Utthama Puthiran is the 1940

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 Pudu ...

film directed by

T. R. Sundaram Tiruchengodu Ramalingam Sundaram Mudaliar (16 July 1907 – 30 August 1963) was an Indian actor, director, and producer. He was the founder of the Salem-based film production company Modern Theatres. Early life Sundaram was born in 1907 fro ...

. P. U. Chinnappa,

M. V. Rajamma M. V. Rajamma (10 March 1918 – 23 April 1999) was an Indian actress, producer and playback singer of films mostly in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu languages from the 1930s through 1970s. She has the distinction of having acted as both heroine an ...

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 fiel ...

played the lead roles. It was the first Tamil film in which the leading actor P. U. Chinnappa played a double role.

Production

''Uthama Puthiran'' was adapted from the 1939 Hollywood film '' The Man in the Iron Mask'', which was based on the 1847–1850 novel '' The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later'' by the French adventure fiction maestro,

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...

. The film was produced and directed by the Salem based movie mogul,

, it proved successful and established the singing star of the 1940s, P. U. Chinnappa. The film featured him in dual roles and thus made him a first Tamil actor to feature him double roles. The double action scenes of Chinnappa was shot by Bodo Gutschwager, a German technician. There was a sequence of the twins engaged in a duel while singing a duet, throwing challenges making it one of the rare scenes in Indian cinema.

, Kannada theatre and film actress, played the heroine. Uthama Puthran was her second film with Chinnappa, the first being ''Yayathi'' (1938).

portrayed the negative role. The film had supporting cast featuring NSK, Mathuram, Kali N. Ratnam, and

P. A. Periyanayaki P. A. Periyanayaki (14 April 1927 – 1990) was an Indian playback singer and actress who worked mainly in Tamil-language films. She also performed stage concerts as a Carnatic singer. Early life She hails from Thiruvadhigai near Panruti. ...

Cast

* P. U. Chinnappa as Vikrama Pandiyan / Sokkanatha Pandiyan *

as Meenatchi *

as 'Minister' Naganathan * T. S. Krishnaveni as Shanthamani * Kali N. Ratnam as Pattabi * Pulimoottai Ramasamy as Subbramani Samy

Guest Appearance

N. S. Krishnan Nagercoil Sudalaimuthu Krishnan, popularly known as Kalaivanar () and also as NSK, was an Indian actor-comedian, theatre artist, playback singer and writer in the early stages of the Tamil film industry – in the 1940s and 1950s. He is conside ...

as Iyengar * T. A. Mathuram as Iyengar's wife

Soundtrack

The music was composed by G. Ramanathan and the lyrics were penned by S. Velsamy. Even though the British Indian government banned the Tamil rebel poet Bharati's work, Sundaram had the actor render the famous song "Senthamizh Naadenum Podhiniley" and got away with it.

Themes and influences

''Uthama Puthiran'' adapted from Hollywood film '' The Man in the Iron Mask'' which was based on novel of same name notably became the first Tamil film to feature an actor in two roles. The story of identical twins was used often in Tamil cinema, and Dumas himself used it to write his famous ''

The Corsican Brothers ''The Corsican Brothers'' (french: Les Frères corses) is a novella by Alexandre Dumas, père, first published in 1844. It is the story of two conjoined brothers who, though separated at birth, can still feel each other's physical distress. It h ...

'' which was also adapted into Tamil. The

Gemini Studios Gemini Studios was an Indian film studio based in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was launched when S. S. Vasan, a businessman of many ventures (including the ownership of Ananda Vikatan) bought Motion Picture Producers' Combines from Krishnaswamy Subr ...

version '' Apoorva Sagotharargal'' (1949) with M. K. Radha playing the twins was a box office hit.

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

played the twins in a rehash of the film titled '' Neerum Neruppum''. The film was remade again in 1958 with

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 ...

. ''Uthama Puthiran'' also was the inspiration behind '' Imsai Arasan 23 m Pulikesi'', a 2006

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

starring comedian

Vadivelu Kumaravadivel Natarajan (born 12 September 1960), known professionally as Vadivelu, is an Indian actor, comedian and playback singer, having acted in supporting and lead roles in Tamil cinema. He gained widespread acclaim in Kollywood in the 2 ...

as the twins.

References

External links

Article about the film by Randor Guy in Hindu

Bibliography

* {{The Man in the Iron Mask 1940 films 1940s historical films 1940s Tamil-language films Films about brothers Films based on The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later Films directed by T. R. Sundaram Indian historical films Twins in Indian films