President Panchatcharam

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President Panchatcharam
President Panchatcharam poster.jpg
Poster
Directed by A. Bhimsingh
Produced byV. Arunachalam
Chinna Annamalai
Screenplay by B. S. Ramiah
Based on The Government Inspector
by Nikolai Gogol
Starring S. S. Rajendran
S. V. Sahasranamam
B. Saroja Devi
Music by G. Ramanathan
Cinematography M. Karnan
Edited byA. Bhimsingh
Production
company
Savithri Pictures
Release date
10 July 1959
Running time
162 minutes [1]
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

President Panchatcharam is a 1959 Tamil-language comedy film directed by A. Bhimsingh and written by B. S. Ramiah. It is based on the play of the same name written by Ramiah, itself adapted from the 1836 play The Government Inspector by Russian Nikolai Gogol. The film stars S. S. Rajendran, S. V. Sahasranamam and B. Saroja Devi in the lead roles.

Tamil language language

Tamil is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken by the Tamil people of India and Sri Lanka, and by the Tamil diaspora, Sri Lankan Moors, Douglas, and Chindians. Tamil is an official language in three countries: India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. In India, it is the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry. Furthermore, Tamil is used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia, along with English, Malay and Mandarin. Tamil is spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India.

A comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement and most often work by exaggerating characteristics for humorous effect. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending. One of the oldest genres in film – and derived from the classical comedy in theatre –, some of the very first silent movies were comedies, as slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions, without requiring sound. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1920s, comedy films took another swing, as laughter could result from burlesque situations but also dialogue.

A. Bhimsingh Indian film director

A. Bhimsingh or Bhim Singh (1924–1978) was an Indian filmmaker, producer, editor, and writer who worked predominantly in the Tamil film industry. Apart from Tamil, he made films in other languages that include 18 films in Hindi, 8 films in Telugu, 5 films in Malayalam and 1 film in Kannada. Hailing from Andhra Pradesh, he started his film career as an assistant editor with the film-making duo Krishnan-Panju in the late 1940s. Later, he became an assistant director before evolving as an independent director. His films mainly dealt with family and relationships. He made a series of films all of which started with the Tamil syllable pa, mainly with Sivaji Ganesan.

Contents

Plot

A District Board president has a daughter studying in Madras. While he and his wife have different men as prospective grooms for her in their minds, the girl falls in love with her friend Sigamani. The two aspiring grooms come to the president's town to finalise the marriage. Suddenly, the president receives a letter stating that the government is sending an officer to secretly investigate his fraudulent affairs. When Sigamani visits the president and says he loves his daughter, the president mistakenly identifies Sigamani as the official.

Cast

S. S. Rajendran Indian politician

Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, also known by his initials SSR, was an Indian actor, director, producer and politician who worked in Tamil theatre and cinema.

S. V. Sahasranamam Indian actor

Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Sahasranamam, also known as S. V. S., was an Indian actor and director. Primarily a theatre actor, he also worked in over 200 films, mainly in Tamil cinema.

B. Saroja Devi Indian actress

B. Saroja Devi is an Indian actress, who has acted in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi movies. One of the most successful female leads in the history of Indian cinema, she acted in around 200 films in over six decades. She is known by the epithets "Abinaya Saraswathi" in Kannada and "Kannadathu Paingili" in Tamil.

Dance

Additional supporting roles were played by S. N. Lakshmi, T. R. Ramachandran, T. V. Kumudhini, ‘Kuladeivam' Rajagopal, N. Chandhini, D. Balasubramaniam, D. V. Narayanasami, Pakkirisami and ‘Kottapuli' Jayaraman. [2]

S. N. Lakshmi actress

Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi, who worked under the screen name S N Lakshmi, was an Indian film actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, Lakshmi acted in more than 1,500 films and 6,000 dramas.

T. R. Ramachandran Indian actor

Thirukampuliyur Ranga Ramachandran was an Indian actor and comedian who acted mainly in Tamil films. He was cast mostly in lead or supportive roles, especially in comical parts, from the 1940s to the 1960s. Known for his distinctive saucer-eyes, Ramachandran was known as "The Eddie Cantor of India".

D. Balasubramaniam Indian actor

D. Balasubramaniam was a Tamil film actor whose career spanned from the late 1930s through the late 1950s. He was well known for his roles in mythological films and later switched to character roles.

Production

Playwright B. S. Ramiah adapted Russian dramatist Nikolai Gogol's 1836 play The Government Inspector into a Tamil play titled President Panchatcharam with S. V. Sahasranamam starring. [2] [3] The play, which was produced by Sahasranamam's own company Seva Stage, [4] and had Devika in a key role, [5] was critically acclaimed, [6] and it was adapted into a film with the same title. Sahasranamam, who appeared in the play, returned for the film as well. [2] The film adaptation was directed and edited by A. Bhimsingh, and produced by V. Arunachalam and Chinna Annamalai under Savithri Pictures. [7] Ramiah wrote the screenplay and dialogues. [7] Cinematography was handled by M. Karnan, [8] [9] and the art direction by Chowdhury. [7] The film featured a musical play based on V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. [2] The final length of the film was 14,614 feet (4,454 m). [7]

Batlagundu Subramanian Ramiah was a Tamil writer, journalist, and critic from Tamil Nadu, India. He was also a script and dialogue writer in Tamil films.

Nikolai Gogol Ukrainian and Russian writer

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Russian dramatist of Ukrainian origin.

<i>The Government Inspector</i> Satirical play by Nikolai Gogol

The Government Inspector, also known as The Inspector General, is a satirical play by the Russian and Ukrainian dramatist and novelist Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the play was revised for an 1842 edition. Based upon an anecdote allegedly recounted to Gogol by Pushkin, the play is a comedy of errors, satirizing human greed, stupidity, and the extensive political corruption of Imperial Russia.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by G. Ramanathan, while the lyrics were written by Subramania Bharathi, Kannadasan, K. S. Gopalakrishnan and Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam. [10]

G. Ramanathan Indian composer

Gobalsamy Ramanathan was an Indian music composer for Tamil movies. He is also known as Isai Methai or Sangeetha Chakravarthy and is considered to be one of the influential Tamil music composers to take Carnatic music to the masses. Notable for his association with M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. G. Ramanathan also composed for films of Salem Modern Theatres and Coimbatore Central Studios. His career lasted until his death in 1963. During the 1950s G.Ramanathan's music dominated most of the box office hits of the then leading Tamil movie stars Shivaji Ganesan and M. G. Ramachandran.

Kannadasan Indian poet

Kannadasanpronunciation (help·info) was an Indian poet and lyricist, heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Frequently called Kaviarasu or Kavirajar, Kannadasan was most familiar for his song lyrics in Tamil films and contributed around 5000 film lyrics apart from 6000 poems and 232 books, including novels, epics, plays, essays, his most popular being the 10-part religious essay on Hinduism, Artthamulla Indhumatham. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Cheraman Kadali in the year 1980 and was the first to receive the National Film Award for Best Lyrics, given in 1969 for the film Kuzhanthaikkaga.

K. S. Gopalakrishnan Indian film director

K. S. Gopalakrishnan was an Indian screenwriter, director, producer, and lyricist, who worked in Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films. Since the early 1960s, he directed 70 films. He spent most of his career directing and producing movies with social and devotional themes. Most of his movies are melodramas. His son K. S. G. Venkatesh is an actor who has acted in television serials and in films like Sathuranga Vettai.

NoSongsSingersLyricsLength
1Intru Netru Vandha P. B. Srinivas and K. Jamuna Rani Kannadasan 05:52
2Mannaadhi Mannan Inge P. Susheela
3Yaaro Nee Yaaro T. M. Soundararajan and P. Susheela03:21
4Myna Chittu ManasuT. M. Soundararajan K. S. Gopalakrishnan 02:57
5Naan Suhavaasi, Dhinam Kaiveesi Seergazhi Govindarajan
6Oli Padaitha Kanninaayi VaaVaa M. L. Vasanthakumari and (Radha) Jayalakshmi Subramania Bharati
7Chinna Ponnu Sirikudhu A. P. Komala and A. G. Rathnamala Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam
8Azhagu Raani Ponne S. C. Krishnan, V. T. Rajagopalan and K. Jamuna Rani
9Desa Sudhanthiram Thedi Vazhangiya P. Leela, Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi and group

Release and reception

President Panchatcharam was released on 10 July 1959. [7] The film was commercially successful, and film historian Randor Guy said it would be remembered for "the interesting screenplay and good performances by Sahasranamam, Rajendran and Saroja Devi." [2] Following Rajendran's death in 2014, Prakash Upadhyaya of International Business Times described it as one of his "best works as actor". [11]

Madabhushi Rangadorai, better known by his pen name Randor Guy, is an Indian lawyer, columnist and film and legal historian associated with the English language newspaper The Hindu. He is also the official editor of the weekly column "Blast from the Past" that appears in The Hindu.

The International Business Times is an American online news publication that publishes seven national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called IBTimes or IBT, offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on business and commerce. IBT is one of the world's largest online news sources, receiving forty million unique visitors each month. Its 2013 revenues were around $21 million.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1998, p. 360.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Guy, Randor (1 October 2011). "President Panchatcharam 1959". The Hindu . Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  3. ↑ Goble, Alan, ed. (1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 183. ISBN   1-85739-229-9.
  4. ↑ Proceedings of the Annual Conference. 19. National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions (U.S.). Conference, South Indian History Congress. 2000. p. 358. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018.
  5. ↑ தீனதயாளன், பா. (27 August 2016). "தேவிகா: 2.பாலிருக்கும் பழமிருக்கும்...!". Dinamani (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  6. ↑ Bhatt, Karthik (25 April 2015). "Policekaran Magal: From stage to celluloid". The Cinema Resource Centre. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Film News Anandan (2004). Sadhanaigal Padaitha Thamizh Thiraipada Varalaru [Tamil film history and its achievements] (in Tamil). Chennai: Sivagami Publishers. Archived from the original on 11 April 2018.
  8. ↑ Higgins, MaryEllen; Keresztesi, Rita; Oscherwitz, Dayna, eds. (2015). The Western in the Global South. Routledge. p. 165. ISBN   978-1-138-84312-7.
  9. ↑ Venkatraman, Karthikeyan (28 July 2016). "கேமராவுக்கு சவால்: ஒளிப்பதிவாளர் கர்ணன்". Dinamani (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  10. ↑ Neelamegam, G. (December 2014). Thiraikalanjiyam — Part 1 (in Tamil) (First ed.). Chennai: Manivasagar Publishers. p. 178.
  11. ↑ Upadhyaya, Prakash (24 October 2014). "Veteran Actor SS Rajendran Dies at 86". International Business Times . India. Archived from the original on 2 June 2018. Retrieved 2 June 2018.

Bibliography

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