Chandrahari

Chandrahari
Directed by	K. S. Mani
Produced by	N. S. Krishnan
Based on	Chandrahari - Stage play by Pammal Sambandam Mudaliar
Starring	N. S. Krishnan; T. A. Mathuram; L. Narayana Rao; Kaka Radhakrishnan
Cinematography	E. R. Cooper
Edited by	Surya
Production; company	Asoka Films
Release date	1941
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Chandrahari is a 1941 Indian, Tamil language film directed by K. S. Mani.[1] The film featured N. S. Krishnan, T. A. Mathuram in the lead roles.[2]

Plot

It is a spoof of a legendary story of King Harishchandra who never told a lie. The main character of this story, King Chandrahari, will never tell a truth. Sage Vistavasi challenges Yama that he will make Chandrahari to tell a truth. He leaves the heavenly abode and comes to Earth with 9000 gold coins. He asks Chandrahari to give him 1000 gold coins to make it 10,000. The king says he does not have even a penny. The sage gives the 9000 coins to the king as a loan and goes away. During a nightly rounds, the king meets 2 women in a hut and misbehaves with them. The sage comes to know this incident and demands the king to marry the women. The king abdicates his Kingdom and walks away with his wife and son. The sage takes over the Kingdom. Many complications follow and finally the king wins. The sage restores everything to normalcy. [2]

Cast

List adapted from the song book[3]

N. S. Krishnan as Chandrahari
T. A. Mathuram as Mathichandrai
Radhakrishnan as Dhasadevan
C. P. Kittan as Sathyakirthi
L. Narayana Rao as Esha Nakshatran
P. G. Kuppusami as Sishtavasi
M. Thiruvenkatam as Mithravasu

Narasimhachari as Kandakalan
Kamalam as Kandakali
Shankara Moorthi as Sivan
Velu Pillai as Yaman
Lakshmi Narayanan as Bhaguveer
Babuji as Girl Dancer
Lalitha as Girl Dancer

Production

This was a stage play of the same name by Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar, one of the two founding fathers of Tamil theatre (The other being Sankaradas Swamigal). N. S. Krishnan adapted it and produced as a film under his own banner Asoka Films. The film was directed by K. S. Mani. Cinematography was handled by E. R. Cooper while the editing was done by Surya. The film was shot at Central Studios, Coimbatore.

As this was a short film, it was package as part 2 with another film Ezhandha Kadhal (Part 1).[2][4]

Reception

Film historian Randor Guy wrote in 2014 that the film is "Remembered for the humorous dialogue with satire and the performances of NSK and Mathuram as the lead pair.[2]

References

Ashish Rajadhyaksha & Paul Willemen. Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema (PDF). Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1998. p. 585.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
Guy, Randor (11 January 2014). "Chandrahari (1941)". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
Chandrahari (song book) (in Tamil). Asoka Films. 1941.
Film News Anandan (23 October 2004). Sadhanaigal Padaitha Thamizh Thiraipada Varalaru [History of Landmark Tamil Films] (in Tamil). Chennai: Sivakami Publishers. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016.

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[1] Ashish Rajadhyaksha & Paul Willemen. Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema (PDF). Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1998. p. 585.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)

[hindu-2] Guy, Randor (11 January 2014). "Chandrahari (1941)". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2017.

[song_book-3] Chandrahari (song book) (in Tamil). Asoka Films. 1941.

[anandan-4] Film News Anandan (23 October 2004). Sadhanaigal Padaitha Thamizh Thiraipada Varalaru [History of Landmark Tamil Films] (in Tamil). Chennai: Sivakami Publishers. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016.