''Kanniyin Kathali'' () is a 1949 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

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film directed by K. Ramnoth, who produced it with A. K. Sekhar and wrote the screenplay. An adaption of the play ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 ...

, it stars

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 ''Man ...

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 title roles in movies like Chenchu ...

and S. A. Natarajan. The film revolves around the twins Adithan and Chandrika, who are separated in a shipwreck. Chandrika (who is disguised as a man) falls in love with Prince Vasanthakumar, who in turn is in love with Megala Devi. Upon meeting Chandrika, Megala falls in love with her, thinking she is a man. ''Kanniyin Kathali'' was released on 6 August 1949.

Plot

Prince Adithan and his twin sister Princess Chandrika are separated in a shipwreck. Chandrika is shipwrecked on the coast of the Vasanthapuri Kingdom and she comes ashore with the help of a fisherman. She loses contact with Adithan, whom she believes had drowned. Disguising herself as a young man under the name "Kalaimani", she enters the service of Prince Vasanthakumar's palace, who posed at the Royal Poetry Position. Vasanthakumar has convinced himself that he in love with Megala Devi, whose father and brother have recently died and who refuses to see charming things, be in the company of man and entertain lover or marriage proposals from anyone (Vasanthakumar included), until seven years have passed. Vasanthakumar then uses "Kalaimani" as an intermediary to profess his passionate love before Megala. However, forgetting about the seven years in his case, falls in love with Kalaimani as she does not realize Vasanthakumar's messenger is a woman in disguise. Meanwhile, Chandrika has fallen love with Vasanthakumar, creating a love triangle between the trio: Chandrika loves Vasanthakumar, Vasanthakumar loves Megala, and Megala loves "Kalaimani", not knowing it is Chandrika. Adithan arrives in Vasanthapuri, adding to confusion of mistaken identity. Mistaking Adithan for Kalaimani, Megala asks him to marry her. Finally, when Kalaimani and Adithan appear in the presence of both Megala and Vasanthakumar, there is more wonder and confusion at their similarity. At this point, Chandrika reveals her disguise and that Adithan is her twin brother. This ends in declaration of marriage between Vasanthakumar, who marries Chandrika and Adithan, who marries Megala.

Cast

;Male cast * S. A. Natarajan as Vasanthakumar * K. R. Ramsingh as Durjayan * K. Sarangapani as Anna Alanakara Bhoopathi * Pulimoottai Ramasami Iyer as Mama * K. Sayeeram as Wise Man * Nat Annaji Rao as Satyavanathan * M. K. Mustafa as Sailor * E. R. Sahadevan as Kirthivarman * C. P. Kittan as Kambhodi * M. R. Santhanam as Varali * C. V. V. Panthulu as Sanyasi ;Female cast *

as Megala *

as Adithan, Kalaimani, Chandrika * M. S. Sivabhagyam as Singaram ;Dance * Lalitha & Padmini

Production

In 1947, K. Ramnoth and A. K. Sekhar resigned from

Gemini Studios Gemini Studios was an Indian film studio based in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was launched when S. S. Vasan, a businessman of many ventures (including the ownership of Ananda Vikatan) bought Motion Picture Producers' Combines from Krishnaswamy Su ...

. They were invited by M. Somasundaram to join his company

Jupiter Pictures Jupiter Pictures () was an Indian feature film production company founded in Coimbatore in 1934 by M. Somasundaram (popularly known as "Jupiter Somu") and S.K. Mohideen. Jupiter Pictures was a major production house with 46 releases with 36 fil ...

, and accepted. The first project they made for Jupiter was ''Kanniyin Kathali'', an adaptation of the

play ''

''. Ramnoth and Sekhar jointly produced the film, with the former also serving as director and screenwriter, and the latter as art director. S. D. Sundaram wrote the dialogues, W. R. Subba Rao handled the cinematography and T. Durairaj was the editor. The final length of the film was .

Soundtrack

Music by

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, while lyrics were written by Bhoomi Balagadas,

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 ...

and K. D. Santhanam. This was the cinematic debut of Kannadasan, and the first song he wrote was "Kalangaathiru Manamey".

Release and reception

''Kanniyin Kathali'' was released on 6 August 1949. According to historian

Randor Guy Madabhushi Rangadorai (; 8 November 1937 – 23 April 2023), better known by his pen name Randor Guy (), was an Indian lawyer, columnist and film and legal historian associated with the English language newspaper ''The Hindu''. He was also the of ...

, the film was not as commercially successful as expected to be; he believed this was due to the changing trends in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...

of that time, with audiences no longer being interested in films about royalty, though another historian S. Theodore Baskaran said the film was indeed a success.

References

External links

* {{Twelfth Night 1940s historical comedy films 1940s Tamil-language films 1940s Indian films 1949 films 1949 romantic comedy films Cross-dressing in Indian films Films about royalty Films about siblings Films based on Twelfth Night Films based on works by William Shakespeare Films scored by C. R. Subbaraman Films directed by K. Ramnoth Films scored by S. M. Subbaiah Naidu Films set in 1949 Indian black-and-white films Indian films based on plays Indian historical comedy films Indian romantic comedy films Jupiter Pictures films Twins in Indian films