''Panathottam'' () is a 1963 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

action drama film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as ...

directed by

K. Shankar Kannan Shankar (17 March 1926 - 5 March 2006) was an Indian film editor, screenwriter and director. He directed more than 80 films in South Indian languages including Tamil language, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu language, Telugu and Kannada as well ...

. The film stars

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

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

. It was released on 11 January 1963.

Plot

Selvam is arrested on a false charge of passing counterfeit bills. He escapes and tries to put his hands on the real authors, that is, the leader of the band of the counterfeiters to be exonerated. His quest gets complicated when Natarajan, a firm policeman, dashes in his pursuit, convinced of his guilt.

Cast

Production

''Panathottam'' is named after the book of the same name by

C. N. Annadurai Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 19093 February 1969), also known as Perarignar, was an Indian politician who was the founder and first general-secretary of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He served as the fourth and last chi ...

. The climax began filming one day at 7:00am, and ended the next day at 7:00pm.

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 w ...

, with lyrics 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 ...

. The song "Pesuvathu Kiliya" is based on

Bilaskhani Todi Bilaskhani Todi is a Hindustani classical raga. It is a blend of the ragas Asavari and Todi, and has a close affinity with Komal Rishabh Asavari. Though being named Bilaskhani Todi, it does not belong to the Thaat Todi, but it belongs to the Tha ...

raga. It contains multiple references to Ramachandran's vital stats through its lyrics "Paaduvadhu kaviyaa illai, paarivallal magana; Seranukku uravaa senthamizhar nilava"; the line "Seranukku uravaa" refers to Ramachandran's place of birth

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 ...

, "paari vallal" references his perceived generous nature, and "senthamizhar" gives emphasis to Ramachandran's Tamil pride.

References

External links

* {{K. Shankar 1960s action drama films 1960s Indian films 1960s Tamil-language films 1963 films Films directed by K. Shankar Films scored by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Indian action drama films Tamil-language Indian films