Pavalakkodi is a 1934

Tamil language Tamil (, , , also written as ''Tamizhil'' according to linguistic pronunciation) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. It is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world,. "Tamil is one of ...

film starring M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and directed by K. Subramanyam. It was the first film for both of them. The film's music was composed 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 ...

Production

''Pavalakkodi'' (lit. The Coral Queen) was originally a successful stage play acted out by a troupe of artists composed of Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, Mani Bhagavathar and S. D. Subbulakshmi. The troupe toured all over Tamil Nadu,

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, Malaya and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

staging the play. S. M. Lakshmana Chettiar (Lena), a prominent businessman, R. M. Alagappa Chettiar and K. Subramanyam watched it at

Karaikudi Karaikudi is the largest city of Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the centre of the Karaikudi Metropolitan Area, the 21st largest urban Agglomeration of Tamil Nadu based on 2011 census data. It is part of the area ...

. Highly impressed by the play they decided to produce a film based on it. The lead actors, M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and S. D. Subbulakshmi were hired for Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 2,500 respectively. This was the first film for both of them. This film was the first for Subramanyam as director. A vacant land (present day campus of Dr. MGR Janaki College of Arts and Science for Women) in Adyar was chosen for filming. Subramanyam established his studio at the spot and called it Meenakshi Cinetones. Filming was done outdoors using sunlight. Scenes were shot continuously when the sun was shining brightly and breaks were called when it became cloudy. Whenever the cloud cover broke, cast and crew rushed to resume filming abandoning their food packets. The abandoned food attracted a lot of crows from the wooded Adyar surroundings. The cawing of crows was a nuisance to recording (songs and dialogues were recorded directly on the spot). Subramanyam hired an

Anglo Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Anglo-Indian" has a ...

named Joe to fire his rifle in the air and shoo away the crows. Joe was credited in the film credits as "Crow Shooter". The studio did not have its own lab and scenes were shot without knowing how they would turn out. All the post production work was done at

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

Plot

''Pavalakkodi'' tells the eventual turn of events between lord Rama and Karna because of Draupadi and the two with their brothers declare war over each other.

Cast

* M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar as

Karna Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण, IAST: ''Karṇa''), also known as Vasusena, Anga-Raja, Sutaputra and Radheya, is one of the major characters in the Hindu epic ''Mahābhārata''. He is the son of Surya (the Sun deity) and princess Kunti (later ...

n * R. S. Sundarambal as

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

* S. S. Mani Bhagavathar as

Krishnan Krishnan is a common name in South India, which refers to the Hindu deity Krishna. It is also combined with other names into a single name such as Ananthakrishnan, Balakrishnan, Gopalakrishnan, Jayakrishnan, Muralikrishnan, Ramakrishnan, Radhakris ...

* S. D. Subbulakshmi as Draupadi * K. K. Parvathi Bai as Padmavati

Soundtrack

The film had 50 songs, of which 22 were sung by M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. Some of the popular songs from the movie are: * Somasekara (Raga: Karaharapriya) * Kanna Kariyamugil Vanna (Raga: Bhairavi) * Vanithaikul Uyirvaana * Munnam oru Sanyasi Vadivaaki

Reception

''Pavalakkodi'' was a silver jubilee hit and ran for 275 days (9 months). It was also one of the earliest commercially successful Tamil films. On the successful completion of the film, Subramanyam married S. D. Subbulakshmi as his second wife. ''Pavalakkodi'' set the stage for M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar's eventful career as the first superstar of Tamil Cinema. The single remaining print of this film has been preserved at National Film Archives, Pune.

References

External links

* {{IMDB title 1934 films 1930s Tamil-language films 1930s Indian films Indian drama films 1934 drama films Films directed by K. Subramanyam Films scored by Papanasam Sivan Films produced by Lena Chettiar