bring Shakespeare on the screen and to succeed at that keeping faithfully to the original, is a creditable achievement standing in the name of Serukulathur Sama and Rama". The film did not succeed commercially; according to 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 ...

, this was because audiences could not relate to the characters, costumes and sets. No print of the film is known to survive, making it a

References

External links

* {{The Merchant of Venice 1940 films 1940 lost films 1940s Tamil-language films Films based on The Merchant of Venice Indian black-and-white films Indian films based on plays Lost Indian films