''Karpukkarasi'' is a 1957 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

swashbuckler film Swashbuckler films are a subgenre of the action film genre, often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, known as swashbucklers. Real historical events often feature prominently in the plot, morality is often clear-c ...

directed by

A. S. A. Sami Arul Soosai Anthony Sami (1915–1998) also written as A. S. A. Samy, was an Indian director and screenwriter who worked in Tamil films. Early life Born in 1915, A. S. A. Samy was from a devout Catholic family. His father had a business en ...

and produced by M. Somasundaram under

Jupiter Pictures Jupiter Pictures ( ta, ஜுபிடர் பிக்ச்சர்ஸ்) was an Indian feature film production company founded in Coimbatore in 1934 by M. Somasundaram (popularly known as "Jupiter Somu") and S.K. Mohideen. Jupiter Pictur ...

. The story and screenplay were written by A. S. A. Sami and Aru. Ramanathan. The dialogues were written by Siva-Sundaram. The film stars

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

M. N. Nambiar Manjeri Narayanan Nambiar (7 March 1919 – 19 November 2008) was an Indian actor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema, known mostly for his villain roles in an eight decade long career. He has also appeared in a few Malayalam films. ...

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

, and

K. A. Thangavelu Karaikal Arunachalam Thangavelu (15 January 1917 – 28 September 1994) popularly known as "Danaal Thangavelu", was an Indian actor and comedian popular in the 1950s to 1970s. Not known for physical, acrobatic comedy like his contemporarie ...

, with

G. Varalakshmi Garikapati Varalakshmi (27 September 1926 – 26 November 2006) was an Indian actress, stage artist, singer, and director who worked in Telugu and Tamil films. Biography Varalakshmi was born in 1926 in Ongole, Andhra Pradesh, India. Her fath ...

M. K. Radha Madras Kandaswami Radhakrishnan (20 November 1910 – 29 August 1985), professionally known as M. K. Radha, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was born in Chennai and took up acting in Tamil stage at the age of 7. He was ...

, Savitri

E. V. Saroja E. V. Saroja (1935 - 2006) was an Indian actress and dancer. She was born on 3 November 1935 as Engan V. Saroja. She belonged to Engan village of Thiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu. Her debut film was '' En Thangai'' in 1952 starring M. G. Ramacha ...

and

M. Saroja M. Saroja was an Indian actress and comedian who worked in Tamil cinema. She was frequently paired alongside K. A. Thangavelu. Career Director K. Subramaniam introduced Saroja to the film industry, when she was 14 years old. She played the role ...

in supporting roles.

Cast

;Male cast *

as Prathaban *

as Jagaveeran *

as Vajarapuri King *

as Chilamban * R. Balasubramanyam as the wizard * P. S. Venkatachalam as Sachithananda Yogi * P. B. Rangachari as Sage ;Female cast * K. Savithri as Manjula *

as Chandrika *

as Sasikala *

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 ...

as Singari *

as Pankajam * S. Revathi as Magical Queen * S. Mohana as Mohana ;Dance * Sayee * Subbulakshmi * Ragini * Kantha

Production

One scene required Ganesan to throw a knife at Nambiar. He did so, but the director had not called for "action" when Nambiar saw something come straight at him like a "bat out of hell". Nambiar had only one second to turn his head as the knife grazed his eye and impaled itself on the wall, leaving Nambiar with a permanent black spot on the eye. Ganesan had thrown the knife long before the shot was supposed to roll, only to impress two women who had walked on to the set.

Soundtrack

Music was by

G. Ramanathan Gopalan Iyer Ramanathan was an Indian music composer for Tamil movies. He is also known as ''Isai Methai'' (Genius of Music) or ''Sangeetha Chakravarthy'' (Emperor of Music) and is considered to be one of the influential Tamil music composers ...

and lyrics were written by

Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram (13 April 1930 – 8 October 1959) also known as Pattukottaiyar was an Indian Tamil poet and lyricist. Considered to be the most popular Tamil lyricist of the 1950s, he is particularly remembered for the philo ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

Udumalai Narayana Kavi

References

External links

* {{IMDb title">id=0269430 1957 films 1950s Tamil-language films Indian black-and-white films Films scored by G. Ramanathan 1950s historical romance films Indian feminist films Indian historical fantasy films Indian historical romance films Jupiter Pictures films