''En Kadamai'' () is a 1964 Indian

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

action thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

, produced and directed by M. Natesan, and written by Ma. Ra. The film stars

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 ...

and

B. Saroja Devi Bangalore Saroja Devi (born 7 January 1938) is an Indian actress who has acted in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films. She acted in around 200 films over seven decades. She is known by the epithets "''Abhinaya Saraswathi''" ( Saraswathi of ...

. It was released on 13 March 1964, and became a

box-office bomb A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...

Plot

Dharmalingam, a rich landlord, is the father of two sons and a daughter. His eldest son enters into a love marriage with a poor teacher's daughter, Kamala. Dharmalingam disowns them. The son dies, and Kamala is left homeless, with a little child. Nathan, a police inspector, gives Kamala shelter in his house and decides to help her fight her case for the property. But Kamala is murdered on her way to the court hearing. Fingers point at Dharmalingam and his son Shankar. Shankar and Nathan's sister Uma are in love. Nathan comes to investigate the case and falls in love with Dharmalingam's daughter Sarasu. Now, Nathan is in a dilemma over whether he should protect Shankar as he is his sister's sweetheart, or drop the case because he loves Dharmalingam's daughter.

Cast

;Male cast *

as Inspector Nathan *

K. Balaji Krishnamachari Balaji (24 June 19342 May 2009) was an Indian film producer and actor. He was a prominent actor in the 1960s and 1970s, playing lead, supporting and antagonist roles. He appeared in many films featuring Sivaji Ganesan. Early l ...

as Ravi *

M. N. Nambiar Manjeri Narayanan Nambiar (7 March 1919 – 19 November 2008) was an Indian actor who predominantly worked in Tamil cinema, renowned for his portrayals of villainous characters. With a career spanning over eight decades, he became a notable fig ...

as Shankar *

M. R. Radha Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan (14 April 1907 – 17 September 1979), better known as M. R. Radha, was an Indian actor and politician active in Tamil plays and films. He was given the title "Nadigavel" (King of Acting) by Pattukkottai ...

as Dharmalingam *

Nagesh Nageshwaran Rao (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor and comedian mostly remembered for his comic roles in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in ov ...

as Thrilokam ;Female cast *

as Sarasu * L. Vijayalakshmi as Uma * Manorama as Panchavarnam * C. K. Saraswathi as Maragatham * Susheela as Kamala

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's '' Panam'' to 1965's '' Aayirathil Oruvan''. After their split, Ramamoorthy w ...

(a duo consisting of

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. Popularly known by the sobriquet "Mellisai Mannar" (), he ...

and T. K. Ramamoorthy) with lyrics by

Kannadasan Muthiah Sathappan Chettiar better known as Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was a poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important l ...

Release and reception

''En Kadamai'' was released on 13 March 1964, and distributed by Emgeeyaar Pictures. T. M. Ramachandran of ''

Sport and Pastime ''Sport and Pastime'' was a weekly sports magazine published by The Hindu Group from 1947 to 1968. Founded by S. K. Gurunathan, the magazine was eventually stopped in 1968. It was replaced with ''Sportstar'' in 1978. References

1947 establi ...

'' panned the film, calling the music its "saving grace". Playing on the film's title, Kanthan of ''

Kalki Kalki (), also called Kalkin, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu. According to Vaishnavism, Vaishnava cosmology, Kalki is destined to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga, the last of the four ages i ...

'' said, "Ayyo, ennai kodumai!" (Oh god, what an atrocity!). ''En Kadamai'' was a

; while many speculated this was due to it releasing shortly after M. G. Ramachandran resigned from the

Madras Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initia ...

, Ramachandran himself did not think so.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title 1960s action thriller films 1960s Indian films 1960s Tamil-language films 1964 films Films scored by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Indian action thriller films Tamil-language Indian films