''Meenda Sorgam'' () is a 1960 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 musical film, written and directed by

Sridhar Sridhar is a given name that is also sometimes used as a surname. Notable people with this name include: *Sridhar (actor), Indian actor in the Kannada film industry *Anup Sridhar, badminton player *C. V. Sridhar, screenwriter and film director *Sri ...

. The film stars

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred as Kaadhal Mannan (King of Romance) for his romantic roles in films. G ...

and Padmini, with K. A. Thangavelu, T. R. Ramachandran, N. Lalitha and Manorama in supporting roles. It was released on 29 July 1960, and failed commercially.

Plot

Nirmala is a poor but talented dancer who falls in love with Sekar, a rich man's son. But Sekar is forced into a marriage with Prathiba, a rich man's spoilt daughter. Inconsolable, Nirmala promises her lover that she will never give public performances. Due to various circumstances, Sekar's finances suffer losses and his house is put up for auction. To rescue him from a dire future, Nirmala breaks her promise and gives a dance performance. With the money thus earned, she saves his house. But Sekar is unaware of this. When he learns the truth, he begins searching for her. In the meantime, Prathiba, who is now reformed, commits suicide. Sekar locates Nirmala, who is on the verge of committing suicide, and they are reunited.

Cast

;Dance * Sasi, Revathi, Sakunthala, Rita, Bala, Rajam,
Jaya, Shantha, Jayanthi, Nirmala, Nalini, Mohana,
Leela, Kamala, Nagu, Vittoba, and Rajeswari.

Production

Madhuram Pictures initially began a film called ''Agal Vilakku'' () with

S. S. Rajendran Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, also known by his initials SSR (January 1928 – 24 October 2014), was an Indian actor, film director, film producer and politician who worked in Tamil theatre and cinema. He often referred as Latchiya ...

and

E. V. Saroja E. V. Saroja (1935 - 2006) was an Indian actress and dancer. She belonged to Enkan village in Thiruvarur District, Tamil Nadu and died of a heart attack on 3 November 2006. She was known as Enkan V. Saroja. Her debut film was ''En Thangai (195 ...

starring.

penned the script for that film; however the film was dropped after the first filming schedule due to Saroja's pregnancy. The company decided to make a new film ''Meenda Sorgam'' and chose

T. R. Raghunath Thimatchipuram Rajagopal Raghunath (16 July 1912 – 2 January 1990) was an Indian film director. He was the younger brother of film director Raja Chandrasekhar. Career Raghunath started his film career as an assistant director in ''Gnanasou ...

as director and

and Padmini as lead actors. However Raghunath wanted Rajendran as the lead and left the film due to uncertainty in finalising the lead actor which led the film's crew to insist Sridhar to direct this film. The film was produced by T. A. Dorairajan, cinematography was handled by

A. Vincent Aloysius Vincent (14 June 1928 – 25 February 2015) was an Indian cinematographer and director known for his works in Malayalam, Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu and Hindi language, Hindi language films. From the mid-1960s on, he ...

, and editing by N. M. Shankar. C. V. Rajendran, a relative of Sridhar, joined the film as an assistant director, making this the first of many collaborations between him and Sridhar.

Soundtrack

Music was composed by T. Chalapathi Rao and lyrics were written 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 ...

, Subbu Arumugam and P. S. Gopalakrishnan. Sridhar signed on Rao as the composer after working with him in '' Amara Deepam'' (1956). He initially wanted

Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram (13 April 1930 – 8 October 1959) also known as Pattukottaiyar was an Indian Tamil poet and lyricist, penning over 250 songs within a six year period. He is best known for writing various song lyrics for M. ...

to write the lyrics, but could not hire the poet due to his death. The song "Kalaiyae En Vazhkaiyin" is set to

Bageshri Raga Bageshri or Bageshree () is a Hindustani raga. It is meant to depict the emotion of waiting for reunion with one's lover. Being a very melodic raga it has gained popularity over the centuries. Like all ragas, Raga Bageshri traces its ori ...

raga, and "Aadum Arul Jothi" is set to

Kalyani Kalyani may refer to: Film and television * ''Kalyani'' (1940 film), a Hindi film * ''Kalyani'' (1952 film), a Tamil film * ''Kalyani'' (1971 film), a Kannada film * ''Kalyani'' (1979 film), a Telugu film * ''Kalyani'' (1983 film), an Oriya ...

Release and reception

''Meenda Sorgam'' was released on 29 July 1960. In the promotional posters, Sridhar was billed as "Kalaignar Thilakam" without his consent, which angered him. The title was previously bestowed upon him by the Madurai Students' Federation soon after the success of ''

Kalyana Parisu ''Kalyana Parisu'' () is a 1959 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by C. V. Sridhar, Sridhar. The film stars Gemini Ganesan and B. Saroja Devi while K. A. Thangavelu, C. R. Vijayakumari, Vijayakumari ...

'' (1959). ''

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 ...

'' praised the performances of the cast, particularly Ganesan, Padmini and Thangavelu, along with Vincent's cinematography. 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 ...

'' appreciated Ganesan's performance, but felt it lacked newness, though the film could be watched more than once. 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 did not succeed commercially, as it was thought to be too highbrow and idealistic.

References

Bibliography

External links

* 1960 films 1960s Indian films 1960s romantic musical films 1960s Tamil-language films Films directed by C. V. Sridhar Films scored by T. Chalapathi Rao Films with screenplays by C. V. Sridhar Indian black-and-white films Indian romantic musical films Tamil-language Indian films {{Improve categories, date=March 2024