''Panithirai'' () is a 1961 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 film, directed by V. Srinivasan and produced by his brother Ramaswamy. 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 ...

, B. Saroja Devi,

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 ...

and

T. S. Balaiah Thirunelveli Subramaniyan Balaiah (23 August 1914 – 22 July 1972) was an Indian actor. He is best known for playing supporting roles in Tamil films. Born in Sundankottai, near Udankudi in Thoothukudi, Balaiah was introduced to the cine fie ...

. A remake of 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 ...

film '' Ardhangini'' (1959), it revolves around a village girl who is shunned by everyone in her village as they believe she brings bad luck. She falls in love with, and marries a non-superstitious airline pilot, but problems arise when his aeroplane goes missing. The film was released on 29 December 1961.

Plot

Shakuntala is born to a villager, whose wife dies at childbirth. Thus Shakuntala is labelled as ''abasagunam'' (bad luck). She is tortured throughout her growing years, with her father as her lone supporter. When she comes of age, marriage is arranged for her. However, the money saved by her father in a chit fund is lost, with the closure of the fund. This time the father curses her ill-luck. After a while, he realises his mistake and all's well until the family who had seen Shakuntala rejects her, due to public talk of her abasagunam. Heartbroken, Shakuntala's father dies. Shakuntala now has to live up to the name of having caused the death of both her parents. Mohan is a pilot who is totally against superstition and ridicules the gardener who had delayed his departure because of the crossing of a cat on his path. The now orphaned Shakuntala finds solace in Mohan's friend Santhanam's house. Santhanam promises her a job at Mohan's father's office. Shakuntala meets Mohan, who happens to be doing some gardening. Shakuntala assumes Mohan is the gardener, before the truth dawns upon her. Mohan and Shakuntala fall in love, and Mohan introduces her to his family. That is when the parents realise that Shakuntala is the girl they rejected earlier. Mohan's stepmother is convinced that Shakuntala only can bring bad luck and is against the marriage. Marriage occurs in any case and the next day Mohan loses his job as a pilot. His superior then tells him that it is an

April fool's joke April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may ...

. Several misunderstandings happens in the meantime, mainly caused by the stepmother and eventually Mohan is required to fly with confidential papers to somewhere. Stepmother prevents Shakuntala from bidding goodbye to Mohan for fear of unfortunate events. True enough, the plane crashes. Shakuntala does not believe that Mohan has been killed and is further tortured and finally driven away from the house. In the meantime, there are accusations that Mohan did not die and sold out to foreign powers. Is Mohan alive? What happens to Shakuntala?

Cast

as Mohan * B. Saroja Devi as Shakuntala *

as Santhanam *

as Mohan's father * S. V. Subbaiah as Shakunthala's father * M. Saroja *M. Lakshmi Prabha *

M. S. 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 most ...

Production

''Panithirai'', a remake of the

film '' Ardhangini'' (1959), was the first film produced by V. Srinivasan and his brother V. Ramaswamy's banner Muktha Films. While Srinivasan directed, both he and Ramaswamy served as producers, although Ramaswamy remained the sole credited producer. The screenplay was written by G. Balasubramaniam, the editing was handled by T. Vijaya Rangam and K. Durairaj, and cinematography by Nemai Ghosh. The final length of the film was .

Themes

The film is about

superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs ...

and how it affects normalcy in life.

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 ...

with lyrics by

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

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 ...

Release and reception

''Panithirai'' was released on 29 December 1961. ''Link'' disliked the original Hindi film and added, "In this aspect 'Panithirai''sports yet another moral: Never remake a bore". ''

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 ...

'' wrote on 6 January 1962, "''Pani Thirai'' is a deeply moving human drama providing clean wholesome entertainment acceptable to general film going tastes". 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 ...

'' reviewed the film more negatively, criticising the title for its lack of relevance to the story.

References

External links

* {{Muktha Srinivasan 1960s satirical films 1960s Tamil-language films 1961 drama films 1961 films Films about superstition Films directed by Muktha Srinivasan Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan Indian drama films Indian satirical films Tamil remakes of Hindi films