''Chitra'' is a 1946 Tamil-language film produced by

T. R. Sundaram Tiruchengodu Ramalingam Sundaram Mudaliar (16 July 1907 – 30 August 1963) was an Indian actor, director, and producer. He was the founder of the Salem-based film production company Modern Theatres. Early life Sundaram was born in 1907 fro ...

of Modern Theatres. Directed by Wahab Kashmiri, it features K. L. V. Vasantha, T. S. Balaiah,

T. S. Durairaj T. S. Durairaj (31 December 1910 – 2 June 1986) was a Tamil film comedian, drama artist, producer and director in the early stages of the Tamil film industry (Kollywood). He received a Kalaimamani award from the Tamil Nadu Government in 2 ...

, K. K. Perumal, M. E. Madhavan and V. S. Susheela. The film was released on 30 March 1946 and failed commercially.

Plot

A widowed police commissioner's daughter (Vasantha) falls in love with another police officer (Balaiah). Vasantha's father realises that a man has been committing treason by secretly sending radio messages to enemies, so he hires Balaiah to discover who it is. Balaiah, aided by two incompetent helpers (Durairaj and Madhavan), sets out to find the culprit, but the culprit imprisons them in an isolated

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...

. Unable to find Balaiah, Vasantha is devastated. She and her father make several efforts to locate Balaiah and his aids but fail. At the bungalow, one of Balaiah's aids finds a tie-pin, which is a gift from Vasantha to Balaiah. Balaiah throws it out through a keyhole. Vasantha finds it, after which her father and his men storm the bungalow, free Balaiah and later capture the culprit. Balaiah and Vasantha re-unite.

Production

''Chitra'' was launched in 1945, soon after World War II ended. Directed by Wahab Kashmiri, it was produced by

under the banner of Modern Theatres, with K. L. V. Vasantha, T. S. Balaiah,

, K. K. Perumal, M. E. Madhavan and V. S. Susheela as the lead actors. The film's final length was .

Release and reception

Although censored on 19 December 1945, ''Chitra'' was released only on 30 March 1946. The magazine ''Pesum Padam'', then known for invoking English-language American films in the context of Sundaram's films, compared Sundaram's deft portrayal of the maid character Kannamma, "who steals the audience's hearts", with that of the minor characters in English films who often steal the show from the main actors. Swarnavel Eswaran Pillai, author of the 2015 book ''Madras Studios'', believes the invocation of "English films" was deliberate as the reviewer's intention to paint Sundaram's sensibilities as Western was very conspicuous. According to film historian

Randor Guy Madabhushi Rangadorai (born 8 November 1937), 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 ...

, the film was not successful because of the "wrong casting" of Balaiah, then known for playing negative roles, in a heroic role, and audiences disliked seeing him "going about smartly dressed in suits" and holding a pipe. The song "Ahahahahaha...Aanandham", picturised on Vasantha, attained popularity. The film's theme of a man leaking secrets to enemies via radio was later used in ''

Andha Naal ''Andha Naal'' ( en, italic=yes, That Day, ) is a 1954 Indian Tamil-language mystery-thriller film, produced by A. V. Meiyappan and directed by S. Balachander. It is the first film noir in Tamil cinema, and the first Tamil film to be made wit ...

'' (1954).

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Modern Theatres 1940s spy thriller films 1940s Tamil-language films Films about kidnapping in India Indian black-and-white films Indian spy thriller films Indian World War II films World War II spy films