Bhakta Nandanar
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''Bhakta Nandanar'' () is a 1935
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
-language film directed by Manik Lal Tandon. It marked the cinematic debut of the Carnatic singer and stage artist
K. B. Sundarambal Kodumudi Balambal Sundarambal (11 October 1908 – 24 September 1980) was an Indian actress and singer from Erode district, Tamil Nadu. She performed in Tamil cinema and was referred to as the "Queen of the Indian stage."Ellis R. Dungan. No print of the film is known to survive, making it a
lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...
.


Plot

The story is based on the life of
Shaivite Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the supreme being. It is the second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million Hindus, found widely across South Asia (predominantly in ...
saint
Nandanar Nandanar (also spelt as Nantanar), also known as Thirunaallaippovaar () and Tirunallaipovar Nayanar,Other names include: Nandan (Nanda, Nantan), Tirunalaipovanar, Nalaippovar, Nalaippovan was a Nayanar saint, who is venerated in the Hindu se ...
(also known as Thirunaalai Povar – ''thee who pilgrims tomorrow'') and his becoming of a Naayanar.


Cast

*
K. B. Sundarambal Kodumudi Balambal Sundarambal (11 October 1908 – 24 September 1980) was an Indian actress and singer from Erode district, Tamil Nadu. She performed in Tamil cinema and was referred to as the "Queen of the Indian stage."Nandanar Nandanar (also spelt as Nantanar), also known as Thirunaallaippovaar () and Tirunallaipovar Nayanar,Other names include: Nandan (Nanda, Nantan), Tirunalaipovanar, Nalaippovar, Nalaippovan was a Nayanar saint, who is venerated in the Hindu se ...
* Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer as Vedhiyar


Production

K. B. Sundarambal had retired from stage performances in 1932 after the death of her husband S. G. Kittappa. Hassandas, a textile magnate from
Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...
and a member of Chellaram business family was keen on making a film with Sundarambal in the lead. She was initially reluctant to star in the film and refused even the recommendation of her mentor S. Satyamurti. Hassandas persisted and to discourage him she offered to act in the film if he could pay One lakh Rupees. Hassandas agreed to pay her and the film was made.Blast From the Past – Nava Yuvan (1937), The Hindu 6 June 2008
/ref> The film was directed by Manik Lal Tandon with Ellis Dungan shooting many scenes in his absence. Sundarambal was cast as a man – the untouchable saint
Nandanar Nandanar (also spelt as Nantanar), also known as Thirunaallaippovaar () and Tirunallaipovar Nayanar,Other names include: Nandan (Nanda, Nantan), Tirunalaipovanar, Nalaippovar, Nalaippovan was a Nayanar saint, who is venerated in the Hindu se ...
. The same story had earlier been the subject of a 1932 Tamil film of the same name. Carnatic musician Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer was cast as the landlord Vedhiyar. He was paid 3000 Rs as salary. The script had a scene where Iyer's character would prostrate before Nandanar. Due to the prevailing social norms and her respect for Iyer, Sundarambal refused to do the scene. Director Tandon filmed a compromise by changing the scene such that both prostrated before each other. The completed film cost to make and was 18000 feet long. Tunes of three songs from the 1934 Hindi film ''Chandidas '' were reused in this film.


Reception

The film was released in 1935 amid great expectations from the public. It failed at the box office and received mixed reviews from the critics.
Kalki Krishnamurthy Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy (9 September 1899 – 5 December 1954), better known by his pen name Kalki, was an Indian writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian independence activist who wrote in Tamil. He chose the pen-name "Kalki", the future i ...
made fun of it in ''
Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not publishe ...
'' by claiming buffaloes and palm trees had acted well in the film. He wrote the number one actor in the film was the coconut tree, number two was the buffalo and number three, the kid goat. The Tamil newspaper '' Dina Mani'' also gave it an unfavourable review. Writing in the April 1938 issue of the ''Eelakesari'', Pudhumaipithan explained the reasons for its failure: However it received favourable reviews on 15 July 1935 issues of
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
, ''Tamil Nadu'', ''Sudesamithran'' and ''Cinema Ulagam''. Viswanatha Iyer was criticised by conservative brahimins of his hometown
Kumbakonam Kumbakonam (formerly spelt as Coombaconum or Combaconum), or Kudanthai, is a city municipal corporation in the Thanjavur district in the States of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located from Thanjavur and from Chennai and is the hea ...
for acting in the film.


References

{{Use dmy dates, date=November 2017 1935 films Indian biographical films 1930s Tamil-language films 1930s Indian films Films about social class Lost Indian films 1930s biographical films Indian black-and-white films 1935 lost films Films about the caste system in India