History of Tamil Cinema – Episode 13

In 1944, India was undergoing a trying time on the political front. The battle for independence was heightening while Indian soldiers were playing important roles for the UK military in the Second World War. As in 1943, the impact on the entertainment industry was a huge one, and the film industry was very severely affected.

Harischandra – MGR’s 11^th screen role

The 14 January (Pongal) release was Harischandra which was produced and directed by K.B. Nagabushanam. P.U. Chinnappa played the male lead opposite P. Kannamba, the wife of the film’s producer and director. The famous husband-and-wife comedy duo, N.S. Krishnan and T.A. Madhuram, also played important roles. Also in the cast was M.G. Ramachandran in his 11^th screen appearance. Nagabushanam will later directed M.G. Ramachandran in the 1966 film Thaali Bhagyam.

Jagathalapratapan – P.U. Chinappa becomes a superstar

P.U. Chinappa and N.S. Krishnan headed the cast of Jagathalaptapan which released on 13 April 1944. T.S. Baliah played the role of Minister Gurukarman. The rest of the cast included M.V. Mani, D. Balasubramniyam, M.S. Saojini, T.A. Mathuram, M.R. Santhanalakshmi, S Varalakshmi and Baby Kamala who featured in the iconic snake dance in the movie, spoken about for decades thereafter.

The success of this film elevated P.U. Chinnappa’s success, with some writers equating his success with that of M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar.

Jagathalapratapan was written by T.C. Vadivel Nayakar and directed by S.M Sriramulu Naidu, the founder of Pakshiraja Studios that opened its doors a year after the success of Jagathalapratapan.

Audiences strongly reject Barthruhari

This historical drama had Serukaluthur Sama and B. Jayamma in the lead roles, with N.S. Krishnan, T.A. Mathuram, V.N. Janaki (the wife of MGR) and G. Pattu Iyer also in the cast.

Audiences reacted very strongly against the intimate romance scenes between N.S. Krishnan and Jayamma, labelling it vulgar and obscene. This was the direct cause of the film’s failure at the box-office.

No commercial success for T.R. Raghunath

T.R. Raghunath was the younger brother of Raja Chandrasekhar.  He made his debut as an assistant director in the film Gnana Soundari and debuted as a director in 1936 with the film Kizhattu Mapillai.

Honappa Bhagavathar’s  Prabhavathi, directed by T.R. Raghunath,released on 06 August 1944 but did not enjoy commercial success. Despite this, the film firmly established the popularity of actress T.R. Rajakumari.

Raghunath’s ambitious film with P.U. Chinnappa, titled Mahamaya, had an impressive supporting cast that included N.S. Krishnan, P. Kannamba, T.A. Mathuram, R. Balasubramanyam, D. Balasubramanyam, M.G. Chakrapani and S.V, Sahasranamam. Despite all of this, audiences rejected the story as immoral and the film suffered at the box-office.

Pushpavalli, the mother of Hindi actress Rekha, in a controversial film.

S.S. Vasan, the founder of Gemini Studios, was the producer of Dasi Aparanji, which released on 10 August 1944. M.K. Radha and Pushpavalli.

Pushpavalli made her debut in the 1936 film Sampoorna Ramayanam and graduated to lead actress in the 1947 film Miss Malini where her co-star was Gemini Ganesan in his debut role. Love blossomed between them and they began to live together. The relationship produced two daughters, born in quick succession – Rekha and Radha. Rekha went on to become one of the top lead actresses of Hindi cinema.  

Dasi Aparanji, directed by B.N. Rao, had largely good reviews from critics, but many of them pointed out the feature that Tamil audiences harshly rejected – the many thinly veiled sexual innuendos in the film. This resulted in Dasi Aparanji failing at the box-office.

Poompaavai – Krishnan Panju make their directorial debut

Poompaavai released on 11 August 1944 and marked the directorial debut of Krishnan-Panju (duo consisting of R Krishnan and S Panju) with T. Balaji Singh. Krishnan-Panju would later go on to direct Sivaji Ganesan’s debut film, Parasakthi and also directed numerous other hit films like Server Sundaram, Petralthaan Pillaiya, Kuzhandaiyum Deivamaum, Engal Thangam and Idhaya Veenay. They had been assistants to director P.K. Raja Sandow in the film Manuneethi Chozhan and Sandow was so impressed that he decided to hand over his next film, Poompavai to them.

Poompaavai, starring K.R. Ramasamy, K. Sarangapani, U.R. Jeevarathnam and S.V. Sahasranamam, went on to become a box-office success.

Haridas, the record-setter, to the rescue

Until 2007, the film Haridas held the record for the film with the longest run at the box-office. Released for Deepavali on 15 October 1944, Haridas had an astounding run of 133 weeks, being screened across three consecutive Deepavali festivals. This record was only broken by Rajinikanth’s Chandramukhi, which recorded an 890-day run in 2007.

M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, who had already established himself as Tamil cinema’s first superstar, played the lead role opposite Carnatic singer, N.C. Vasanthakokilam. Others in the cast were P.B. Rangachari, N.S. Krishnan, T.A. Mathuram, T.R. Rajakumari and Baby Harini.

The film also marked the acting debut of Pandari Bai. Pandari Bai also starred opposite Sivaji Ganesan in Parasakthi and, in a career of almost 60 years, shared the screen with every major actor of her time.

The film included a string of hit songs, including the iconic Krishna Kukunda Murare and Manmadha Leelaiyai Vendraar Undo.

Bhagavathar’s career would have sky-rocketed. Unfortunately for him, he was arrested in November 1944 and charged with murder. More about this intriguing case in the next episode of this series.