Golden Jubilee MGR Movies - II

Sri MGR Year 98, 22nd August, Saturday

Continuation to the post about MGR movies which celebrated 50 years and that have been published as a special post in srimgr.com

Earlier post include movies Nadodi Mannan (1958), Thirudathey (1961), Thai Sollai Thatathey (1961) and Thaiyai Katha Thanayan (1962).

The fifth of the series for the golden jubilee year is Panathottam a black and white movie, released in the year 1963. Director K.Shankar’s first venture with MGR.

Movie Name : Panathottam

Date of Release : 11.01.1963

Production : Saravana Films

Direction : K.Shankar

Click the below image for the post.

The sixth instalment to the 50 years celebration is none other than Mekala Pictures Kanchi Thalaivan. Our Puratchi Thalaivar took the incarnation of Narasimha Pallavan on screen. In the title MGR is shown as M.G.Ramachandran, M.L.C., for the first and last time. This movie is a treat for historical fans especially for Pallavan dynasty.

Movie Name : Kanchi Thalaivan

Date of Release : 26.10.1963

Production : Mekala Pictures

Direction : Kasilingam 

Click the above image to read the post.

 

The seventh of the series is Gowri Pictures Parisu, a crime thriller, directed by Yoganand. MGR as police officer investigates a grand theft in jewellery store who then undergoes in disguise and stays in the village as a researcher. One of the highlight of the movie is the climax scene, MGR outwits Nambiyar in a revolver fight.

Movie Name : Parisu

Date of Release : 15.11.1963

Production : Gowri Pictures

Direction : D.Yoganand

Click the above image to read the post.

 

The eighth part of the series that was covered for MGR movies celebrating golden jubilee is Vettaikaran, the box office success and the second highest grossing MGR movie in 1964. MGR cladded in tight fitting cowboy costume, faster drawing of gun from his belt and mesmerizing songs are highlight of the movie.

Movie Name : Vettaikaran

Date of Release : 14.01.1964

Production : Devar Films

Direction : M.A.Thirumugam

Click the below image to read the post.

 

The ninth movie that was published in srimgr.com for the series of Golden jubilee celebration is colour movie Padagotti. I have written the posts in two parts (still third part has to be written). Our Puratchi Thalaivar MGR as a fisherman who tries to unite two hamlets forms the story.

Movie Name : Padagotti

Date of Release : 03.11.1964

Production : Saravana Films

Direction : T.Prakashrao

Part Two Of the Post

Click the above image and the line below for the first part and second part of the posts respectively.

Will continue.

Padagotti Golden Jubilee – 2

Sri MGR Year 97, 9th November, Sunday

This is the continuation to the 50th Anniversary of Padagotti. Earlier post we had dealt elaborately with the story, in this post we will be extrapolating MGR histrionics and the character study.

Our beloved Puratchi Thalaivar character Manickam in Padagotti is not different from other movie characters, the same do-gooder, saviour of the poor and downtrodden, helper of the hapless.

As soon as the movie starts to reveal the plot MGR becomes the head of his village, the position thrust upon by his rivals. The character portrayed by MGR can be discussed in three view points.

As a Leader:

His men are illiterate like their rival group but the rival group people had faith in their leader enacted by Ramadoss they did what their head told him to do so, a blind faith. Here in MGR’s group, sometimes they take their own decision and suffer and sometimes they loose faith in him even if MGR took a right decision. For this type of scenario the Leader should have lot of patience. MGR keeps his calm. The extremity of MGR patience is tested when his people without his knowledge goes to the loan shark (Nambiyar) and without knowing what was written in the agreement signs it. Now MGR interferes and reads the agreement, he comes to know the atrocious method of Nambiyar, his men illiterate and having very little intelligence had fallen easily to Nambiyar’s trap, now MGR has to express and point out their foolishness,  but he did not express the point in hard way. Because the best leaders don’t come down harder on people whose performance is lagging; they come to their aid.

He being the leader also has the responsibility to take care his men like a mother to her child in that way MGR conveys. Nambiyar asks MGR “where did you come and what you are talking” (Yenga vanthu yenna pesara). The following one line is what MGR utters for that scene, totally ignoring the direct words for their foolish mistake and says; “I am speaking to my people about their ignorance”. (என் மக்கள் கிட்ட அவங்க அறியாமை பத்தி பேசறேன்). MGR’s expression while reading the agreement is great, the escalation of anger is seen clearly in his face when he looks to his men the anger drains in a second and when he looks at Nambiyar his anger expression comes up instantly.

In another scene when MGR senses the demand for fish in market he raises the price and this idea succeeds his men praises him. And again when the same plan did not worked out they start to loose their faith in him. And they start to take their own decision (a’la the common man) when MGR gets assurance from a new commission agent for their catch, Nambiyar befriends the commission agent and this time also his plan goes wrong.

As a true leader MGR knows how to lead his men knows their needs and wants, he looks at them confidently and tells them, that he will take this to the Government officials and get their help. His men who always think only about today and never care what is for tomorrow blindly denies MGR, they burst with sadness and says you always speak like that but God has given everything to them (Nambiyar) it is our fate. MGR answers to these questions to them through the song “Koduthathellam Koduthan”.

Song

Before the climax there is another scene showing one of his leadership qualities. Sarojadevi leaves her village and comes to meet MGR and wants to get married. By this time his men come up and asks to make a decision of what MGR wants in his life, either the love or his people. MGR knows well that “there is no success without sacrifice” with less time to respond he takes the decision to sacrifice his love. MGR subtly gives an appearance of weight being rested on his shoulders by drooping his head after the dialogue. (The rest of the dialogues will be dealt with in next post as a Lover).

Padagotti Golden Jubilee

Sri MGR Year 97, 3rd November, Monday

Today is the Golden Jubilee year of Padagotti movie. On deepavali day 3rd November 1964, Saravana Films first colour movie and our Puratchi Thalaivar starrer Padagotti was released all over Tamil Nadu.

Cast and Characters:

1. MGR – Manickam (Protagonist)

2. Saroja Devi – Muthazhagi

3. M.N.Nambiyar – Neelamegam (Antagonist)

4. Nagesh – Ponvandu

5. Ramadoss – Alaiyappan (Muthazhagi’s father)

6. Asokan – Thangappan (Neelamegam’s henchman)

7. Jayanthi – Meenvizhi (Neelamegam’s lover)

8. Thirupathisamy – Manickam’s father

Dialogues – Sakthi Krishnaswami

Music – Viswanthan and Ramamurthy

Camera – P.L.Roy

Direction – T.Prakash Rao

Producer – G.N.Velumani

All the songs are mesmerizing :

1. Tharai mela pirakavaithan – sad song for MGR

2. Ennai yeduthu thanai koduthu – sad song for Sarojadevi

3. Thottal poo malarum – duet song

4. Koduthathellum koduthan – philosophical song for MGR

5. Azhagu malar ragam – solo song for Jayanthi (Sarojadevi)

6. Naan oru kozhunthai – solo song for MGR

7. Pattuku pattu yeduthu – MGR and Sarojadevi combo song

8. Kalyana ponnu – solo song for MGR

Story:

There are four fishermen hamlets (kuppam) of this Thirukaimeenkuppam and Surameenkuppam are rivals. During a festival the head of Thirukaimeenkuppam Thirupathisamy extends his arm to Alaiappan (Ramadoss) to be united forever but Neelamegam (M.N.Nambiyar) comes to know this fact and sends his men to create chaos in the function and thereby two villages always have difference of opinion. As planned, Neelamegam people fatally wounds the head of Thirukaimeenkuppam, Manickam (MGR) tries to save his father but his father ask a promise from his son that the two villages should be united in future and he should work hard for that. Manickam promises then his father dies.

Days rolls on Alaiappan goes with his men to meet Neelamegam for getting loan. Neelamegam gives them money and gets their thumb impression on blank stamp papers and keeps it in a safe.

 

The weather changes and fishermen loose their opportunity to go to sea, so far Thirukaimeenkuppam avoided Neelamegam’s loan. But now there is no option and they visit him without the knowledge of their new head Manickam. As usual they were given an agreement regarding the selling of their catch to him and the price is fixed by him only no questions asked.

 

 

When they were signing Manickam enters Neelamegam’s house, stops them and make them understand what was written in the agreement. On seeing his plan thwarted by Manickam, Neelamegam gets angry and asks everybody to get out of his house.

Manickam heads to sea in the rough weather, he gets caught in the storm and washed away on the shores of Surameenkuppam. There Alaiappan’s daughter Muthazhagi (Sarojadevi)  saves him even though she knows who he is, they fall in love.

One day Alaiappan fells sick so his daughter goes to the market to sell the fishes. But on that day there is a demand for fishes, all these years Neelamegam using their rivalry bought the fishes for less amount but on that day Manickam and Muthazhagi stands united and sells their fishes for higher amount. Manickam’s people praise his shrewdness.

Duet song “Thottal poo malarum”.

 

The next day they again try to utilize the situation but Alaiappan comes into the market as asked by Neelamegam he sells his goods to him very cheaply, Manickam group suffer this time. Now the same people hurts him with words.

Manickam goes to town to meet a commission agent and arranges to sell their fishes to him. But the new commission agent betrays Manickam and supports Neelamegam.

Kuduthathalam koduthan song.

 

This time Manickam meets Government officials to get help but they tell him that Government will not help individuals but can help if they are all united. Now as a last resort Manickam goes to meet Alaiappan and uses Gandhian ideology but they try to attack him. Manickam fights valiantly and wins, then he tells, I come here to speak about peace but you thought I am a coward only a strong willed can speak about peace.

Then Manickam shows his mammoth strength by bending the iron bar and Manickam tries his best to make them understand who is gaining and who is loosing, because of the rivalry between them and also about the Government who are ready to give loan, insurance, boat etc. if the villagers are stand united. Alaiappan when at the verge of understanding the facts presented by Manickam, Neelamegam intervenes and  twists their mind they beat Manickam and throws him to the sea.

Thirukaimeenkuppam feels something has went wrong as Manickam had not returned. They try to take revenge by attacking Alaiappan but Manickam in old man disguise saves Alaiappan and he takes Manickam to his house. There Muthazhagi comes to know that Manickam is disguised as old man and he is trying to unite both the villages.

Surameenkuppam wanted to take revenge as their opponent had tried to kill their head but Manickam intervenes and tries to stop their act, Alaiappan tells them to wait as in the boat race they will get an opportunity to hurt their enemies.

The boat race takes place but as the head of Thirukaimeenkuppam does not show up Manickam takes up the position and wins the race. But in the presentation everybody comes to know that Manickam is the old man.

Neelamegam hatches a plan and asks Alaiappan to give his daughter as a marriage to him. First he disagrees but Neelamegam threatens him with the loan document they had been signed by his people. As there is no way to survive Alaiappan agrees for the marriage..

Pattuku pattu edathu song

After the song his Thirukaimeenkuppam people objects for the marriage of Manickam with Muthazhagi. For the care of his group Manickam sacrifice his love. Muthazhagi returns to her hut and she was taken to Neelamegam’s house, Alaiappan asks Neelamegam to take care his daughter and leaves.

Now both the village asks Manickam to help Muthazhagi from the clutches of Neelamegam. And Manickam disguises as a bangle merchant goes to Neelamegam’s house there Neelamegam suspects and keeps Manickam locked in his guest house.

Meenvizhi helps Muthazhagi by giving the loan documents that she had stolen from the safe in the process Meenvizhi was shot and killed.

Manickam uses loose wire found in the room and gives shock to Neelamegam’s people and escapes from the guest house a small fight follows and finally Neelamegam was arrested for the killing of Meenvizhi.

Alaiappan understands that Manickam has saved his daughters life and his noble deeds he then gives his acceptance for her daughter to marry Manickam and thus the group fight ends.

Acting, songs, costumes and others will be dealt in the next post.

Photo Session

Sri MGR Year 96, 9th September, Monday

Most of MGR movies stills were clicked by R.N.Nagaraj Rao assisted by A.Sankar Rao. MGR affectionately said R.N.Nagaraj Rao’s as his brother. His relative A.Sankar Rao who is still alive and has written a book about MGR.

A.Sankar Rao has attended some of our functions and gave some insight into MGR’s photo sessions like how he likes to be pictured. In his book about our beloved Leader he has said that MGR never gives special photo session, instead he always asks him to take snaps during the shooting.

When I watched Padagotti the images given below to the left is from the movie and right is the still clicked by A.Nagaraj Rao during the shooting.

 

  

The reaction given by Saroja Devi in the still clicked (right image) does not appear in the movie. And the dialog between MGR and Saroja Devi in this particular shot is very small, 28 seconds. MGR’s left hand never touches the rope in the movie as seen in the image still.

What I feel is that the dialog may be deleted considering the length of the movie or what we see in the film may be a retake.

Padagotti Full Movie

Sri MGR Year 95, 13th November, Tuesday

MGR first flick as a fisherman Padagotti is fully downloadable from youtube website. Saregama South has uploaded the full movie of Padagotti in youtube.

Padagotti was first released on Diwali day, 3rd November 1964.

Here is the full video.

Film Name : Padagotti (Colour) 1964.

Click here for the Download link:



Diwali release ad for the movie Padagotti.

If the above video link does not work click the below video to watch full movie of Padagotti.

 

Story: (From Wikipedia)

Manickam (MGR) is the leader of a small fishing community named Thirukaai Meenavargal. In the same area, Alaiyappan (S.V.Ramadhaas) is the leader of a second group named Sura Meenavargal, in opposition to Manickam’s group.

 

The enmity between the two groups goes way beyond competition. While Manickam is honest, compassionate and principled, his counterpart, Alaiyappan, is exactly the opposite, driven mainly by greed. Manickam's father main wish was to end the dispute between the two groups, and he persuades them to be friends. However the Sura Meenavargal refuse, and beat him to death. Manickam promises to fulfill his father's wish, and works hard to end the dispute.

 

The person responsible for fuelling this enmity between the two groups is the man who stands to gain the most from it all – The village Zamindar and Yajaman (M.N.Nambiar). Alaiyappan’s blind allegiance is to the Zamindar.

 

Manickam soon falls in love with Alaiyappan's daughter Muthazhagi (Saroja Devi), and she shows the same. However, their romance is strongly disapproved of by their communities. Things further escalate when Manickam again goes to Sura Meenavargal to seek peace, and he gets beaten up to his apparent death. Because of this, his men nearly kill Alaiyappan, who is then saved by a mysterious old man. Thankful to the old man, Alaiyappan allows him to stay for the night at his home. Muthazhagi later realizes the old man is actually Manickam in disguise, but keeps it a secret from everyone.

 

One day, it is a boat race between the two communities. But Manickam (still in disguise) chooses to go with Sura Meenavargal, and they eventually win the race. However, his fake beard falls down after the race, and everyone recognizes him as Manickam. The Thirukaai Meenavargal, enraged for his betrayal, forces him to leave Muthazhagi.

 

When Alaiyappan suddenly goes bankrupt, zamindar agrees to help him, but wants to be married to Muthazhagi in return. Alaiyappan, initially hesitant, later agrees but Muthazhagi is not ready. She is kept custody at the zamindar's mansion and is unable to escape, even Manickam (in a new disguise) is unable to save her. But the zamindar's wife (Jayanthi) secretly helps Muthazhagi out of the mansion. However, the former gets caught in the act by the zamindar, who then kills her. He begins to chase Muthazhagi, but is cornered by Manickam with whom he starts a battle. Shortly later, the local police arrive and arrest the zamindar, because they witnessed him killing his own wife. With both the communities finally reconciling, Alaiyappan agress for Muthazhagi and Manickam to be married.

 

Cast:

MGR – Manickam

Sarojadevi – Muthazhagi

M.N.Nambiyar – Neelamegam

Asokan – Neelamegam’s henchman

Nagesh – Leader of Fishermen Society (comic role as a Leader)

 

Songs:

The movie has 8 mesmerizing songs tuned by M.S.Visvanathan and Ramamurthy. All the songs are penned by Vaali.

 

The songs are:

1. Tharaimel Pirakka vaithan (MGR Philosophical song)

2. Ennai Eduthu Thanai Koduthu

3. Thottal Poo Malarum (Duet song)

4. Koduthellam Koduthaan (MGR Philosophical song)

5. Azhagu Oru Ragam

6. Naan Oru Kuzhandhai Nee Oru Kuzhandhai (MGR in disguise, song)

7. Paatukku Patteduthu

8. Kalyana Ponnu Kannana Kannu (another song for MGR in disguise)

Uploaded in HD format the total size of the movie comes to 2.45 GB. It takes about 3 hours and 15 minutes to download. For you to download use Youtube Downloader is a free tool to download videos from YouTube and save it to your computer. And this a free software created especially to download youtube videos.

Padagotti

Sri MGR Year 95, 27th March, Tuesday

 

MGR Devotee Tirupur Ravichandran has forwarded the scanned page of Kumudam reporter an article about MGR starrer Padagotti movie soon to be released in cinemascope.

 

20 years before, Ulagam Sutrum Valiban was released in Cinemascope followed by DTS version of all Emgeeyar Pictures movies such as Nadodi Mannan, Adimai Penn and Ulagam Sutrum Valiban.

 

To read further click the image below.

 

 

Now Arasakattalai and Padagotti are in the pipeline for re-release.