''Vedhala Ulagam'' () is a 1948 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

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

directed and produced by A. V. Meiyappan, and written by

P. Neelakantan Palaniyaandi Neelakantan (2 October 1916 – 3 September 1992) was a Tamil film director, who was active for nearly four decades. Life He was born at Villupuram, Tamil Nadu. He graduated to movies from stage play. His play '' Naam Iruvar'' ...

. Adapted from the play of the same name by

Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar Pammal Vijayarangam Sambandham Mudaliar (1873–1964), who has been described as "the founding father of modern Tamil theatre", was a playwright, director, producer and actor of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth centuries. He was a recipi ...

, the film stars T. R. Mahalingam,

K. Sarangapani Kumbakonam Sarangapani (1904-1984) was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based ou ...

, Mangalam,

K. R. Chellam Kambayanatham Rangaswami Kanakavalli (born 1918), known professionally as K. R. Chellam, was an Indian actress who appeared in Tamil language films. Early life Kambayanatham Rangaswami Kanakavalli was born in 1918 to a middle-class Iyengar fam ...

and

C. T. Rajakantham C. T. Rajakantham (1917–2002) was a Tamil stage and film actress. She was the mother-in-law of playback singer Tiruchi Loganathan and grandmother of playback singers and popular music show judges T. L. Maharajan and Deepan Chakkravarthy E ...

. It was released on 11 August 1948 and became a commercial success.

Plot

Rajasimhan has spent time with his companion, Dhathan. One day he goes into the queen's '' puja'' room and looks at the book of ''Demon World''. In it, the demon king gives three orders and that if one fulfilled these orders, he would give them his kingdom and his young daughter Rajeevi. Rajasimhan is fascinated by the image of Rajeevi in the book. Rajasimhan learns from his mother that his father went to the demon world 18 years ago and was cursed when he tried to rescue all of the men who did not fulfill the king's orders. With his mother's permission, Rajasimhan goes with Dhathan to the demon world to rescue his father. With Rajeevi's help, she and Rajasimhan meet. The demon queen, Komati Devi sends Rajeevi into the torture chamber to save Rajasimhan. Rajasimhan and Dhathan are given one order after another.

Cast

;Male cast * T. R. Mahalingam as Rajasimhan *

as Dhathan * R. Balasubramaniam as Mahendran * G. M. Basheer as Commander * Kulathu Mani as Vedhala Leader * M. Vishwanathan as Kannan * D. B. Ramachandran as Arjunan * D. B. Bhairavan ;Female cast * Mangalam as Rajeevi
(Yoga-Mangalam) *

as Mohanavalli *

as Komathi * B. Chandra as Kumudasundari *

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...

as Kali Devi * A. S. Jaya * Kanthimathi ;Dances by * Baby Rhadha as Radhai *

Kumari Kamala Kumari Kamala (born 16 June 1934) is an Indian dancer and actress (also known as Kamala Lakshman). Initially featured as a child dancer, Kamala appeared in almost 100 Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films throughout her career. In the 1970s, she ...

* Lalitha- Padmini * Thara Chowdry

Production

''Vedhala Ulagam'' was adapted by

from the

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

play of the same name written by

. The film was entirely shot at AVM Studios, with sets built by A. Balu. Some parts of the film were shot with T. A. Jayalakshmi, but she was ultimately replaced by Mangalam of the Yoga-Mangalam dancer duo. The dance sequence of

, Lalitha, Padmini and Tara Choudary was choreographed by Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai. While the film was predominantly black and white, the last sequence was hand-tinted in colour. Cinematography was handled by T. Muthusamy, and editing by M. V. Raman.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by R. Sudarasanam and lyrics written by Mahakavi Subramaniya Bharathiyar, K. D. Santhanam,

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 ...

and N. Raghavan. The song "Ayyaya Paarkka Kannu Koosuthey" is based on the Brazilian singer

Carmen Miranda Carmen Miranda, (; born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha, 9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, dancer, Broadway actress and film star who was active from the late 1920s onwards. Nicknamed "The B ...

's " I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much)". Four poems by Bharathiyar were also featured in the film: "Kalviyil Sirantha Thamizh Nadu", "Thoondir Puzhuvinai Pol", "Odi Vilayadu Pappa" and "Theeratha Villayattu Pillai".

Release and reception

''Vedhala Ulagam'' was released on 11 August 1948. The last sequence in colour drew large crowds because such coloured sequences in Tamil films were rarities then, and the film became a commercial success.

References

External links

* {{AVM Productions 1940s dance films 1940s fantasy comedy films 1940s Tamil-language films 1948 comedy films 1948 films AVM Productions films Indian black-and-white films Films scored by R. Sudarsanam Indian dance films Indian fantasy comedy films Indian films based on plays Indian historical fantasy films Indian musical fantasy films