''Nalla Thanka'' is a 1950 Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

-language

mythological Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

film directed by P. V. Krishna Iyer and produced by K. V. Koshy and

Kunchacko Maliampurackal Chacko Kunchacko (19 February 1912 – 15 June 1976) was an Indian film producer and director who worked in the Malayalam film industry. His venture Udaya Studios influenced the gradual shift of Malayalam film industry from it ...

under the banner of

Udaya Studios Udaya Studios is one of the oldest film studios in the Malayalam film industry of India. It was established in 1947 by director-producer Kunchacko (1912–1976) and film distributor K. V. Koshy in Pathirappally, Alappuzha in Kerala. The stud ...

and K & K Combines. It was the second film produced at the

, the first being '' Vellinakshatram'' (1949). The film stars

Miss Kumari Miss Kumari (1932–1969) was an Indian actress working in the Malayalam film industry between 1949 and 1969. In the '50s and early '60s she was the most prominent female lead in the Malayalam film industry. She briefly worked as a teacher bef ...

in the title role along with Augustine Joseph, Vaikom Mani and Miss Omana in other supporting roles. The film is based on the legend of ''Nalla Thanka,'' which is based on a popular Tamil folk tale.

Cast

Principal cast *

as Nalla Thanka, Queen of Ratnapuri and Nallannan's sister *

Augustine Joseph K. Augustine Joseph (24 March 1912 – 3 February 1965) was an Indian classical musician and stage actor from Kerala, India. He was the father of Indian playback singer K. J. Yesudas and grandfather of singer Vijay Yesudas. Life He was bo ...

as Nallannan, the King of Madhurapuri * Vaikom Mani as Somanathan, the King of Ratnapuri and Nalla Thanka's husband * Miss Omana as Alankari, Queen of Madhurapuri and Nallannan's wife * Baby Girija as one of Nalla Thanka's children *

S. P. Pillai S. P. Pillai (28 November 1913 – 12 June 1985) was an Indian film and stage actor, best known for his comic roles in Malayalam films. Biography S. Pankajakshan Pillai alias S. P. Pillai was born in 1913 in the temple town of Ettumanoor in K ...

* TR Omana *

Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai Shivanandakumar (22 February 1924)He was an Telugu Superstar and Violnist and who was well known in the role of Ashaan in Kavyamela. Early life He was born on 22 February 1924 in Visakhapatnam, a small village near Peddapalli in Visakh ...

as Lord Shiva

Production

Development

The success of Tamil operas based on the folk tale of ''Nalla Thanka'' in Kerala prompted Vaidyaratnam P. S. Varier to script a Malayalam drama based on the same story. He then authored the musical opera ''Nalla Thanka'', for the drama troupe Kottakkal Paramasiva Vilasam. The drama became very popular in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. After the failure of their first feature film '' Vellinakshatram'' (1949), K. V. Koshy and

were in deep debt. They decided to produce another feature film to recover the costs of ''Vellinakshatram.'' They decided to adopt the drama into a film as it was already popular and was a guaranteed success. Kunchacko mortgaged all his land and sold his jewellery to complete the film. The screenplay and dialogues were written by

. The screenplay followed the stage play with just a few minor changes. The film was shot in

. A. Shanmugham and P. K. Madhavan Nair were the cinematographers, V. Dakshinamoorthy was the composer and the film was edited by S. Williams.

Casting

Thresiamma had earlier done a dance in Udaya's first film ''Vellinakshatram.'' Struck by her appearance and screen presence Kunchacko and Koshy cast her in the title role. She was rechristened Miss Kumari on the sets of the film. Augustine Joseph, the founder of the Udaya Kerala Natana Kala Samithi was asked to play the main lead. He had already established himself as a matinee idol in Kerala through his music operas based on

Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

and

Myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

ological stories. Vaikom Mani had previously acted in various Tamil films. Kunchacko cast him due to his popularity in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

Soundtrack

The soundtrack consists of a total of 15 songs. The

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

and all the songs were composed by V. Dakshinamoorthy, with lyrics from

Abhayadev Ayyappan Pillai, better known by his pen name Abhayadev (25 June 1913 – 26 July 2000) was an Indian poet and lyricist during the 1970s in Malayalam movies. He wrote lyrics for around 500 films and dialogues for 25 Malayalam movies. He was born ...

Reception

''Nalla Thanka'' was released on 14 January 1950. The film was a major success both at the box-office and with the critics. It was Udaya Studio's breakthrough and was one of the earliest commercially successful films in Malayalam cinema. According to

Ashish Rajadhyaksha Ashish Vithal Rajadhyaksha (born 12 March 1957) is an Indian film scholar, art curator and cultural theorist. He was a Senior Fellow at the Bangalore-based Centre for the Study of Culture and Society. Early life Ashish Vithal Rajadhyaksha ...

and

Paul Willemen Paul Willemen (17 August 1944 – 13 May 2012) was a Belgian-born British professor, author and essayist. According to the British Film Institute, he was regarded as "a pioneering figure in the revolution in thinking about the cinema that b ...

in the book ''Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, Nalla Thanka'' was the first "big hit" in Malayalam cinema. In 2010, B. Vijayakumar of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' wrote that: "The performances of Augustine Joseph, Vaikom Mani, Miss Kumari and Miss Oamana were impressive. In fact, Miss Omana's character became so popular that the name Alankari became a synonym for a wicked woman. The special effect scenes was another highlight." Concluding he wrote, "Will be remembered as the first mega hit in Malayalam cinema and for its good music." The film was remade in Tamil in 1955 as ''

Nalla Thangal ''Nalla Thangal'' () is a 1955 Indian Tamil-language film directed by P. V. Krishna Iyer. The film stars R. S. Manohar and G. Varalakshmi. It is a remake of the director's own Malayalam film ''Nalla Thanka'' (1950). Cast The list is adapt ...

.''

External links

References

{{Reflist 1950 films 1950s Malayalam-language films Indian black-and-white films Films based on Indian folklore Hindu mythological films