''Thilakam'' is a 1960 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

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

Krishnan–Panju R. Krishnan (1909–1997) and S. Panju (1915–1984), collectively referred to as Krishnan–Panju, were Indian film directors. The duo directed more than 50 films in South Indian languages and in Hindi. Early life R. Krishnan was born on 18 ...

, produced by

AVM Productions AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappan. It is the final oldest survived studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, ...

and written by K. M. Narayanasami. Based on Narayanasami's play of the same name, the film stars

Prem Nazir Prem Nazir (born Abdul Khader; 7 April 1926 – 16 January 1989) was an Indian actor known as one of Malayalam cinema's definitive leading man, leading men of his generation. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential actors in the histo ...

and M. N. Rajam. It was released on 11 November 1960 and failed commercially.

Plot

Saraswathi is a woman separated from her husband. She and her daughter Thilakam take refuge in her sister's family in

Tiruchi Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

. Saraswathi wants her daughter Thilakam to be married to her brother Sekhar. But her uncle Sambasivam wants to marry Thilakam to a rich but old man in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. Sambasivam's son Gunasekharan is against this plan and wants Thilakam to be married to Sekhar. Whether he succeeds in this, forms the plot of the story.

Cast

The details are adapted from

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

review article. *

* M. N. Rajam *

Sriranjani Jr. Sriranjani (22 February 1927 – 27 April 1974) was an Indian actress active in Telugu and Tamil films. She was the younger sister of Sriranjani. She is known mainly for her tragedy roles particularly as the long-suffering wife. Life in Brief ...

* R. Rajakumari *

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 ...

* V. K. Ramasamy *

Tambaram Lalitha Tambaram Lalitha (also known as Thambaram Lalitha, Tambaram N. Lalitha) was an Indian stage and film actress who acted in about 100 films as heroine and in supporting roles. She died in 1983. Partial filmography # ''Town Bus'' (1955) # ''Kokil ...

* "Kuladeivam" V. R. Rajagopal * S. Rama Rao * C. S. Pandian * S. L. Narayanan * Manorama * "Appa" K. Duraiswami * "Thilakam" K. M. Narayanasami * Seethalakshmi * Ramamani Bai * Pakkirisami

Production

''Thilakam'' was a popular stage play written by K. M. Narayanasami. A. V. Meiyappan, the founder and then-owner of

, bought the film rights to the play and produced the film. His son

Saravanan Saravanan is a Tamil male given name. Due to the Tamil tradition of using patronymic surnames, it may also be a surname for males and females. It is one of the names of the Hindu god Murugan. It may refer to: *Saravanan (actor) *M. Saravanan ( ...

started his film production career with this film working as a "production executive". Narayanasami wrote the film's dialogues.

Soundtrack

Music was composed by R. Sudarsanam and the lyrics were penned by

Kothamangalam Subbu Kothamangalam Subbu (born S. M. Subramanian, 10 November 1910 – 15 February 1974) was an Indian poet, lyricist, author, actor and film director based in Tamil Nadu. He wrote the cult classic Tamil novel ''Thillana Mohanambal'' and was awarded ...

, M. K. Athmanathan,

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 ...

, ''Kavi'' S. Rajagopal and V. Seetharaman. The song "B-o-y Boy, Boyinna Paiyan, G – i – r – l Girl, Girlinna Ponnu" (based on the song "Cat Maane Billi" from the

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

film ''

Dilli Ka Thug ''Dilli Ka Thug'' (''The Trickster of Delhi'') is a 1958 Hindi-language comedy film directed by S. D. Narang. It stars Kishore Kumar, Nutan, Madan Puri and Iftekhar. The music was by Ravi and the lyrics were by S.H. Bihari, Shailendra and Majro ...

''), sung by S. C. Krishnan and Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi was a hit. Partial List of Songs

Release and reception

''Thilakam'' was released on 11 November 1960. ''

The Sunday Standard ''The Sunday Standard'' was an English-language weekly newspaper in Sri Lanka published by Standard Newspapers (Private) Limited, part of Communication and Business Equipment (Private) Limited (CBE). It was founded in 2006 and published from Colo ...

'' appreciated the plot, performances and cinematography. 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 ...

'' appreciated the dialogues, but criticised the story, performances and songs. The film was a commercial failure.

References

External links

* {{AVM Productions 1960 drama films 1960 films 1960s Tamil-language films AVM Productions films Films directed by Krishnan–Panju Films scored by R. Sudarsanam Indian black-and-white films Indian drama films Indian films based on plays