Kalathur Kannamma
Kalathur Kannamma is a 1960 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by A. Bhimsingh and written by Javar Seetharaman. The film stars Gemini Ganesh, Savitri Ganesh and Kamal Haasan with the latter in his debut. It revolves around a couple — a wealthy zamindar's son and a farmer's daughter — who are separated due to circumstances, while their innocent son is forced to grow up in an orphanage.
Kalathur Kannamma, inspired by the 1960 Chinese film Nobody's Child, was originally directed by T. Prakash Rao who left due to creative differences, resulting in Bhimsingh taking over. It was the debut film of Kamal Haasan. The film's soundtrack was composed by R. Sudarsanam.
Kalathur Kannamma was released on 12 August 1960. The film was critically acclaimed, with Haasan's performance being singled out. It was also commercially successful, running for over 100 days in theatres. It won the Certificate of Merit by the Government of India, and the President's Gold Medal award for Haasan at the age of 6. The film was remade in Telugu as Mooga Nomu and in Hindi as Main Chup Rahungi.
Plot
Rajalingam is the only son of Ramalingam, the zamindar of Kalathur. Kannamma is the daughter of Murugan, a farmer of the same place. On the zamindar advice, Murugan sends his daughter to Madras for higher education. While returning from Madras, Kannamma meets Raja in the train. Noticing her respect and awe for the zamindar, Raja calls himself an electrician visiting the palace. They fall in love. A few days later, Kannamma learns the truth and to reassure her, Raja marries her secretly in a temple.Two days later, Raja has to go abroad for higher studies. During his absence, Ramalingam learns of the marriage and orders Kannamma to forget his son. Moved by the zamindar feelings, Kannamma promises never to mention their marriage to anyone. Ramalingam arranges Murugan and the now pregnant Kannamma to stay in a nearby town, Sevalpatti. Murugan, who is ashamed of Kannamma's secret marriage, leaves Kannamma's newborn son in an orphanage and lies that the child was stillborn. They both decide to leave the place and settle in Bangalore.
When Raja returns, he learns that Kannamma had left Kalathur. His inquiries in Sevalpatti lead him to believe that Kannamma had led an immoral life. Grief-stricken, he travels from place to place to forget Kannamma and takes to drinking as a last resort. In Bangalore, he encounters Kannamma in a dancer's house where she had come to teach the dancer's daughter. Her presence in the house and reticence to Raja's questions strengthen his belief that Kannamma is a woman of ill repute and in disgust, he returns home.
Kannamma's son Selvam grows up into an intelligent boy and lives in the orphanage in Sevalpatti. Murugan visits the orphanage and on meeting Selvam, decides to shift to Sevalpatti to be near him. Kannamma becomes a teacher in Selvam's school and feels attracted to him. She invites him to stay with her but he refuses as he has to look after Mani, a lame orphan living with him. Raja is invited to Sevalpatti by Singaram, a rich merchant who wants to marry his daughter Maduram to him, to preside over a school function. Raja takes a fascination with Selvam who acts in the school play. After the play ends, he encounters Kannamma again and orders the headmistress to dismiss her.
Mani is critically ill and Selvam turns to Raja for help. Raja brings a doctor who is unable to save Mani. Raja takes Selvam with him to the palace. At Selvam's insistence, he stops drinking and to give him a mother, decides to marry Maduram. A seriously ill Murugan confesses to Kannamma that her child is not dead and reveals the identity of Selvam. Kannamma tries to contact Selvam but does not find him in the orphanage. The news shocks Murugan and to soothe his nerves, they move back to Kalathur. In the local temple, Kannamma meets Selvam and tells him that she is his mother. On learning from him that Raja is bringing him up and is marrying shortly to find him a mother, she asks him not to mention anything about her to Raja.
Maduram learns from Selvam that he is the son of Raja, after which Singaram insists on a written undertaking that the properties of Raja would go to the children of Maduram only. The news of this conflict spreads in the village. On learning this, Murugan rushes to the palace to tell everyone the true identity of Selvam but collapses near the palace gate. Kannamma, who has followed, takes Selvam and tries to move away when she is intercepted by Raja who demands the boy back. Raja refuses to believe that Selvam is Kannamma's son and abuses Kannamma for her shameless life. Ramalingam observes that even in such a humiliating situation, Kannamma is silent and does not breathe a word about her promise to him. He is moved and acknowledges her as his daughter-in-law. Selvam is united with his parents, and Raja's marriage to Maduram is cancelled.
Production
Development
After assisting A. V. Meiyappan in producing films for AVM Productions, his sons [M. M. Saravanan (producer)|Saravanan (producer)|Saravanan], Murugan, Kumaran discussed producing one on their own with his son-in-law Arun Veerappan. Their mother Rajeswari told Meiyappan about this, and he gave his consent. The first story the brothers discussed was Maanam Periyadhu, but it did not shape up well. Unwilling to make a half-baked story as their inaugural production, Saravanan continued searching. Vellaichaami, an ex-employee of AVM, told Saravanan that Javar Seetharaman had been discussing a story with Meiyappan. Saravanan inquired further and learned that the story was Pattuvum Kittuvum. However, Meiyappan told Seetharaman that while the story was good, AVM could not film it. When Saravanan and his brothers learned that Seetharaman was in discussions with another production company, they ran to Meiyappan and told him that they were interested in Seetharaman's story; to their relief, Meiyappan revealed that Seetharaman would be visiting him that afternoon. After Seetharaman realised that Saravanan and his brothers were interested, he willingly gave them his story, which evolved into Kalathur Kannamma.Impressed with T. Prakash Rao's work in Amara Deepam and Uthama Puthiran, Saravanan and his brothers considered that he would be best suited to direct Kalathur Kannamma. This decision was questioned, given that AVM had its own "director unit" of which Prakash Rao was not a part. Though AVM paid its directors' salaries ranging from to, Prakash Rao charged —twice as much. Meiyappan, not wanting to be an obstacle to his sons' enthusiasm, approved Prakash Rao's salary. Despite Saravanan's desire, the credit for producing the film was given to Meiyappan, Kumaran, and Arun Veerappan. The story by Seetharaman was loosely adapted from two sources: the play The Forgotten Factor by the Moral Rearmament Army, and the 1960 Chinese film Nobody's Child. Cinematography was handled by T. Muthuswamy, editing by S. Surya, and art direction by H. Shantaram. S. P. Muthuraman worked as an assistant director, this being his first stint with film.