''Kodimalar'' is a 1966 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

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by C. V. Sridhar. The film stars Muthuraman and R. Vijayakumari, with A. V. M. Rajan,

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 ...

, M. V. Rajamma and Kanchana in supporting roles. It is a remake of the Bengali film '' Shyamali'' (1956), itself based on Debnarayan Gupta's play of the same name. The film was released on 4 March 1966 and failed commercially.

Plot

Lakshmi, a mute woman, faces numerous troubles with her mother-in-law.

Cast

;Male cast * Muthuraman as Ramu * A. V. M. Rajan as Thambi Durai *

as Annamalai ;Female cast * R. Vijayakumari as Lakshmi * M. V. Rajamma as Ramu's mother * Kanchana as Parvathi

Production

Although the Bengali film '' Shyamali'' (1956), based on Debnarayan Gupta's play of the same name was a failure, C. V. Sridhar still decided to adapt the story in Tamil. The remake, titled ''Kodimalar'', was produced by Sree Productions and directed by Sridhar who also wrote the screenplay. Cinematography was handled by Balu, and editing by N. M. Shankar. Filming was suspended, but resumed in October 1965 after sixth months.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by M. S. Viswanathan, 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 ...

. The song Mouname Paarvayaal is based on raga Tilak Kamod.

Release and reception

''Kodimalar'' was released on 4 March 1966, and distributed by Rajshri Productions. On 12 March 1966, ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' wrote, "The main defect with the film is that its characters and incidents are so strikingly similar to those seen in some previous Tamil movies that we do not feel like viewing a new film." Writing for ''

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 ...

'', T. M. Ramachandran wrote "The delineation of the story follows the conventional pattern. The direction by Sridhar is uninspiring in the first half of the film, in which they are dull patches though it improves in the second". ''

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 Vijayakumari's performance salvaged the film's flaws. The film was commercially unsuccessful.

References

External links

* {{C. V. Sridhar 1960s Indian films 1960s Tamil-language films 1966 drama films 1966 films Films about disability in India Films directed by C. V. Sridhar Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films with screenplays by C. V. Sridhar Indian drama films Indian films based on plays Tamil remakes of Bengali films Tamil-language Indian films