Tag Archives: The Cinemas of India

Pattinapravesam : From Stage to Celluloid

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By Karthik Bhatt

In this article of From Stage to Celluloid we look at the drama Patinapravesam which was later made into a film by K. Balachander.

The 1960s ushered in a new dawn on both Tamil stage and celluloid, with social themes gaining prominence. The 1970s and the 1980s were truly the heydays of this genre. MR Viswanathan, or Visu as he was popularly known was one of the most successful writer-directors of this era. His themes predominantly revolved around problems faced by the middle class families and most of them were commercial successes. Some of them are frequently re-aired on television channels to this day. His foray into cinema was through Tamil theatre and many of his creations on stage were made into films.

Visu’s first play in the official stage circuit was “Deviyar Iruvar”, written for Vani Kala Mandir in 1972. It was directed by AR Srinivasan (ARS) and had actress Sachu playing a key role. Visu was also associated as an actor with YG Parthasarathy’s UAA. Much later, he started his own troupe, Viswasanthi.

Kathadi Ramamurthy, who began his career on stage at the beginning of the social era remains one of Tamil stage’s most recognisable faces. Making his debut as one of the founding members of the legendary Viveka Fine Arts, he launched his own troupe, Stage Creations in 1965 with Shivaji Chaturvedi, TD Sundararajan and Bobby Raghunathan. Visu wrote four plays for Stage Creations and remarkably, all of them were remade as movies. This piece is about the most popular amongst them.

Visu’s first play for Stage Creations was Dowry Kalyana Vaibhogame (Dowry Kalyanam on celluloid), which as the name suggests dwelt upon the social evil of dowry. “The play was first written for V Gopalakrishnan, who did not take it up for some reason. Visu then narrated the script to me. I agreed to stage it, provided he directed the same”, says Kathadi Ramamurthy. It marked Visu’s debut as a director.

Dowry Kalyana Vaibhogame was followed by Pattinapravesam.  The play revolved around a family comprising five siblings (four brothers and a sister) and their aged mother who migrate to Madras from their village in search of a better living and their travails in the city. With their fortunes wildly fluctuating and problems hounding them, they finally decide to return to the village. It is interesting to note that the plot of the play bore a resemblance to Conquerors of the Golden City, an Italian movie.

The play was a remarkable success. “I remember K Balachander watched the play three or four times, each time bringing along a celluloid star. The biggest compliment I cherish was that he said that it was remarkable that the same level of performance was sustained every time he saw the play, which would have been possible only it was a movie”, says Kathadi Ramamurthy. The movie was directedby K.Balachander , produced by R Venkataraman for Premalaya Films and was released in 1976. Notable actors who played roles in the movie were Sarath Babu, Jai Ganesh and Sivachandran. “Three of us from the play took up roles in the movie”, continues Kathadi Ramamurthy.

Today the movie is best remembered for being the celluloid debut of one amongst the three, Delhi Ganesh, who reprised the role of the eldest brother from the play and the melodious “Vaa nilaa nilaa alla un vaalibam nilaa” set to tune by MS Viswanathan. The popular magazine Ananda Vikatan gave a rating of 52/100 for the movie, a more than average score given its reputation for being tough reviewers and a score of 60/100 to Delhi Ganesh (the highest amongst all actors).

After a hiatus of more than three decades, Visu made a comeback to Tamil stage with Konjam Yosinga Boss in 2014.

Below is the cover image of the song book of the film Pattinapravesam from our archives.

Pattina Pravesam

Understanding Devdas

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The story of Devdas has got to be one of the most popular tales to have been embraced by Indian cinema. There have been a number of versions in a variety of languages. Some movie versions have remained largely faithful to Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s original novella, while others have added their own twists and turns, reinterpreting the original story to suit the demands of the time period in which they were set.

Dilip Kumar & Shahrukh Khan as Devdas. Photo Courtesy: IBN Live.

This week, we at TCRC bring you a couple of pieces of academic writing on Devdas. The first is “The Devdas Phenomenon” by Corey K Creekmur, who is the head of Film Studies at the University of Iowa. He writes about the three versions of Devdas in Hindi cinema and also, discusses the original book on which these interpretations were based (click here to read his paper).

The second is “Devdas: India’s Emasculated Hero, Sado-masochism and Colonialism” by Poonam Arora, who is a professor of English at the University of Michigan – Dearborn. She writes about how the “Devdas narrative discursively construct a prototypical colonial male subjectivity.” (click here to read her paper).

And here’s a clip from PC Barua’s “Devdas”. This was released in 1935.

JC Daniel: Father of Malayalam Cinema

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We at TCRC are always scouring the internet for interesting material on the origins of the regional cinemas of South India. And the internet never ceases to surprise us. Recently, we chanced upon CinemaofMalayalam.net, a website that had a separate page on JC Daniel, the man who wrote, directed and produced the first ever Malayalam feature film.

The movie, titled “Vigathakumaran,” was a silent film and was released in November 1928. In fact, the Kerala state government’s award for lifetime achievement in Malayalam cinema is called the JC Daniel Award, recognizing his efforts in starting up what is today one of India’s most interesting film industries. Interestingly, Daniel was a dentist who showed keen interest in martial arts. He is said to have been an expert at Kalarippayattu and is reported to have written a book about Indian martial arts in English before he ventured into cinema.

English: A short note on Vigathakumaran

A still from “Vigathakumaran,” the first ever Malayalam feature film (released in 1928). Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Given below is a Malayalam documentary on the life of the director JC Daniel.

There has also been quite a bit of controversy over when “Vigathakumaran” was released. While many acknowledge it to be 1928 (including those such as noted Malayalam film journalist Chelangatt Gopalakrishnan and Yves Thoraval, author of “The Cinemas of India”), a photocopied version of a handbill announcing the release of “Vigathakumaran” in 1930 by producers Travancore National Pictures has been circulating on the internet of late, an artifact whose source is yet to be confirmed. Blogger CineMatters has written a detailed post about the 1928 v/s 1930 controversy here for the blog Old Malayalam Cinema. However, there is no dispute over the fact that “Vigathakumaran” by JC Daniel was the first ever Malayalam feature film.

TCRC has, in its archives, memorabilia from various Malayalam films that have been released over the years. Seeing this page on JC Daniel compelled us to revisit some of the old material and we’re working on the digitization of the same. So, do revisit the TCRC blog for updates.