Raja Mukthi () is a 1948 Indian

Tamil language Tamil (, , , also written as ''Tamizhil'' according to linguistic pronunciation) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. It is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world,. "Tamil is one of ...

film starring

M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar Mayavaram Krishnasamy Thiyagaraja Bhagavathar (1 March 1910 – 1 November 1959), also known by his initials as M. K. T. was an Indian actor and carnatic singer. Critics and film historians acknowledge Bhagavathar as the "First superstar of Ta ...

, V. N. Janaki and

P. Bhanumathi P. Bhanumathi Ramakrishna (7 September 1925 – 24 December 2005) was an Indian actress, singer, film producer, director, music composer, and novelist. She is regarded as the first female super star of Telugu cinema. She is also considered the ...

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known by his initialism M.G.R. and as Makkal Thilagam/Puratchi Thalaivar, was an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of ...

had done a supporting role. The film was released on 9 October 1948.

Plot

King Rajendra Varman and Queen Mrinalini are reigning over the Vyjayanti empire. Mahendra Varman is the rival and the neighbouring King. Kannika is the minister's daughter, who is in love with King Rajendra Varman and aims to attain him at any cost. This convoluted tale of palace intrigue, suspicion, unreciprocated love, seduction, villainy and piety was interspersed with excellent music.

Cast

Production

M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar produced this movie himself under his banner ''Narendra Pictures''. He had done so in order to avoid shooting the movie in Madras city, where he had been imprisoned for more than 2 years. He booked Prabhat Studios in

Poona Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

and leased a bungalow to accommodate his cast. Most of the technicians are from Prabhat Studios.

Soundtrack

Alathur Subramaniam, one the two

Alathur Brothers Alathur Brothers Srinivasa Iyer (1911–1980) & Sivasubramania Iyer (1916–1965) were Carnatic vocalists. They learnt under Alathur Venkatesa Iyer, the father of Sivasubramania Iyer. They were not brothers by birth but were rather bound b ...

'trained' the singers while the background music was composed by C. R. Subburaman. Lyrics by

Papanasam Sivan Paapanaasam Raamayya Sivan (26 September 1890 – 1 October 1973) was an Indian composer of Carnatic music and a singer. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1971. He was also a film score composer in Kannada cinema a ...

Serukalathur Sama Swaminathan Vaidyanathan (26 June 1904—11 January 1963), known by his stage name Serukulathur Sama, was an Indian stage and film actor who was primarily known for playing the role of the Hindu god Krishna in Tamil language Hindu mythological ...

and C. T. Rajakantham are the singers.

Playback singer A playback singer, as they are usually known in South Asian cinema, or ghost singer in Western cinema, is a singer whose performance is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and the performers lip-sync the ...

is M. L. Vasanthakumari.

Trivia

*The famous T. N. Rajarathinam Pillai played the nadaswaram for a sequence. *The music records of ''Raja Mukthi'' witnessed record sales even before the movie's release. * C. R. Subburaman had introduced a new female singer M. L. Vasanthakumari to Tamil cinema through ''Raja Mukthi'' in a debut as a playback singer. *''Raja Mukthi'' had an average run. This film was lengthy and it had no comedy scenes. The producer didn't face any loss from this film though the expectation was very high.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0158138 1948 films 1940s Tamil-language films 1940s Indian films Indian black-and-white films Films scored by C. R. Subbaraman