Chintamani (1937 film)

Production

Chintamani was a popular play which had been performed in many languages. First, a silent film was made based on the play, then talkies based on it were made in Bengali, Hindi and Telugu. In 1937, a Tamil version of the film was directed by film-maker Y. V. Rao under the banner of Royal Talkies, owned by yarn merchants of Madurai.

Initially, the director Y. V. Rao, wanted to play Bilwamangal's role himself. However, he changed his mind and acted as Bilwamangal's companion Manoharan. Serugulathur Sama was another contender for the main role. But, Rao rejected him in favor of M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar who was signed to play the part. In the initial stages, more publicity was given to the Kannada actress Aswathamma who played Chintamani's role than M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. Her name was mentioned above that of Bhagavathar's in the credits.

Plot

Chintamani was based on the legendary story of a Sanskrit poet and devotee of Lord Krishna named Bilwamangal (M. K. Thyragaraja Bhagavathar). Bilwamangal, a resident of Varanasi, was a Sanskrit scholar, who gets infatuated towards a courtesan called Chintamani (Aswathamma), a woman of ill-fame. As a result, he deserts his wife. However, Chintamani is an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna (Serugalathur Sama) and spends most of her time singing bhajans in praise of Lord Krishna. His attraction towards Chintamani eventually draws Bilwamangal closer towards Lord Krishna and transforms his life forever. Bilwangal, himself, becomes a devotee of Lord Krishna and pens a monumental Sanskrit work Sri Krishna Karnamritam.

Cast and crew

Release and reception

Chintamani was released on 12 March 1937and became one of the most acclaimed films of early Tamil cinema. Though Bhagavathar's first film Pavalakkodi had achieved some success, it was Chintamani that made Bhagavathar into a successful actor. It had an uninterrupted theatrical run of more than a year. It was one of the two films of Bhagavathar, released in 1937 (the other one was Ambikapathy) which ran for more than a year. It also marked the debut in Tamil for Kannada actress Aswathamma who played the title role. Aswathamma acted in one more Tamil movie before her untimely death in 1939 due to tuberculosis.

With the substantial profits obtained from the movie, the owners of Royal Talkies constructed a theatre in Madurai and named it Chintamani. The Tamil writer Kalki wrote that the film has so affected viewers that the housewife would sing the song Mayaprapanchattil from the movie while preparing coffee in the morning and her husband would sing Rathey unakku kobam in order to please his sweetheart.

The gramophone discs of Chintamani were also popular though M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar did not sing the songs that were featured in them as he was not under contract with Saraswathi Stores which produced the records. Instead, the songs were sung by Thuraiyur Rajagopala Sarma. It continues to influence Sinhala film music to this day.

Writing in Eelakesari magazine in April 1938, Pudumaipithan praised the film as follows:

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Papanasam Sivan. The song "Radhe Unakku" became famous and it is a cult song. Partial list of Songs from Chintamani: