''Marmayogi'' () is a 1951 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, na ...

-language

swashbuckler film Swashbuckler films are a subgenre of the action film genre, often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, known as swashbucklers. Real historical events often feature prominently in the plot, morality is often clear-cu ...

directed by K. Ramnoth and produced by M. Somasundaram. An adaptation of the novel ''Vengeance'' by

Marie Corelli Mary Mackay (1 May 185521 April 1924), also called Minnie Mackey, and known by her pseudonym Marie Corelli (, also , ), was an English novelist. From the appearance of her first novel '' A Romance of Two Worlds'' in 1886, she became the bestse ...

and

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'', the film was shot simultaneously in

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 ...

as ''Ek Tha Raja'' (). It stars M. G. Ramachandar,

Anjali Devi Anjali Devi (; 24 August 1927 – 13 January 2014) was an Indian actress, model and producer in Telugu and Tamil films. She was well known for her role as the Devi Sita in '' Lava Kusa'' as well as for the titular roles in movies like Chench ...

and

Madhuri Devi Madhuri Devi (19 September 1927 – June 1990) was a lead actress in Tamil films from the late 1940s until the 1950s. She has paired opposite leading heroes like M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and M. G. R and known for acting in the films ''Ma ...

, with S. V. Sahasranamam,

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 ...

(playing the title role), N. Seetharaman, S. A. Natarajan, M. N. Nambiar and M. Pandari Bai in supporting roles. Development of the film began after the success of '' Rajakumari'' (1947), when Ramachandran approached writer A. S. A. Sami to write a script which revolves around him. Sami wrote a script inspired by ''Vengeance'', ''Macbeth'', and

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

S. M. Subbaiah Naidu Subburayulu Munuswami Subbaiah Naidu (a.k.a. SMS) (15 March 1914 – 26 May 1979) was an Indian composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He was one of the oldest music directors. He worked as an in-house music composer for Central Studios and ...

and C. R. Subbaraman composed all the songs in the soundtrack album. M. Masthan and W. R. Subbarao handled the film's cinematography. The film was edited by M. A. Thirumugam. ''Marmayogi'' was released on 2 February 1951. It became a commercial success and established Ramachandran's image as a star. It was the first Tamil film to receive an A certificate (adults only) from the

Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...

Plot

Urvasi, is the young mistress of a king. With the help of her own lover, she pushes the king off a boat and usurps his powers. Urvasi appoints herself as the new

queen regnant A queen regnant (plural: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank and title to a king, who reigns '' suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a "kingdom"; as opposed to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigni ...

, and the kingdom experiences a reign of terror. The palace where the two princes of the kingdom live is burnt. The queen assumes all powers and kills all potential opponents, including her lover. A sage comes to the kingdom with his son and a girl, and joins the queen as her adviser. Years roll by. The sage's son Veerangan is appointed Army Commander. At the same time, in the countryside, Karikalan functions as de facto leader of the people, helps them in various ways and fights the queen's misrule. When he becomes a big threat to the queen, she orders his capture. Veerangan sends Kala, the girl raised by the sage as a spy, to Karikalan, but she falls in love with him. Karikalan gets periodic instructions from the Goddess on what needs to be done and he follows the same. The queen gets scared by a ghost which appears regularly and warns her of the impending punishment she deserves for her misdeeds. Kala and Karikalan's followers are captured by the army. Karikalan personally leads their rescue mission. In prison, he gets instructions from the goddess to capture the queen also. He rescues his people, captures the queen and brings her to his hideout. When the ghost appears there, she confesses her crime of killing the king. When she is about to be executed, Veerangan's army enters and captures everyone. Veerangan also finds out that the sage (also called Marmayogi) is his father, and he has been giving information to Karikalan secretly. Hence he also gets arrested for being a traitor. The queen returns to her throne and orders the execution of the sage, Karikalan and others. When Karikalan is about to be killed, the sage reveals the truth about the king and informs Veerangan that Karikalan is his elder brother. When Veerangan demands to know where the king is, the sage removes his disguise. To the surprise of everyone, he reveals that he is the deposed king and narrates what happened. Though the queen and her lover attempted to kill him, he escaped under the water using his yogic skills, taking his sons and the army commander's daughter Kala with him. He returned to his kingdom in the disguise of a sage with his younger son Veeranganan and Kala and left Karikalan in the forest. Shocked to see the dead king return, the queen dies. The king announce that his children Karikalan and Veerangan are now the rulers.

Cast

;Male * M. G. Ramachandar as Karikalan * S. V. Sahasranamam as Veerangan *

as King, Marmayogi * N. Seetharaman as Purushothaman * S. A. Natarajan as Paisachi * M. N. Nambiar as Nallathambi * L. R. Mudaliar as Bhagavathi ;Female *

as Urvasi *

as Kalavathi * M. Pandari Bai as Vasantha * M. S. S. Bhagyam as Nallamma

Production

After the success of ''Rajakumari'' (1947), M. G. Ramachandran approached writer A. S. A. Sami to write a script which would revolve around him. Samy wrote a script inspired by ''Vengeance'' by Marie Corelli, Shakespeare's theatrical play ''Macbeth'' and

. Makers initially considered naming the film ''Karikalan'' but later changed it to ''Marmayogi'' to avoid it being confused with a historical film. Ramachandran's last name was credited as "Ramachandar".

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 ...

was originally signed for the role of villanous Urvasi, but later she was replaced by Anjali Devi. Serukulathur Sama, Sahasranamam and S. A. Natarajan were selected to portray supporting roles. M. N. Nambiar portrayed a positive character of Ramachandran's assistant. M. Masthan and W. R. Subbarao handled the film's cinematography. The film was edited by M. A. Thirumugam. Ramachandran's sword fight sequence with Sahasranamam was shot outdoors with Ramachandran practising for the scene for 3 to 4 days and refused to use a body double. Director Ramnath changed the climax from the original screenplay. After the film was completed, many felt that ending was not convincing and Ramnath reshot the climax which was accepted by audience.

Themes and influences

The film's plot was inspired by ''Vengeance'' by Marie Corelli and Shakespeare's play ''Macbeth''. The film drew inspiration from the Russian film ''

Ivan The Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Iva ...

'' (1944) and the scene where Karikalan enters the courtroom was inspired by the film '' Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938). The scene where Ramachandran fights with a sword with Sahasranamam by riding a horse is inspired from '' The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses''.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

and

C. R. Subburaman C. R. Subbaraman also known as C. S. Ram (1916–1952) was a famous South Indian film music composer and producer. He was born to Ramasamy at Chintamani village in Thirunelveli, in present-day Tamil Nadu. Music director Shankar of Shankar–Gan ...

. According to page 88 of G. Dhananjayan's 2014 book ''Pride of Tamil Cinema'', only two songs were written for the film: "Kazhuthailiye Irandu Vitham" and "Thillalangadi Thillalangadi". Page 89 of the same book contradicts this, stating that the film had at least five songs, including "Azhagana Penn Maanai Paar", "Desam Pora Pokka Partha, Pesa Kooda Nalla Illae", "Inbam Iravil Amaidhiyile", "Kannin Karumaniye Kalavathi" and "Vetri Sangai Oothuvom". Lyrics written by K. D. Santhanam and

Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...

Release

''Marmayogi'' was released on 2 February 1951, delayed from 14 January. The film was given an A certificate (adults only) by the

censor board The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...

because it featured a ghost (Ramachandran's character posing as one), making it the first Tamil film to receive this rating.

Other versions

''Marmayogi'' was simultaneously made in

as ''Ek Tha Raja'' in 1951 with the same cast. Jupiter Pictures remade the film in Telugu with the same name in 1964.

Legacy

The film's commercial success established Ramachandran's image as a star. His dialogue "Naan kuri vaithaal thavara maatten! Thavarumey aanaal kuri vaikka maatten" (I will not miss if I aim! I will not aim if I were to miss) became popular.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{Macbeth 1950s fantasy drama films 1950s historical fantasy films 1950s psychological thriller films 1950s Tamil-language films 1951 drama films 1951 films Adultery in films Films about siblings Films based on British novels Films based on Macbeth Films based on multiple works Films based on works by Marie Corelli Films directed by K. Ramnoth Films scored by C. R. Subbaraman Films scored by S. M. Subbaiah Naidu Films set in 1951 1950s Hindi-language films Indian black-and-white films Indian fantasy drama films Indian historical fantasy films Jupiter Pictures films Tamil films remade in other languages 1950s multilingual films Indian multilingual films