''Alli Petra Pillai'' () is a 1959 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language film directed by K. Somu and written by A. P. Nagarajan. Produced by

A. Maruthakasi A. Maruthakasi (13 February 1920 – 29 November 1989) was an Indian poet and film lyricist who wrote mainly in the Tamil language. He penned more than 4000 lyrics in more than 250 Tamil films. Early life Born in Melakudikadu in Tiruchirappal ...

under the banner M. M. Productions, the film stars

S. V. Sahasranamam Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Sahasranamam (29 November 1913 – 19 February 1988), 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. Early lif ...

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...

and V. K. Ramasamy. It is a remake of the

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

film '' Tonga-wali'' (1955).

Plot

Cast

Credits adapted from

Film News Anandan Film News Anandan (born Mani) was an Indian film historian and photographer based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was popularly known as the "walking encyclopedia" of Tamil cinema. Early life Anandan was born as Mani. His father P. K. Gnanasagaram ...

Production

Besides producing the film under M. M. Productions,

also worked as lyricist. The other producers were K. V. Mahadevan (who also worked as music director), Violin Mahadevan and V. K. Muthuramalingam. The film prominently features a horse, which was brought from

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...

by Maruthakasi. This was the only film Maruthakasi had produced and was supposed to be completed within six months; instead it took two years as Maruthakasi was busy writing lyrics and also false rumours of him not writing lyrics led to huge problems.

Soundtrack

Music was scored by K. V. Mahadevan while the lyrics were penned by A. Maruthakasi. Two songs from the film – "Ejaman Petra Selvame" and "Paisaavai Pottu Naisaaga Vaangi" – attained popularity. The former is set in the Carnatic raga known as Vakulabharanam.

Release and reception

''Alli Petra Pillai'' was released on 31 July 1959. The film was a commercial failure, and made Maruthakasi face huge debts.

References

External links

* {{A. P. Nagarajan 1950s Tamil-language films 1959 drama films 1959 films Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan Films with screenplays by A. P. Nagarajan Indian drama films Tamil remakes of Hindi films Films directed by K. Somu