Manamagal
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Release date August 15, 1951 (India) Producer N. S. Krishnan | Director N. S. Krishnan Music director C. R. Subburaman Country India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date August 15, 1951 (1951-08-15) Based on Suprabha by Munshi Paramu Pillai Screenplay Karunanidhi, Munshi Paramu Pillai Cast Similar movies Manamagan Thevai (1957), Pondatti Thevai (1990), Ellaam Inbamayam (1981), Kannamma (2005), N S Krishnan directed Manamagal and appears in Nallathambi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manamagal (The Bride) is a 1951 Indian Tamil drama film, directed and produced by N. S. Krishnan. The film stars Padmini, Lalitha, S. V. Sahasranamam and T. S. Balaiah in lead roles. The film had musical score by C. R. Subbaraman. This film was based on a popular Malayalam play Suprabha by playwright Munshi Paramu Pillai. The film was dubbed into Telugu as Pelli Kuthuru.
Contents
Cast
Production
Based on a popular Malayalam play Suprabha by playwright Munshi Paramu Pillai, Manamagal had dialogue by Mu. Karunanidhi. N. S. Krishnan directed the film, besides playing the role of a social reformer. The title refers to the heroine (Padmini) who chooses to remain a bride and never a wife because of the lecherous nature of her husband (T. S. Balaiah). Krishnan decided to adapt the play into a film after being impressed by the plotline. Krishnan met Munshi and paid him Rs. 500 for the rights.
Krishnan chosen M. Karunanidhi to write the dialogues. The film was launched at Newton Studios at 31 December 1950. A. Bhimsingh who was one of the assistant directors in the film was assigned the job to dub the film in Telugu. Some scenes were shot in Telugu to make it look like a straight Telugu film. According to film producer and writer G. Dhananjayan, S. S. Rajendran made his acting debut with this film in a role of a beggar, but his portions were edited out the film by the Censor Board as they felt his dialogues were too revolutionary. Dhananjayan also noted that Rajendran's name still appears in the credits, though there are no scenes featuring him. The film marked the acting debut of Padmini as a lead actress. In the film, Krishnan introduced a technical innovation by showing the behind-the-screen-technicians on screen.
Soundtrack
The music was composed by C. R. Subburaman.
The song "Ellam Inbamaayam" was well received and catapulted its singer M. L. Vasanthakumari to fame. This song was composed based on six ragas of Carnatic music. The song "Ellam Inbamayam", based on the Kalyani raga, starts with Simhendramadhyamam and having a ragamalika suite of Mohanam, Hindolam and Darbar. The song "Chinnanchiru Kiliiye" based on the poem by Subramaniya Bharati was sung by VN Sundaram. This song is based on Kapi raga. Originally, GNB was supposed to sing this song with Vasanthakumari. GNB had some rehearsals too, when T.R. Balu protested that GNB should not sing for the film he opted out.
Release
Manamagal became a commercial success at box office. The Malayalam play which was the base was thematically similar to Hindi film Duniya Na Maane by V. Shantaram.
The film received positive reviews for its bold theme. Magazine Pesum Padam wrote, "Producer made the film with reformative intentions but the film leads to indiscipline only".
References
Manamagal WikipediaManamagal IMDb