''Thilakam'' is a 1960 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

Krishnan–Panju R. Krishnan (1909–1997) and S. Panju (1915–1984), collectively referred to as Krishnan–Panju, were Indian film directors. The duo directed more than 50 films in South Indian languages and in Hindi. Early life R. Krishnan was born on 18 ...

, produced by

AVM Productions AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar. It is the oldest film studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, ...

and written by K. M. Narayanasami. Based on Narayanasami's play of the same name, the film stars

Prem Nazir Prem Nazir (born Abdul Khader; 6 April 1926 – 16 January 1989) was an Indian actor known as one of Malayalam cinema's definitive leading man, leading men of his generation. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential actors in the hist ...

and M. N. Rajam. It was released on 11 November 1960 and failed commercially.

Plot

Saraswathi is a woman separated from her husband. She and her daughter Thilakam take refuge in her sister's family in

Tiruchi Tiruchirappalli (), also known as Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with being the best livable and the cleanest city of Ta ...

. Saraswathi wants her daughter Thilakam to be married to her brother Sekhar. But her uncle Sambasivam wants to marry Thilakam to a rich but old man 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 ...

. Sambasivam's son Gunasekharan is against this plan and wants Thilakam to be married to Sekhar. Whether he succeeds in this, forms the plot of the story.

Cast

The details are adapted from

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

review article.

Production

''Thilakam'' was a popular stage play written by K. M. Narayanasami.

A. V. Meiyappan Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar (28 July 1907 – 12 August 1979), also known as A. V. Meiyappan, A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar or AVM, was an Indian film producer, film director and screenwriter who established AVM Productions in Vadapalani, Chennai. ...

, the founder and then-owner of

, bought the film rights to the play and produced the film. His son

Saravanan Saravanan is a Tamil male given name. Due to the Tamil tradition of using patronymic surnames, it may also be a surname for males and females. It is one of the names of the Hindu god Murugan. It may refer to: *Saravanan (actor) * M. Saravanan (p ...

started his film production career with this film working as a "production executive". Narayanasami wrote the film's dialogues.

Soundtrack

Music was composed by R. Sudarsanam and the lyrics were penned by

Kothamangalam Subbu Kothamangalam Subbu (born S. M. Subramanian, 10 November 1910 – 15 February 1974) was an Indian poet, lyricist, author, actor and film director based in Tamil Nadu. He wrote the cult classic Tamil novel ''Thillana Mohanambal'' and was awarded ...

, M. K. Athmanathan, A. Maruthakasi, ''Kavi'' S. Rajagopal and V. Seetharaman. The song "B-o-y Boy, Boyinna Paiyan, G – i – r – l Girl, Girlinna Ponnu" (based on the song "Cat Maane Billi" from the

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

film '' Dilli Ka Thug''), sung by S. C. Krishnan and Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi was a hit. Partial List of Songs

Release and reception

''Thilakam'' was released on 11 November 1960. '' The Sunday Standard'' appreciated the plot, performances and cinematography. 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 ...

'' appreciated the dialogues, but criticised the story, performances and songs. The film was a commercial failure.

References

External links

* {{AVM Productions 1960 drama films 1960 films 1960s Indian films 1960s Tamil-language films AVM Productions films Films directed by Krishnan–Panju Films scored by R. Sudarsanam Indian black-and-white films Indian drama films Indian films based on plays Tamil-language Indian films