''Ponvayal'' () is a 1954 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 film written and directed by

A. T. Krishnaswamy A. T. Krishnaswamy (1905–1987) was an Indian director best known for the film ''Sabapathy''. Career Krishnaswamy joined the A. V. Meiyappan unit as an assistant during the mid-1930s and worked on all AVM projects. He made his directorial d ...

, and produced by T. R. Ramachandran. It is based on the story ''Poimaan Karadu'' by

Kalki Krishnamurthy Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy (9 September 1899 – 5 December 1954), better known by his pen name Kalki, was an Indian writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian independence activist who wrote in Tamil. He chose the pen-name "Kalki", the future i ...

that was serialised in the weekly magazine ''

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 ...

''. The film stars T. R. Ramachandran and

Anjali Devi Anjali Devi (; 24 August 1927 – 13 January 2014) was an Indian actress, model and producer in Telugu and Tamil films. She was well known for her role as the Devi Sita in '' Lava Kusa'' as well as for the title roles in movies like Chenchu ...

. It was released on 12 February 1954 and failed commercially. The film is lost.

Plot

Sengodan owns 10 acres of land, known as "Ponvayal" (Golden Farm). It is rumoured that fortune in gold is buried in Ponvayal. Sengodan loves his cousin Semba. Esraj, a counterfeiter, plans to obtain the fortune. He seeks the help of a graduate Bangaru and his lover. Unknown to Esraj, a policeman and an actress work against him and the crafty couple succeed in foiling the plans of Esraj. Sengodan is later arrested on a charge of attempting to murder Bangaru, but the policeman, with help from his girlfriend, discovers the truth and Sengodan is exonerated.

Cast

* T. R. Ramachandran as Sengodan *

as Semba * Manohar as Bangaru *

Mynavathi Mynavathi (26 July 1935 – 10 November 2012) was an Indian actress. She made her first screen appearance as an actor in the 1955 Kannada film ''Santa Sakhu'' and acted in over 100 Kannada films. She was the younger sister of another popular Ka ...

as Bangaru's lover * K. Sarangapani as the policeman * K. A. Thangavelu as Esraj

Production

''Poimaan Karadu'' was a novel written by

and serialised in his own magazine ''

''. When the film rights to this story were bought, the film adaptation was titled ''Ponvayal''. It was directed and written by

, and produced by T. R. Ramachandran (who also played the male lead) under Jayanthi Pictures. It is the company's first production.

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by Thuraiyur Rajagopal Sarma and R. Rajagopal, under the supervision of N. P. Abdul Khader. The lyrics were written by Yogi Suddhanantha Bharathiyar and Sundara Vathiyar.

Release and reception

''Ponvayal'' was released on 12 February 1954, and distributed by Madras Pictures. The critic from ''

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 ...

'' positively reviewed the film for Krishnaswamy's writing and direction, along with the performances of Ramachandran, Anjali Devi and Muthulakshmi. Despite this, it failed at the box office. No print of the film is known to survive, making it a

lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...

References

External links

* 1950s Indian films 1950s lost films 1950s Tamil-language films 1954 films Adaptations of works by Kalki Krishnamurthy Films based on Tamil novels Films directed by A. T. Krishnaswamy Lost Indian films Tamil-language Indian films {{Improve categories, date=September 2024