Directed by Krishnan-Panju Written by Murasoli Maran | Produced by SK Pictures Music by R. Sudarsanam | |
Story by Banga Kora
by Prabhavathi Devi Saraswathi Starring S. V. Sahasranamam
Pandari Bai | ||
Kula Deivam (English: Family deity) is a 1956 Indian Tamil drama film directed by Krishnan-Panju. The film was produced by SK Pictures and stars SV Sahasranamam and Pandaribai in the lead roles, while Rajagopal, SS Rajendran, Chandrababu, Asokan and Vijayakumari play pivotal roles. The film's soundtrack and background score were composed by R. Sudarsanam, while the lyrics for the songs were written by Subramaniya Bharathi, Bharathidasan, Kamatchisundaran, Athmanathan and Pattukottai Kalyanasundaram.
Contents
Maruthi Rao and S. Panjabi handled cinematography and editing respectively. The screenplay and dialogues were written by Murasoli Maran. The film was released on 29 August 1956 with a length of 18582 feet and became successful at the box office.
The film was a remake of Bengali film Banga Kora which was based on the novel of same name by Prabhavathi Devi Saraswathi. The film was remade in Hindi as Bhabhi and in Kannada as Jenu Goodu. Pandari Bai reprised her role in all versions except Bengali.
Production
Kula Deivam was based on a Bengali film Banga Kora by noted writer Prabhavathi Devi Saraswathi. Dialogues for the film was written by "Murasoli" Maran. Maran's uncle M. Karunanidhi was unsure whether Maran would achieve success with this film however Krishnan Panju assured Karunanidhi to make Maran to write dialogues. AV Meiyappan named him as Murasoli Maran named after the newspaper which he was working at that time. Stage actor VR Rajagopal made his acting debut with this film and came to be known as Kuladeivam Rajagopal after the success of the film.
Soundtrack
Soundtrack was composed by R. Sudharsanam and lyrics were written by Mahakavi Subramania Bharathiyar, Bharathidasan, Pattukottai Kalyanasundaram, K. P. Kamatchi and M. K. Athmanathan. Playback singers are C. S. Jayaraman, T. M. Soundararajan, Seerkazhi Govindarajan, M. M. Muthu, M. L. Vasanthakumari, T. V. Rathinam & P. Suseela.
The album was released under the label "Saregama".
Release
The film was released on 29 September 1956 with a length of 18580 feet with runtime of 168 minutes. G. Dhananjayan in his book Pride of Tamil Cinema praised the film citing that it had "socially relevant messages [..] was shown effectively on the screen...". He also praised the performances of lead artists as excellent. Randor Guy of Hindu noted that the film was "Remembered for the socially relevant storyline, excellent performances by Sahasranamam and Pandari Bai, pleasing music and touching on-screen narration". The film was remade in Hindi as Bhabhi (1957) which also was a success and was also remade in Kannada as Jenu Goodu (1963). The film won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.