Thillana Mohanambal

<p>“Sikkal” Shanmugasundaram is a devoted player, but is short-tempered and sensitive. He meets Mohanambal, a dancer, and they fall in love with each other. Sundaram’s ego prevents him from developing his relationship with Mohana, who asks him to play a on his while she dances. Mohana’s mother Vadivambaal, an influential but greedy woman, wants her daughter to marry a wealthy man so that she can settle down in life properly. Blinded by love, she disobeys Vadivambaal, creating a rift between them. Unaware of Mohana’s feelings, Sundaram decides to leave the country along with Karuppayi, a folk dancer whom he considers to be his sister. Mohana calls him a coward and challenges him to stay, which he readily accepts. In a temple, Sundaram plays the and Mohana dances. Sundaram, impressed with Mohana’s performance, bestows upon her the title of “Thillana Mohanambal”. Suddenly Nagalingam, a landlord who wanted to marry Mohana, stabs Sundaram with a poisoned knife out of jealousy. Sundaram is admitted to a hospital but recovers from the incident with the help of Mary, a nurse who works there. Later, he and Mohana meet in a concert programme where they perform, against Vadivambal’s wishes. For his personal gains, “Savadal” Vaithi, a cunning man, befriends the of Madhanpur, who is the programme’s chief gu- Vaithi promises to make Mohana the Maharaja’s mistress. Vaithi traps Mohana by telling her that the Maharaja has invited and performers to perform in his palace, and that Sundaram has also decided to attend. Mohana immediately accepts the offer and the two visit Madhanpur. Vaithi treats Sundaram’s group badly and Sundaram decides to leave. He sees Mohana visiting the Maharaja’s room. The Maharaja asks Mohana to be his mistress. but she rejects his advances and is rescued by the Maharaja’s wife, the Maharani. Sundaram decides that Mohana does not love him, despite her repeated denial of the Maharaja’s offer. Depressed, Mohana runs away. The Maharaja reveals the truth to Sundaram that Mohana had refused his offer and she only loves Sundaram. Realising his mistake, Sundaram rushes to apologise to Mohana, but sees her trying to hang herself from the ceiling of a room in which she had locked herself. He screams to her to stop and promises he will never doubt her love again. Sundaram breaks the door and saves Mohana. They then get married with Vadivambaal’s approval. Vaithi is arrested for his crimes. was a novel written by under the pseudonym “Kalaimani”. It was in the Tamil magazine in 1957–58. The story portrayed the relationship between Mohanambal, a celebrated dancer, and Shanmugasundaram, a musician. The illustrations for the novel were done by sketch artist and cartoonist, . , who held the rights to the book, twice refused to allow director to make a film adaptation of it because Vasan wanted to produce a film adaptation himself under his banner . When Nagarajan approached him for the third time, Vasan gave him the rights without any consideration. Nagarajan paid Vasan 25,000 (about US$3,300 in 1968), but also went to visit Subbu with an additional 10,000 (about US$1,300 in 1968). Subbu declined the money, saying that Vasan had forwarded him the money Nagarajan had paid earlier. Nagarajan’s version of the film had a few creative differences from the novel; one of the significant ones was where the film ended with Mohana and Shanmugasundaram’s marriage while the novel, in contrast, had a tragic ending. Nagarajan produced the film under his production company, Sri Vijayalakshmi Pictures. was in charge of the film’s cinematography, M. N. Rajan and T. R. Natarajan jointly handled the editing, and Ganga was the film’s art director. R. Rangasamy was lead actor ‘s make-up artist. was cast as Mohanambal, the title character. A younger artist was suggested instead of Padmini for the role, but Nagarajan refused to replace her. Ganesan attended concerts, and consulted Carnatic musicians in preparation for his role. portrayed Muthurakku, the player. Tiruvidaimarudur Venkatesan played the instrument off-screen for Balaiah. Balaiah had additional training for playing the instrument. Madurai T. Srinivasan played the off-screen for the song “Maraindhirundhe Paarkum”. portrayed Thangarathnam, the second player in Sundaram’s troupe. According to playwright , Gopulu’s caricature of the character Vaithi in Subbu’s novel was similar to , who portrayed Vaithi in the film. Nagesh, in an article published in in 2004, revealed that Subbu initially created the character of Vaidhi with himself in mind. , who played the folk dancer Karuppayi alias Jil Jil Ramamani, stated that she was initially nervous acting in front of Ganesan and Balaiah, but Nagarajan assured her that whenever her character appeared she would be the centre of attention, which gave her the confidence to play her role. Serial and theatre artist M. L. Bhanumathi played the nurse who treats Shanmugasundaram. Other supporting actors included , S. Ramarao, M. K. Murthy, Balusundaram, T. N. Sivadhanu, S. R. Dasarathan, Sivasooriyan, Senthamarai, Kallapart Natarajan, Gundu Karuppaiah, Chandranbabu, S. V. Rajagopal, A. M. Maruthappa, Udayachandrika, Ambika and Kalpalatha. We were happy but felt very nervous as we had very little film experience […] Sivaji Ganesan listened to us lying on Kannadasan’s lap. After a three-hour performance they showered ‘ and then director APN confirmed our selection for the film. , shot in , was filmed in , and , in the . Many of the film’s aesthetics were borrowed from Indian theatre, of which Nagarajan was an artist. The competition sequence between Ganesan and Padmini took about nine takes to be filmed. The film presented a feel, mostly using frontal shots. The actors were lined up to face the camera and deliver their dialogue. Nagarajan, a former employee of the T. K. S. drama company, paid tribute to Shankardas Swamigal—from whom the company had its ancestral roots—by naming a drama company in the film after the company’s name. Snippets of the film’s behind-the-scenes production were filmed by French film director as a part of his 378-minute, seven-part documentary series, (1969), when he visited Madras (now ). As Sundaram, Ganesan did not actually play the ; he moved his fingers on the surface of the instrument, held his breath intermittently, and created an illusion on the screen with his facial expressions. The played by Sundaram and Thangarathnam was played off-screen by the brothers, M. P. N. Sethuraman and M. P. N. Ponnusamy. Nagarajan had seen the duo performing at a wedding reception in and asked them to come to Chennai. Their rehearsals took place over 15 days in Mahadevan’s recording studio in Chennai. Nagarajan then listened to a radio recital by the duo, and was impressed with their rendition of ‘s , “Nagumomu Ganaleni”. The Keerthana was later selected as one of the soundtrack instrumentals in the film. The film shows the traditions exhibited by , in coaches drawn by horses, and palaces that resembled 19th century architecture. The contemporary areas of Madurai and Thanjavur, especially their railway junctions, gave the film a sense of ambiguity that was then very common in . The film recreated the manner in which the were portrayed in the early 20th century, and also depicts the social conditions and the upper class milieu in Thanjavur. Real locations were mixed with the fictional town of Madhanpur. The film also had undertones of the . Its final length was 4,825 m (15,830 ft). The film’s soundtrack and score were composed by , while the lyrics were written by . The instrumental pieces “English Notes” and “Nadaswaram Bit” were originally composed by . After performing them at Ganesan’s 42nd birthday celebrations, Ponnusamy and Sethuraman were asked to play them in the film. “Maraindhirundhu” was based on . It is said that the director insisted on this raga, as the heroine is someone who falls in love with the hero whose name is Shanmugasundaram, and hence the raga whose name translates to “Adorer of Shanmukha”. “Nalandhana” was based on raga, which closely resembles raga. The first line of “Nalandhana” was later used in the film (2008). Under Mahadevan’s supervision, Pugazhendi set the for the film’s soundtrack and score. Singer wrote for on “Nalandhana” that, “ … one can feel the proximity in musicality. The Thavil beats, Nadaswara refrains and the honeyed voice all blend into an inviting melody composed by K.V. Mahadevan.” For “Maraindhirundhu” she said, “The nadaswaram and thavil back-ups for this song and the give it its typical classical flavour. ‘Thooyane mayavaa mayane velava ennai aalum Shanmuga vaa’ – these lines represent the ideal confluence of , and lyric, a perfect foil to each other.” According to film critic , “Nalandhana” became “one of the memorable song sequences with Sivaji Ganesan and AVM Rajan, playing the [ ] on screen”. He added, “In one song, the famous Tyagaraja kriti in , ‘Nagumomu Kanaleni’, Balaiah played the thavil in excellent sync with the background song that was recorded earlier in the studio, revealing how adept he really was with the instrument”. was released on 27 July 1968. It was released with English subtitles in overseas countries. The film was shown for six weeks at theatres in , and ran for 100 days in Ganesan’s family-owned in Chennai. It also completed 100-day runs in theatres in , Madurai and , and was eventually shown for over 175 days. was screened in Chennai on 21 April 2010 at the for the Dignity Film Festival. In November 2011, it was shown at the International Tamil Film Festival held in , Russia, alongside (2005), (2007), (2010), (2010), (2010) and (2011). The film received critical acclaim in India and abroad for its song and dance sequences, humour and portrayal of the prevailing socio-cultural milieu at that time. The Tamil magazine carried an 11-page review of with a discussion among several prominent people, which included officers, professors and actors who unanimously appreciated the film and the people associated with it. The review’s conclusion was that the director should be given a prize for making such a film. In its original review, said the film “encompasses all the traditional wealth of the culture of [Tamil Nadu].” The magazine called the film “a brilliantly made entertainer”. wrote “Not one would not have been mesmerized by the “Thillana” dance sequence”. In 2011, film historian criticised for depicting a Tamil king as wearing a Marathi costume: “The film-makers completely neglect the aspects of dress, jewels and weapons that are depicted in our sculptures. They do not even do basic research.” became a cult film for bringing the traditional arts of South India into prominence and achieving more popularity than the novel. It became a landmark film for Sivaji Ganesan. Padmini’s titular role become so iconic that the film was identified as her . She considered to be the best film of her career. The film is notable for catapulting Manorama to stardom. A dialogue, “Enakku anga oru beeda kadai kaarana theriyum” (I know a shop owner there), which was spoken by Balaiah, became popular. According to the 2010 book by R. Kannan, ‘s sister’s granddaughter, Kanmani, would enquire about his well-being during his last days by singing “Nalamdhana”. The film became a trendsetter and inspired several later films with similar themes of music and dance – including (1989), (1999), and (2014). In July 2007, S. R. Ashok Kumar of asked eight Tamil film directors to list their all-time favourite Tamil films; four of them – , , and – named . Actress Kavitha Nair, who made her debut with (2011), changed her screen name to Mohana because she liked the character. Crazy Mohan stated that the film made his top ten list, and that there was “excellence in all aspects – screenplay, dialogue, comedy, casting, music and direction. A winning combination, indeed. This gives its timeless appeal”. Screenwriter-director Viji of (2008) fame noted how the film showcased the culture of Thanjavur and that the acting performances and film formed a “complete package”. Politician and writer called it his favourite film and that he “had watched it innumerable times.” The prints of the film in 16 mm format were acquired by the American Cultural Association for their archives to represent quintessential old-world Thanjavur culture, and by universities in the United States for the study of and arts in particular. is included with other Sivaji Ganesan-starrers in , a compilation DVD featuring Ganesan’s “iconic performances in the form of scenes, songs and stunts” which was released in May 2012. Although film distributor Shanthi Chokkalingam stated in February 2012 that ‘s remaining prints were “totally damaged”, Pradeep Sebastian of stated in April 2015 that he “recently” saw the film through a restored print. Jil Jil Ramamani became immensely popular; in its obituary for Manorama, noted Jil Jil Ramamani “probably bore the closest resemblance to Manorama” in terms of being able to perform and . has been parodied and referenced in many films. In a comedy scene from , would be playing the nadheswaram, while would be dancing and an onlooker compares them to Ganesan and Padmini’s characters from the film, resulting in becoming irked by the comment. compared to because in both films, the male and female lead characters are in love with each other, despite being professional rivals. In the film (1992), Goundamani asks Senthil to play “Nalandhana” on his thavil, resulting in a comical argument between the two. In (1995), the title character ( ), in a conversation with Malayasimman ( ), says that Ambalarathar’s ( ) daughter, Padmini ( ) looks like actress Padmini’s character, Mohana, in the film. When Kuzhandaivelu ( ) is injured in (2001), his mother-in-law ( ) sings “Nalandhana” while enquiring about his health. In (2004), when Chinna ( ) talks about improving his looks, Kuzhandaisamy ( ) jokes that if Chinna was given a to play with, he would look like ‘Sikkal’ Shanmugasundaram. Scenes from were parodied in (2010). The film’s poster depicts lead actor as Ganesan’s character, Shanmugasundaram and as Balaiah’s character, Muthurakku.</p>