Mangaiyar Thilakam

Plot

The story starts with the special birthday celebration of a girl. Vasudevan (Sivaji Ganesan) narrates the story which goes back 14 years behind. Karunakaran (S. V. Subbaiah) and Vasudevan (Master Baji) are brothers whose parents had died. They are very much loving and close to each other but Vasudevan longs for mother's love.

Much to the relatives persuasion, Karunakaran accepts to marry Sulochana (Padmini). Vasudevan gets angry as he is notified regarding this and would accept not this wedding to take place if he does not like the bride. He sets off to the bride's house and he likes her at the first glimpse. The wedding takes place and Sulochana becomes a loving and passionate wife as well as sister-in-law. Vasudevan treats and accepts her as his own mother. Meanwhile, Sulochana gets pregnant and deliveres a baby boy but the baby dies soon after.

Time rolls on and Vasudevan becomes as an adult and becomes a college professor but unfortunately Karunakaran and Sulochana was not blessed with children. Vasudevan presents Sulochana gold bangles from his first pay. Vasudevan was arranged to marry Rao Bahadur Ponnambalam's (K. Sarangkapani) and Akilam's (K. N. Kamalam) daughter Prabha (M. N. Rajam).

Comic relief was presented in a moral story of Ponnambalam's family. Ponnambalam listens too much to and often quarrels with Akilam. This drives Ponnambalam's son Kalamani (K. A. Thangavelu) and his wife Neela (Ragini) to hatch a drama in order for Ponnambalam and Akilam to be united and respect each other. Kalamani and Neela succeeds in this.

Prabha's character was the opposite of Sulochana's but the latter least bother about this and carries on her daily good deeds. Prabha gets pregnant and deliveres a baby boy, Ravi (Master Ravi) but she does not care much for him. Sulochana picks up the tasks and takes care of Ravi as a mother should be of. As Ravi grows, Prabha does not like this and forbids Sulochana from raising Ravi.

Ravi falls ill due to the separation and Sulochana takes care of him day and night not bothering her meals and health. Ravi becomes very serious for a month till the doctor who treats him lose hope. Sulochana takes Ravi to a temple and pleads to Lord Shiva to take her life instead and spare Ravi's life. Prabha apologises to Sulochana but the latter says that it was by the God's grace before collapsing due to being too weak. Even in death bed, Sulochana enquires about Ravi's health. After thanking Karunakaran and Vasudevan for a good life as a daughter-in-law in the house and says that she would be reborn in this house, Sulochana dies.

Sulochana's body was cremated but Karunakaran and Vasudevan were surprised to see the gold bangles were not damaged during the process. A baby girl was born on the exact day after a year and she was accepted by the whole family as Sulochana reborn. The gold bangles would be worn to her on every birthday thus the special occasion.

Cast

Production

Actor Sripadhashankar ventured into film production with Mangayar Thilakam being one of his ventures. Since he was not financially strong, he sought the help of an enterprising bank clerk, A.C. Pillai, who helped complete the film providing funds. This film was based on a story Vahininjiya Pangkadiya and Sadasivabramham (noted Telugu screenwriter popularly known as ‘Katha’ Sivabramham). Well-known screenwriter and filmmaker Valampuri Somanathan, G. Ramakrishnan and D. Nagarajan wrote the script and dialogue.

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by S. Dakshinamurthi while The lyrics were by Udumalai Narayana Kavi, Kannadasan, Marudhakasi and Puratchidasan. Playback singers are S. C. Krishnan, M. Sathyam, R. Balasaraswathi Devi, P. Leela, Jikki, K. Jamuna Rani, A. G. Rathnamala, T. V. Rathinam, T. Kamala, Vadivambal & S. J. Kantha

The album was released under the label Saregama. The song Neelavanna Kannaa Vaadaa by R. Balasaraswathi Devi was well received. According to Randor Guy, the song Ketta Penmani by T. V. Rathinam took a dig at modern woman.

Release

The film was released on 26 August 1955 with a length of 5322 mts and became successful at the box office. G. Dhananjayan in his book Pride of Tamil cinema wrote "LV Prasad was brilliant and realistic in his screenplay, performances and direction which made the film to stand out among many ordinary and exaggerated narrations at that time". Randor Guy of The Hindu wrote that the film is remembered for "highlighting family values and the performances of Padmini, Sivaji Ganesan, Rajam and Subbaiah".