Koovagam is a village in the Ulundurpettai taluk in Kallakurichi district, Tamil Nadu. It is famous for its annual festival of transgender individuals, which takes fifteen days in the Tamil month of Chitrai (April/May).
Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; was an Indian actor and comedian mostly remembered for his comic roles in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 films from 1958 to 2008, performing in a variety of roles as comedian, lead roles, supporting actor and antagonist. He has also acted in Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films. Nagesh's style of comedy was largely inspired by Hollywood actor Jerry Lewis. Similarities between Nagesh and Lewis earned Nagesh the sobriquet the "Jerry Lewis of India". He was also nicknamed as the King of Comedy due to his impeccable comedy timing and body language. He featured regularly in the film projects of M. G. Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan even at a time when there was a massive rift between the two leading actors in Tamil cinema at that time.
Rajaraja Cholan is a 1973 Indian Tamil-language historical biographical film directed by A. P. Nagarajan and written by Aru Ramanathan. Based on Ramanathan's play of the same name about the life of the Chola king Rajaraja I, the film stars Sivaji Ganesan in the title role and was the first Tamil CinemaScope film. It was released on 31 March 1973, and ran for over 100 days in theatres.
Michael Madana Kama Rajan is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao and written by Kamal Haasan, with Crazy Mohan penning the dialogues. The film stars Haasan in four roles alongside Khushbu, Urvasi and Rupini while Manorama, Delhi Ganesh, Nassar, Vennira Aadai Moorthy, S. N. Lakshmi, Jayabharathi, R. N. Jayagopal, Nagesh, Praveen Kumar, Santhana Bharathi and R. S. Shivaji play supporting roles. It revolves around quadruplets who get separated at birth and cross paths as adults.
Nadodi Mannan is a 1958 Indian Tamil-language action adventure film directed by M. G. Ramachandran in his debut as a filmmaker. He stars in dual roles alongside P. Bhanumathi, M. N. Rajam and B. Saroja Devi. P. S. Veerappa, M. N. Nambiar, M. G. Chakrapani, T. K. Balachandran and Chandrababu play supporting roles. The film revolves around a king being replaced by a look-alike after getting abducted on the eve of his coronation. The look-alike begins to implement social and economic reforms to uplift the poor which irks the kingdom's high priest, who has kidnapped the very person the look-alike resembles. The rest of the film shows how the look-alike saves the man he impersonates and defeats the high priest.
Manmadhan is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language romantic crime thriller film directed by A. J. Murugan in his debut. Silambarasan plays dual roles for the first time in his career while Jyothika plays the female lead, with Sindhu Tolani, Santhanam, Atul Kulkarni, and Goundamani playing supporting roles. The music was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja.
Madana Kama Rajan is a 1941 Indian Tamil-language adventure film directed by B. N. Rao and produced by S. S. Vasan. It was the first film for Vasan as producer for Dindugal Amirtham Talkies.
Chandrahasa is a king of the Kuntala kingdom in Hindu mythology. The story of Chandrahasa is described in the Ashvamedhika Parva of the epic Mahabharata. Chandrahasa befriends Arjuna who was accompanied by Krishna guarding the ashvamedha ceremony of Yudhishthira. Chandrahasa anoints his son Makaraksha as the king and accompanies the army of Arjuna to help the ashvamedha.
Aravaan (transl. Snake) is a 2012 Indian Tamil language epic historical film directed by Vasanthabalan, based on Su. Venkatesan's novel Kaaval Kottam. It was released in 2012 and stars Aadhi, Dhansika, Archana Kavi and Pasupathy. Kabir Bedi has a prominent role and Bharath is also featured in a cameo role. The film marks noted playback singer Karthik's debut as a music director. Aravaan was released on 2 March 2012 to mixed reviews and had moderate earnings at the box office.
Raju Peda is a 1954 Indian Telugu-language film directed and produced by B. A. Subba Rao. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao, Lakshmirajyam, S. V. Ranga Rao and Master Sudhakar, with music composed by S. Rajeswara Rao. It is based on Mark Twain’s 1881 novel, The Prince and the Pauper and was later remade into the Hindi film Raja Aur Runk (1968) and dubbed into Tamil as Aandi Petra Selvan (1957).
Diwana is a 1952 Bollywood romantic drama movie directed and produced by Abdul Rashid Kardar. It was written by S. N. Banerji and edited by M. S. Hajee. It narrates the tragic love story of a prince and a nomadic woman who marry each other, become separated and when they finally reunite together they find themselves bereaved at the loss of their only son. It stars Suraiya, Sumitra and Suresh in the leading roles, with Shyam Kumar, Ramesh, Madan Puri, S N Banerji, Amirbai Karnataki, Mumtazbai, Neelambai and Amir Bano in supporting roles. The dialogues of this film were written by Jagdish Kanwal. The music was composed by the renowned musician Naushad, with lyrics penned by Shakeel Badayuni.
Ponniyin Selvan is a Tamil language historical fiction novel by Indian author Kalki Krishnamurthy. It was first serialised in the weekly editions of Kalki, a Tamil magazine, from 29 October 1950 to 16 May 1954 and later integrated into five volumes in 1955. In about 2,210 pages, it tells the story of early days of Chola prince Arulmozhivarman. Kalki visited Sri Lanka three times to gather information and for inspiration.
Uthama Puthiran is a 1958 Indian Tamil-language historical action film directed by T. Prakash Rao. Co-produced by C. V. Sridhar, who also wrote the screenplay, the film stars Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini, with M. K. Radha, M. N. Nambiar, K. A. Thangavelu, Ragini and Kannamba in supporting roles. It revolves around twins who are separated at birth; one grows up as a kind and honest man, while the other grows up as a greedy and arrogant man.
Thanga Padhumai is a 1959 Indian Tamil language film starring Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini. The film was co-written and directed by A. S. A. Sami, produced by M. Somasundaram under Jupiter Pictures, and had music by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy. Thanga Pathumai proved to be a hit in its re-release, and won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil for the year 1959.
Thookku Thookki is a 1954 Indian Tamil-language historical drama film directed by R. M. Krishnaswami. Based on the play of the same name by Udumalai Narayana Kavi, it stars Sivaji Ganesan, Lalitha and Padmini. The film revolves around a prince who, after hearing about the five maxims of life, goes through numerous adventures to evaluate their validity.
Naan (transl. Me) is 1967 Indian Tamil-language film, directed by T. R. Ramanna and written by T. N. Balu. The film stars Ravichandran, Jayalalithaa, Muthuraman and Nagesh. It focuses on a raja's failed attempt to find his lost son, and three men who claim to be the lost son, seeking rights to the raja's properties.
Bahut Din Huwe is a 1954 Indian Hindi-language film directed by S. S. Vasan, produced by Gemini Studios and starring Madhubala. It is a remake of the Telugu film Bala Nagamma (1942).
Jameen Kottai is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language horror film directed by Ramchandar and written by Kalaipuli G. Sekaran. The film stars Kalaipuli G. Sekaran and Mohini, with Ra. Sankaran, King Kong, P. R. Varalakshmi, Bayilvan Ranganathan and Boopathi Raja playing supporting roles. Jameen Kottai was produced by Pon Kumar with a musical score written by Sirpy. The film was released on the 14 December 1995.
M. P. Sivam is an Indian stage and film artist. He has worked as a teacher who trained stage artistes. He was also a poet and a musician.
Minnalkodi is a 1937 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film, directed by K. Amarnath and produced by Ramaniklal and Mohanlal. The film stars K. T. Rukmini, Srinivasa Rao, and S. S. Kokko. Released on 30 October 1937, it became a commercial success, but no print of the film is known to survive, making it a lost film.
