''Sengottai Singam'' () is a 1958 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 directed by V. N. Reddy and produced by

Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar Sandow Marudur Marudachalamurthy Ayyavoo Chinnappa Thevar (28 June 1915 – 8 September 1978) was a film producer of Tamil cinema in the mid-1950s through the 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for his films featuring animals, and has produced nu ...

. The film stars

Udaykumar Bommasandra Srinivasaiah Suryanarayana Murthy (16 March 1933 – 26 December 1985), known professionally as Uday Kumar, was an Indian actor, writer, and film producer who worked primarily in Kannada cinema. Along with Rajkumar and Kalyan Kumar ...

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 ...

, with

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (18 September 1928 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted ...

S. V. Sahasranamam Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Sahasranamam (29 November 1913 – 19 February 1988), also known as S. V. S., was an Indian actor and director. Primarily a theatre actor, he also worked in over 200 films, mainly in Tamil cinema. Early lif ...

and E. R. Sahadevan in supporting roles. It was released on 11 July 1958.

Plot

The wealthy owner of the Sengottai estate orders the death of Lakshmi, a factory worker, and her infant son, as they accidentally come in the way of his car. Unknown to him, Lakshmi is the lover of his son, Dharmalingam, and the mother of his child. His henchman secretly allows Lakshmi and her son to escape. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the two are separated, and the boy is raised by Malayandi, a tribal leader. Dharmalingam is grief-stricken over the loss of his lover and child, and he refuses to marry the woman chosen by his father. Meanwhile, Lakshmi's son, now named Singam, grows up to become a fierce warrior, excelling in battles against both animals and enemies. As Singam matures, he falls in love with a young woman. The remainder of the film centers around the family's eventual reunion.

Cast

as Singam *

as Singam's lover *

as Lakshmi *

as Dharmalingam * E. R. Sahadevan as Malayandi * C. L. Anandan *

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 ...

Pushpalatha Pushpalatha (1937 or 1938 – 4 February 2025) was an Indian actress, who worked predominantly in Tamil-, Telugu-, Kannada- and Malayalam-language films. She acted in heroine and character roles in more than 100 films. Her debut film was '' Se ...

Production

''Sengottai Singam'' was the third production of

's company Devar Films. Its story was written by Rajagopal, and the screenplay by Puratchidasan. V. N. Reddy, a filmmaker based in

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 ...

, directed the film and also worked as cinematographer, while being assisted by N. S. Varma, an already established South Indian cinematographer. M. G. Balu Rao and M. A. Mariappan jointly edited the film. Shooting took place at

Vijaya Vauhini Studios Vijaya Vauhini Studios is a film production company based in Chennai, India. It is the combination of Vijaya Productions and Vauhini Studios. B. Nagi Reddy (Bommireddy Nagi Reddy) was the founder of Vijaya Productions and Moola Narayana Sw ...

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

K. V. Mahadevan Krishnankoil Venkadachalam Mahadevan (14 March 1918 – 21 June 2001) was an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician who won the inaugural National Film Award for Best Music Direction in (1967) for '' Kandan Karunai''. ...

. The song "Nadada Raja", written by Maruthakasi and picturised on Udaykumar's character riding an elephant, gained popularity.

Release and reception

''Sengottai Singam'' was released on 11 July 1958. Kanthan of ''

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 ...

'' said the film would disappoint those who had already seen ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

'' films. 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 was not a major commercial success, but it gained much attention due to its music and onscreen animals, especially two horses named Iqbal and Dilip.

References

External links

* {{Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar 1950s adventure films 1950s Indian films 1950s Tamil-language films Films about animals Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan Films set in jungles Indian adventure films Tamil-language adventure films Tamil-language Indian films