''Kanjan'' () is a 1947 Indian Tamil-language film directed by Covai A. Aiyamuthu and T. R. Gopu. The film stars

S. V. Subbaiah S. V. Subbaiah (1920-1980) was an Indian actor who featured mainly in Tamil-language plays and films. He featured mostly in character roles that communicated emotional feelings. Early life Subbaiah hails from Sengottai in Tirunelveli distri ...

, R. Malathi and T. G. Kamala Devi. No print of the film is known to survive, making it a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy ...

Plot

The film centers on a wealthy old man and his attempt to court his son's girlfriend and make her his second wife. The film highlights social evils such as black-marketing, selling of young girls et al.

Cast

;Female cast *M. S. S. Bhagyam as Chellam *R. Malathi as Maragatham * T. G. Kamala Devi as Amaravathi *

C. K. Saraswathi C. K. Saraswathi (died 1998) was an Indian actress who featured mainly in Tamil films. She was active in the field from 1945 till 1998. During the early days she featured in character roles and in comedy tracks. Later she became famous for her a ...

as Anjuham *K. S. Angamuthu as Kuppayi ;Male cast *

as Kanjan *

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. ...

as Velappan * P. V. Narasimha Bharathi as Kumarasami *M. K. Mustafa as Loganathan *Nat Annaji Rao as Murugesan *B. Rajagopala Iyer as Subodar

Production

The film was produced by K. Velliangiri, a partner of Jupiter pictures when writer Covai A. Aiyamuthu wanted to make a film. Covai A. Aiyamuthu directed the film assisted by the company's editor T. R. Gopu who also did the editing. Covai A. Aiyamuthu wrote the story and dialogues too. Cinematography was handled by P. Ramasami and art direction was by P. B. Chowdri and Kuttiyappu. C. Thangaraj was in charge of choreography. The film was made at Coimbatore

Central Studios Central Studios was an Indian film studio in the neighbourhood of Singanallur, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, started by B.Rangaswamy Naidu (a.k.a. B. R. Naidu) and other prominent industrialists like Swamikannu Vincent of Coimbatore in 1935 to ma ...

Reception

The film was a flop. An interesting event took place to show the enormity of its failure. At about this film was screened in Coimbatore, a college celebrated its annual day. There was a play staged by the students. A scene showed a sinner at judgement in

Yama Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities ...

's court. Yama says the sinner should be fried in boiling oil as punishment for his sins. Yama's accountant Chitragupta says the punishment is not enough. So Yama says, the sinner's body should be cut into pieces and fed to vultures. Again Chitragupta says the punishment is not enough. Yama thinks and comes out with a novel punishment. He says the sinner should be made to see all 3 shows of ''Kanjan'' at a stretch in the local movie theatre. The joke does not end there. The sinner wails and appeals to Yama that he be better fried in boiling oil and his body be fed to vultures rather than he be made to watch the film. The producers K. Velliangiri and C. Sundaram who were also invitees laughed at the joke. Film historian

Randor Guy Madabhushi Rangadorai (born 8 November 1937), better known by his pen name Randor Guy, is an Indian lawyer, columnist and film and legal historian associated with the English language newspaper '' The Hindu''. He is also the official editor of ...

wrote in 2010 that the film is "Remembered for its fine music and some of its cast who became major stars later.

Soundtrack

Music was composed by S. M. Subbaiah Naidu while the lyrics were penned by Covai A. Aiyamuthu. A song ''Mandaril ezhil udayon engal Tamizhan'' (Tamils are the most elegant among mankind). It is said that the producers waited for 6 months after completing the shooting to record this song by Mariyappa. , , M. M. Mariyappa , , rowspan=12, Covai A. Aiyamuthu , , 03:16 , - , 2 , , "Varayo Muruga Manala Varuga" , , , , , - , 3 , , "Athai Magale Nillay" , , M. M. Mariyappa, K. V. Janaki , , 03:14 , - , 4 , , "Vayatrai Pichikku Thenpal" , , , , , - , 5 , , "Kaikku Pathu Valaiyal Venum" , , , , , - , 6 , , "Pichai Karananen" , , Thiruchi Loganathan , , 03:18 , - , 7 , , "Yare Nee Kooraye Mane" , , , , , - , 8 , , "Neelavanilave Adhavan Pole" , , K. V. Janaki, Thiruchi Loganathan , , 03:06 , - , 9 , , "Kallaneruvan En Ullathaiye" , , K. V. Janaki , , 03:09 , - , 10 , , "Neersoozhntha Natellam" , , M. M. Mariyappa , , 02:05 , - , 11 , , "Aaha Ini Yare Puvi Meethe Nampole" , , M. M. Mariyappa, K. V. Janaki , , 02:09 , - , 12 , , "Vazhka Thamizh Nadu Vazhka Vazhkave" , , , ,

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0332173 Indian drama films Indian black-and-white films Films about social issues in India Films scored by S. M. Subbaiah Naidu Lost Indian films 1947 drama films 1947 films 1940s lost films Lost drama films Jupiter Pictures films