''Mahadevi'' is a 1957 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

-language film directed by

Sundar Rao Nadkarni Sundar Rao Nadkarni was an Indian film actor, editor, cinematographer, producer and director. He was the director of the first hit film for AVM productions Bhookails in Telugu in the year 1940, and later the record-creating Tamil film '' Haridas ...

and written by

Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...

. Starring

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

and Savithri, it based on the novel ''Punya Prabhav'' by R. G. Katkari. The film was released on 22 November 1957.

Plot

Mahadevi is a princess, whose father, the king, is defeated in battle. Despite this, he is invited by the rival king to stay with him as his honoured guest. The victorious king has an adopted daughter Mangamma and a son ('Master' Murali). His senior commander, Karunakaran is attracted to Mahadevi, but she rejects him. Thereby she earns his wrath. Karunakaran hatches various evil plans to get her, but in the meantime, Mahadevi falls in love with the other commander, Vallavan. Karunakaran tries to kidnap Mahadevi with the help of his sidekick Mariappan, but by mistake ends up kidnapping Mangamma. To cover up his folly, Karunakaran ends up marrying her. Mahadevi and Vallavan marry in due course. After a while, Mahadevi delivers a son, even as Karunakaran continues to lust for Mahadevi. Mangamma supports Mahadevi, and protects her from Karunakaran. When Mangamma learns of her husband's plans to kill Mahadevi's baby, she replaces her baby with Mahadevi's, causing Karunakaran to kill his own child. When Karunakaran realises the truth, he kills himself and so does his wife.

Cast

as General Vallavan * Savithri as Mahadhevi * P. S. Veerappa as General Karunakaran * M. N. Rajam as Princess Mangamma *

J. P. Chandrababu Joseph Panimayadas Chandrababu Rodriguez (1927–1974) was an Indian actor, comedian, director, singer and dancer, whose Chaplinesque-style on-screen movements and singing style made him popular from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. He had ...

as Mariappan * Master Murali as Young Prince * T. P. Muthulakshmi as Vasantha * O. A. K. Thevar as Thalapathi * A. Karunanidhi as Muthupulavan * Sattampillai Venkatraman * P. Susheela

Soundtrack

The music 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 wor ...

. Lyrics were by Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass, Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram,

and A. Maruthakasi.

Legacy

The dialogue "Mananthal Mahadevi Illaiyel Maranadevi" uttered by P. S. Veerappa became hugely popular.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0245252/, title=Mahadevi 1950s Tamil-language films 1957 films Films based on Indian novels Films directed by Sundar Rao Nadkarni Films scored by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy