Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1937
Chintamani (1937 film)
Buy Chintamani (1937 film) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Chintamani
| image = Chintamani_1937_film.jpg
| alt =
| caption = A scene from the film
| native_name =
| director = Y. V. Rao
| producer =
| writer =
| screenplay = A. Ayyalu Somayajulu
Serukalathur Sama
| story = Y. V. Rao
| based_on =
| starring = M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar
K. Aswathamma
| narrator =
| music = Papanasam Sivan
| cinematography = Y. B. Washikar
| editing = Bholanath Auddya
| studio = Deva Datta Films Studio
| distributor = Rayal Talkie Distributers
| released =
| runtime = 215 min
| language = Tamil
| country = India
| budget =
| gross =
}}
'Chintamani' is a 1937 Indian Tamil-language film directed by Y. V. Rao starring M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, Serugulathur Sama and Aswathamma. It was the first Tamil film to run for a year in a single theatre.
Production
'Chintamani' was a popular play which had been performed in many languages. First, a silent film was made based on the play, then talkies based on it were made in Bengali, Hindi and Telugu. In 1937, a Tamil version of the film was directed by film-maker Y. V. Rao under the banner of Rayal Talkies, owned by yarn merchants of Madurai.
Initially, the director Y. V. Rao, wanted to play Bilwamangal's role himself. However, he changed his mind and acted as Bilwamangal's companion Manoharan. Serugulathur Sama was another contender for the main role. But, Rao rejected him in favor of M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar who was signed to play the part. In the initial stages, more publicity was given to the Kannada actress Aswathamma who played Chintamani's role than M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. Her name was mentioned above that of Bhagavathar's in the credits.
Plot
'Chintamani' was based on the legendary story of a Sanskrit poet and devotee of Lord Krishna named Bilwamangal (M. K. Thyragaraja Bhagavathar). Bilwamangal, a resident of Varanasi, was a Sanskrit scholar, who gets infatuated towards a courtesan called Chintamani (Aswathamma), a woman of ill-fame. As a result, he deserts his wife. However, Chintamani is an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna (Serugalathur Sama) and spends most of her time singing 'bhajans' in praise of Lord Krishna. His attraction towards Chintamani eventually draws Bilwamangal closer towards Lord Krishna and transforms his life forever. Bilwamangal, himself, becomes a devotee of Lord Krishna and pens a monumental Sanskrit work 'Sri Krishna Karnamritam'.
Cast
Cast according to the opening credits of the film and the song book
;Male cast
* M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar as Bilwamangal
* V. Manohar as Manoharan
* Serukalathur Sama as Krishnan & Sadhu
* L. Narayana Rao as Azhwar Chetty
* S. Kalyanasundaram as Umapathi Sastri
* E. Krishnamoorthi as Vaishnavan
* M. R. Durairaj as Begger & Vasudevamoorthi
* S. G. Rajam as Ragupathi
* P. S. Krishnasami as Ramachandran
;Female cast
* K. Aswathamma as Chintamani
* K. Ranganayaki as Susheelai
* S. P. Mathuram as Rukmani & Sadhuni
* R. Komalam as Shrihari
* S. S. Rajamani as Meenakshi
Release and reception
'Chintamani' was released on 12 March 1937 and became one of the most acclaimed films of early Tamil cinema. Though Bhagavathar's first film 'Pavalakkodi' had achieved some success, it was 'Chintamani' that made Bhagavathar into a successful actor. It had an uninterrupted theatrical run of more than a year. It was one of the two films of Bhagavathar, released in 1937 (the other one was 'Ambikapathy') which ran for more than a year. It also marked the debut in Tamil for Kannada actress Aswathamma who played the title role. Aswathamma acted in one more Tamil movie before her untimely death in 1939 due to tuberculosis.
With the substantial profits obtained from the movie, the owners of Rayal Talkies constructed a theatre in Madurai and named it 'Chintamani'. The Tamil writer Kalki wrote that the film has so affected viewers that the housewife would sing the song 'Mayaprapanchattil' from the movie while preparing coffee in the morning and her husband would sing 'Rathey unakku kobam' in order to please his sweetheart.
The gramophone discs of 'Chintamani' were also popular though M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar did not sing the songs that were featured in them as he was not under contract with Saraswathi Stores which produced the records. Instead, the songs were sung by Thuraiyur Rajagopala Sarma. It continues to influence Sinhala film music to this day.
Writing in 'Eelakesari' magazine in April 1938, Pudumaipithan praised the film as follows:
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Papanasam Sivan. The song "Radhe Unakku" became famous and it is a cult song.
A partial list of songs
Music Credits
;Orchestra
* A. Narayan Gottu
* A. Venkateswaran Violin
* M. R. Dorairaj Tabla
* K. M. Rangachari Organ
References
Buy Chintamani (1937 film) now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1937