''Padikkadha Medhai'' () 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, na ...

-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- ...

directed and co-written 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 i ...

. The film stars

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji G ...

S. V. Ranga Rao Samarla Venkata Ranga Rao (3 July 1918 – 18 July 1974), popularly known as SVR, was an Indian actor, producer, and director known for his works majorly in Telugu and Tamil films. He is regarded as one of the finest actors in the history o ...

Kannamba Pasupuleti Kannamba (''Pasupulēţi Kannāṃba'') (5 October 1911 – 7 May 1968) was an Indian actress, playback singer and film producer of Telugu cinema, of Andhra Pradesh, India. She acted in more than 170 films and produced about 25 films ...

and

Sowcar Janaki Sankaramanchi Janaki (born T. Janaki; 12 December 1931), popularly known as Sowcar Janaki (Tamil) or Shavukaru Janaki (Telugu) or Sahukar Janaki (Kannada), is an Indian actress who has appeared in over 300, films, predominantly in Tamil, Telu ...

. It is a remake of the 1953

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

film ''Jog Biyog'', itself based on the novel of the same name by

Ashapurna Devi Ashapurna Devi (8 January 1909 – 12 July 1995), also Ashapoorna Devi or Ashapurna Debi, was a prominent Indian novelist and poet in Bengali. In 1976, she was awarded the Jnanpith Award and Padma Shri by the Government of India, D.Litt. b ...

. The film was released on 25 June 1960 and became a commercial success. It was remade in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

as ''

Aatma Bandhuvu ''Aatma Bandhuvu'' () is a 1962 Indian Telugu-language drama film, produced by Sarathi Studios and directed by P. S. Ramakrishna Rao. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao and Savitri, with music composed by K. V. Mahadevan. It is a remake of the ...

'' (1962), with Ranga Rao and Kannamba reprising their roles, and in

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 ...

by Bhimsingh as '' Mehrban'' (1967).

Plot

Rao Bahadur __NOTOC__ Rao may refer to: Geography * Rao, West Sumatra, one of the districts of West Sumatra, Indonesia * Råö, a locality in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden Transport * Dr. Leite Lopes–Ribeirão Preto State Airport , ...

Chandrasekar, a wealthy stockbroker, lives with his wife Parvathi, three sons (Thyagu, Sridhar and Raghu), their wives and two daughters (one widowed and another unmarried). Rangan, an uneducated and naïve orphan, is raised as a family member and he in return is very dedicated to this family, especially his adopters – Chandrasekar and Parvathi. Parvathi promises her dying poor friend that her friend's daughter Lakshmi would be married to Parvathi's son. But since her son loves another woman, Rangan agrees to marry Lakshmi to keep up Parvathi's word. On the day of his younger daughter's betrothal, Chandrasekar loses heavily in the stock market. The engagement is cancelled by the groom's father seeing the sudden change of fortunes. The fate of the house changes dramatically as the creditors storm the house, demanding repayment of their money. The sons' behaviour also changes drastically. Though Raghu and Lakshmi take good care of Chandrasekar and Parvathi, the other family members insult them now and falsely accuse Lakshmi of stealing valuables. Lakshmi pleads with Rangan to leave the household, but he refuses. Understanding the situation, Chandrasekar and Parvathi forcibly send Rangan and Lakshmi away to enable them to live in peace, away from the turmoil. The naïve Rangan leaves and obtains work in a factory. He saves money to gift Chandrasekar his favourite cigars which he could not live without. When Rangan presents the cigars, he is reprimanded for being a spendthrift by Chandrasekar's family. Rangan leaves with a broken heart. Rangan misses Chandrasekar's family and tries to come to their help on every occasion. Chandrasekar is pulled into more litigation; unable to take the stress, he dies. Parvathi is neglected by her children; when she falls ill, Rangan gets her treated. The creditors announce a public auction of Chandrasekar's house to recover their dues, and the sons do nothing to save their house. Rangan saves the factory owner's son (whose engagement to Chandrasekar's daughter had been cancelled) from an accident. The owner offers Rangan money, but he makes him realise that money is not everything; with Lakshmi, he convinces him to have his son marry Chandrasekar's younger daughter. The owner buys Chandrasekar's house in the auction and gifts it to Rangan for saving his son, who in turn gives them to Chandrasekar's family. Rangan unites everyone and gets appreciation for his unconditional love for the family.

Cast

;Male cast *

as Rangan *

Chandrasekar *

T. S. Durairaj T. S. Durairaj (31 December 1910 – 2 June 1986) was a Tamil film comedian, drama artist, producer and director in the early stages of the Tamil film industry (Kollywood). He received a Kalaimamani award from the Tamil Nadu Government in ...

as Kundupillai *

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 ...

as Raghu * T. K. Balachandran as Geetha's husband *

S. A. Ashokan S. A. Ashokan, born as Antony and often spelled Asokan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema and theatre. He was popular mainly for playing negative roles but was also a successful character actor. Early life Ashokan was bo ...

as Thyagu * Muthuraman as Sridhar ;Female cast *

as Parvathi *

as Lakshmi *

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 ...

as Geetha * Sandhya as Thyagu's wife *

Sundari Bai Madurai Saurashtra Sundari Bai (2 March 1923 – 12 March 2006) was an Indian actress, singer and dancer who worked mainly in Tamil cinema from the 1940s to the 1970s. Sundari Bai was the wife of writer and director Kothamangalam Subbu. Her mos ...

as Rajamma *

T. P. Muthulakshmi T. P. Muthulakshmi (Native name: தமிழ்: டி. பி. முத்துலட்சுமி) was an Indian actress who was active from the 1950 to 1969. She was a prominent lead comedy actress during the early 1950s in Tamil film ...

as Ranjitham * Sivakami as Sridhar's wife

Production

''Padikkadha Medhai'' is a remake of the 1953

film ''Jog Biyog'', based on the novel of the same name by

. Director and screenwriter

initially approached

C. V. Sridhar Chitthamoor Vijayaraghavalu Sridhar (22 July 1933 – 20 October 2008) was an Indian screenwriter and film director. He has directed nearly 60 films in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu Languages. Early life Sridhar hailed from Chitthamur, a villa ...

to write the dialogues. Sridhar, after watching the Bengali film, felt it had a weak script and could not be localised for Tamil audiences. Declining Bhimsingh's offer, he instead recommended his then assistant K. S. Gopalakrishnan. Bhimsingh gave Gopalakrishnan complete freedom while writing the dialogues.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

K. V. Mahadevan Krishnankoil Venkadachalam Mahadevan (14 March 1918 – 21 June 2001) was an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films. He is best known for his contributi ...

, while lyrics were written by Mahakavi Bharathiyar,

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 ...

and A. Maruthakasi. "Engiruntho Vanthan" is based on Bharathiyar's poem of the same name.

Release and reception

''Padikkadha Medhai'' was released on 25 June 1960. ''

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 be ...

'' positively reviewed the film, particularly for Ganesan's performance. 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 Gopalakrishnan's dialogues and the performances of the various cast members, including Ganesan's, but criticised the music, saying "Ore Oru Oorile" was the only memorable song. ''

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History and profile ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...

'' said that though everyone did a good job, it was Ganesan's acting which stays in their eyes even after the reviewer left the theatre. C. V. Sridhar appreciated Gopalakrishnan for learning the art of converting a script into success. The film was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.

Legacy

''Padikkadha Medhai'' is considered a trendsetter in Tamil cinema for films where a faithful uneducated servant helps the family in times of dire need and thus brings a change in their fortunes, demonstrating that education is not needed for a good character. Films which followed the trend include ''

Muthu Engal Sothu ''Muthu Engal Sothu'' is a 1983 Indian Tamil-language film directed by G. N. Rangarajan, starring Prabhu and Radha. It was released on 9 December 1983. Plot Muthu is a trusted servant of a rich man who unknown to Muthu is his father. Ca ...

'' (1983), '' Vaazhkai'' (1984), ''

Per Sollum Pillai ''Per Sollum Pillai'' () is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by S. P. Muthuraman, starring Kamal Haasan, Raadhika, Manorama, K. R. Vijaya and Raveendran. It is loosely based on the 1960 film ''Padikkadha Medhai'', these both f ...

'' (1987), ''

Ponmana Selvan ''Ponmana Selvan'' is a 1989 Indian Tamil-language drama film, directed by P. Vasu. The film stars Vijayakanth, Shobana, Vidhyashree, Gemini Ganesan and B. Saroja Devi. The film's score was composed by Ilaiyaraaja and was released on 15 Augu ...

'' (1989) and ''

Varisu ''Varisu'' (; ) is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed by Vamshi Paidipally who co-wrote it with Hari and Ashishor Solomon. Produced jointly by Dil Raju and Sirish under the banner of Sri Venkateswara Creations and PVP Ci ...

'' (2023) with similar plot.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{A. Bhimsingh 1960 drama films 1960 films 1960s Tamil-language films Films about families Films based on Indian novels Films based on works by Ashapurna Devi Films directed by A. Bhimsingh Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan Films with screenplays by K. S. Gopalakrishnan Indian drama films Tamil films remade in other languages Tamil remakes of Bengali films