''Thamarai Kulam'' () is a 1959 Indian

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of P ...

film directed by

Muktha Srinivasan Muktha Srinivasan (1929 – 2018) was an Indian film director and producer. Personal life V. Srinivasan was born in Malapuram on 31 October 1929 in a Tamil Brahmin family. His parents were Venkatachariar and Chellamma. He followed all Brahmi ...

, written by S. R. Natarajan and produced by him along with S. R. Veerabahu. It features

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, Tel ...

, V. Gopalakrishnan, M. R. Radha, N. N. Kannappa, K. Sarangapani,

V. S. Raghavan V S Raghavan (18 February 1925 – 24 January 2015) was an Indian actor, who has acted both in Tamil films as well as television. He started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a character actor in films, starting ...

, S. A. Ashokan, Kaka Radhakrishnan,

S. N. Lakshmi Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...

Padmini Priyadarshini Padmini Priyadarshini (later Padmini Ramachandran) was an Indian actor, dancer and choreographer. She acted in supporting roles during the 1950s and 1960s in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi films. She established a dancing school in Bangalore named ''Na ...

, and

Nagesh Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor, mostly remembered for his roles as a comedian in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 fil ...

in his film debut.

Plot

A greedy ''zamindar'' bars the villagers from using Thamaraikulam, the village tank. Under the leadership of Chellaiah, the son of a landowner, the villagers organise a revolution. Chellaiah goes to Madras to seek help from his friend Sekhar. A series of complications follow which include the heroine being kidnapped and tortured, and Sekhar murdered. How Chellaiah and the villagers solve these problems forms the rest of the story.

Cast

Credits adapted from ''The Hindu'': *

* V. Gopalakrishnan * M. R. Radha * N. N. Kannappa * K. Sarangapani *

* S. A. Ashokan * Kaka Radhakrishnan *

Production

''Thamarai Kulam'' was produced under the banner Kalyani Pictures. Writer S. R. Natarajan and cinematographer S. R. Veerabahu were the producers, and

was director.

, then a struggling actor, was noticed by Srinivasan during a play in

Mylapore Mylapore, also spelt Mayilapur, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. It is also called Tirumayilai. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the cel ...

. Srinivasan, impressed with Nagesh's comic performance, hired him to act in another comic role in ''Thamarai Kulam'', for a salary of 2500. The film thus became Nagesh's cinematic acting debut. S. M. Ramkumar and Kameswaran served as the dance choreographers. Shooting took place at the now non-existent Golden Studios.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by H. Padmanabha Sarma and T. A. Mothi. The playback singers were

P. Susheela Pulapaka Susheela (born 13 November 1935), popularly known as P. Susheela, is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades. She is one of the greatest and best-known playba ...

, Mothi,

P. Leela Porayathu Leela (19 May 1934 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian playback singer, Carnatic vocalist and a music director. She has recorded more than 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, ...

Sirkazhi Govindarajan Sirkazhi Govindarajan (19 January 1933 – 24 March 1988) was an Indian Tamil Carnatic vocalist and a leading playback singer of Indian cinema. Early life Govindarajan, was born on 19 January 1933 at Sirkazhi (a small town in present day Ma ...

, S. C. Krishnan, A. P. Komala and ‘Nellore’ Janaki.

Release and reception

''Thamarai Kulam'' was released on 14 April 1959. The film, which was written with Leftist themes, was not well received by viewers because, according to historian Randor Guy, "Tamil cinema was then dominated by movies of

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 Ga ...

with accent on high-flown, alliterative dialogue". Nagesh's performance was panned by the Tamil magazine ''

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 ...

''. Kanthan of the magazine ''

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 ...

'' said the film could be watched once only for Radha's performance.

References

External links

* {{Muktha Srinivasan 1950s Tamil-language films 1959 films Films directed by Muktha Srinivasan