Kaalam Mari Pochu

<p>The story focuses on social and economic issues faced by farmers in rural areas and intertwined with a love story. A money lender in the village surreptitiously grabs the lands of poor farmers after lending them money. The un-educated poor farmers lose their lands due to ignorance. Later, the son of a poor farmer, who is educated, bares the truth about the money lender and in the presence of the District Collector gives back the lands to the owners. The film was originally produced in Telugu with the title by C. V. R. Prasath and directed by . The Tamil film was produced with entirely new cast. Dialogues and songs were written originally for the Tamil version. The dialogues were written by Muhavai Rajamanickam who was a freedom fighter and (at that time) was the leader of the then united Communist Party of India. He was also a famous writer in Tamil. The film was shot entirely on rural locations with real-life farmers partaking. Music was composed by and lyrics by Muhavai Rajamanickam. The song “Kallam Kabadam Theriyadhavane” is based on “Yeruvaaka Saagaaro Ranno Chinnanna” from . , released one month before , had a song “Summa Kidantha Sothukku Kashtam” with the same tune. , the distributor of , thought the song would jeopardise the success of his film. He went as far as advertising “Dont be misled by the so-called ‘Veerans’ of the films!”. He later filed a case against the producer of , , accusing him of plagiarism. The lawyer appeared for Chettiar. The judge observed that the tune of the songs are based on folklore music and no one can claim a right of ownership to such folklore music. The case was dismissed. wrote, “Well acted, it develops its central theme – the possibility of the liberating himself from the dominant influence of the rich landholder and promoting his own and the country’s interest through collective effort – with considerable effect”. wrote, “It is rarely that we get a picture so full-bloodedly rural as Sarathi Films’ “. wrote, “S. V. Subbiah steals the sow with a masterly portrayal of the poor, humble, old-world peasant who is a great stickler to properties”.</p>