''Panakkari'' () is a 1953 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 ...

directed by K. S. Gopalakrishnan. Starring T. R. Rajakumari,

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known by his initialism M.G.R. and as Makkal Thilagam/Puratchi Thalaivar, was an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of ...

and V. Nagayya, it is an adaptation of the 1877 novel ''

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, Анна Каренина, p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Tolstoy called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial in ...

'' by Russian writer

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

Cast

List adapted from the database of

Film News Anandan Film News Anandan (born Mani) was an Indian film historian and photographer based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was popularly known as the "walking encyclopedia" of Tamil cinema. Early life Anandan was born as Mani. His father P. K. Gnanasagara ...

;Male cast *

* V. Nagayya * Javar Seetharaman *C. V. V. Panthulu * T. S. Durairaj * K. A. Thangavelu ;Female cast * T. R. Rajakumari *(Yogam)-Mangalam * K. R. Chellam * T. S. Jaya

Production

''Panakkaari'' was based on Russian writer

's novel ''

''. It was directed by K. S. Gopalakrishnan under the technical supervision of Newtone Studio founder Jiten Bannerjee.

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by S. V. Venkatraman, with lyrics by

Papanasam Sivan Paapanaasam Raamayya Sivan (26 September 1890 – 1 October 1973) was an Indian composer of Carnatic music and a singer. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1971. He was also a film score composer in Kannada cinema a ...

, Thanjai Ramaiah Das, Lakshmana Das and Kuyilan.

Release and reception

''Panakkaari'' was released on 1 May 1953. 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 failed at the box office "mainly because of its ‘anti-sentimental’ storyline". During the same period, another film, ''Pitchaikkari'', became a major commercial success; people in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

would often joke, "Those who bought ''Panakkari'' became ''pitchaikkaarans'' (beggars), while buyers of ''Pitchaikkari'' became ''panakkarans'' (rich men)!"

Notes

References

External links

* {{Anna Karenina 1950s Indian films 1950s Tamil-language films 1953 drama films 1953 films Films about infidelity Films based on Anna Karenina Films scored by S. V. Venkatraman Indian drama films Tamil-language Indian films