Thanga Padhumai

Plot

Sivaji Ganesan plays the younger physician to the king (R. Balasubramaniam) and his wife (Padmini) was modelled on Kannagi as the personification of female virtues. The physician is commanded to the palace to treat the king where the princess (M. N. Rajam) falls for him and virtually enslaves him, preventing him from going back to his wife. She even goes to the extent of blinding the hero and in a long drawn out song-oriented climax, the wife prays before the gold statue of Parvathi, hence the title, and gets back her husband's sight and happiness.

Cast

Crew

Production

During the late 1950s, Jupiter Somu thought of remaking Kannagi (1942) with Sivaji Ganesan as Kovalan. He projected the 1942 version to mentor C. N. Annadurai who watched it along with Sami, who was to direct the second version. After watching the film, Annadurai told them that remaking the film would not prove successful. The project was dropped but Somu carried in his mind the idea of making something similar about "a woman, who is chastity personified fighting a relentless battle to win her husband back…". The film was titled as Thanga Padhumai. Writers Aru. Ramanathan and A. S. A. Sami wrote the script inspired from American film The Egyptian (1954). Producers initially approached Anjali Devi and P. Bhanumathi for the character of Mayamohini for which they did not agree and finally TR Rajakumari was chosen to play the role. A. S. A. Sami recalled that during the lunch break, Padmini would walk up and down the shooting floor with the script in her hand studying the dialogue over and over and delivering it, giving it different shades of meaning. The film was made in budget of 8 lakhs with Sivaji and Padmini were paid 60000 while Rajakumari was paid 25000 for the film.

Soundtrack

The music composed by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy and lyrics were written by Udumalai Narayana Kavi, Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram, Kannadasan & A. Maruthakasi. Playback singers are C. S. Jayaraman, T. M. Soundararajan, Seerkazhi Govindarajan, S. C. Krishnan, M. L. Vasanthakumari, P. Leela, P. Suseela, Jikki, T. S. Bagavathi, A. P. Komala, K. Jamuna Rani, A. G. Rathnamala & Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi.

The soundtrack was released under the label "Saregama". The song "Varugiraal Unnai" is based on Atana raga. The song "Aarambamavadhu" was remixed in Tharai Thappattai (2016).

Release

The film was sold to Ramakrishnan films who did not release well in its first run in spite of best performance and songs as expected. However in its second run, film was bought by Jayaraman Pictures for 25000 rs and it did well. Randor Guy of The Hindu wrote that the film is remembered for "Padmini's and Sivaji Ganesan's performance, and the classic song ‘Koduthavaney'." Dhananjayan wrote that the narration was "engaging and excellent with many twist and turns throughout".

Legacy

The film's dialogue "Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara" ("Isn't this what you wished for, Balakumara?") inspired the title of a 2013 film.

Awards