''Manapanthal'' () is 1961 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

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

, directed by V. N. Reddy, produced by T. R. Ramanna and written by Thuraiyur K. Moorthy, with music 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 ...

. The film stars

S. S. Rajendran Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, also known by his initials SSR (January 1928 – 24 October 2014), was an Indian actor, director, producer and politician who worked in Tamil theatre and cinema. Film career Rajendran made his acting de ...

S. A. Ashokan S. A. Ashokan, born as Antony and often spelled Asokan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema and theatre. He was popular mainly for playing negative roles but was also a successful character actor. Early life Ashokan was b ...

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

and

E. V. Saroja E. V. Saroja (1935 - 2006) was an Indian actress and dancer. She was born on 3 November 1935 as Engan V. Saroja. She belonged to Engan village of Thiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu. Her debut film was '' En Thangai'' in 1952 starring M. G. Ramacha ...

, with P. Kannamba, V. Nagayya, Rama Rao,

K. A. Thangavelu Karaikal Arunachalam Thangavelu (15 January 1917 – 28 September 1994) popularly known as "Danaal Thangavelu", was an Indian actor and comedian popular in the 1950s to 1970s. Not known for physical, acrobatic comedy like his contemporarie ...

and M. Saroja in supporting roles. The film was simultaneously made in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

as ''

Intiki Deepam Illale ''Intiki Deepam Illale'' () is a 1961 Indian Telugu-language romance film, produced by T. R. Ramanna and directed by V. N. Reddy. It stars N. T. Rama Rao, B. Saroja Devi and Jaggayya, with music composed by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy. The film w ...

''; both versions are based on the American film '' Sabrina'' (1954).

Plot

Rajasekaran is an alcoholic, and his younger brother Gunasekaran is a successful medical practitioner. The widowed mother Kannamba showers her love and affection on her two sons and tries to reform Rajasekaran, with little success. Gunasekaran stays in another town with a widowed mother Dharuvamma and her sprightly daughter Malathi, who falls in love with him; he too seems to show some interest in her. However, on a rail journey to his hometown, Gunasekaran meets Dharmalingam, an elderly man with a daughter Suguna and both fall in love, and hope to marry soon. Meanwhile, Rajasekaran's mother hopes marriage will reform him and fixes his marriage with Suguna, not realising that Gunasekaran is love with her. The wedding happens, and Gunasekaran, due to an accident, is unable to attend it and does not known that the bride is Suguna. Later, when he meets her, he is shocked. Rajasekaran suspects his wife and brother when he learns that she was his lover earlier. He decides to kill them. Meanwhile, Kannamba dies, leaving behind all the property to her daughter-in-law. Gunasekaran puts on an act of having become an alcoholic and makes overtures to his sister-in-law Suguna, who slaps him. Seeing this, her husband realises the truth and apologises to her. The family is reunited. While travelling via train, Gunasekaran notices a young woman dressed as a bride lying on the railway track to commit suicide. The train stops in time and Gunasekaran finds that the women is Malathi, who is still in love with him. The two marry.

Cast

as Dr. Gunasekaran *

as Rajasekaran *

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

as Suguna *

as Malathi * P. Kannamba as Kannamba * V. Nagayya as Dharmalingam *

as Dr. Navadeenal * M. Saroja as Navami * Rama Rao as Ashtami * K. Malathi as Dharuvamma

Production

''Manapanthal'' was directed by V. N. Reddy and produced by T. R. Ramanna under R. R. Pictures. Thuraiyur K. Murthi wrote the screenplay. Hiralal and Gopalakrishnan were the dance choreographers. It was simultaneously made in

as ''

''; both versions were based on the American film '' Sabrina'' (1954).

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

, while the lyrics were 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 ...

. The songs were well received, and contributed to the success of the film. Two songs – "Unakkum Matttum Unakkum"'','' sung by P. Susheela, and "Udalukku Uyir Kaaval", sung by P. B. Srinivas – attained popularity.

Release and reception

''Manapanthal'' was released on 14 January 1961. The film was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=3325462 1960s romance films 1960s Tamil-language films 1961 films Films scored by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Indian black-and-white films Indian remakes of American films Indian romance films