Anbu (1953 film)

Thangam, a young woman, is married to a much older man, Rajamanickam Mudaliar. He has two children from his first marriage: a daughter Lakshmi, and a son, Selvam. Mudaliar dies when Thangam is pregnant with his child. Selvam falls in love with a rich girl Malathi while Thirumalai, a playboy, tries to separate them. When the widowed Thangam's child is born, Lakshmi spreads rumours that Selvam is the father of the child, and had an incestuous relationship with Thangam. Malathi believes these rumours and begins to torment Thangam. How Thangam surmounts the problems forms the rest of the story.[1]

Adapted from the opening credits[2]

Anbu was produced and directed by M. Natesan under his company Natesh Art Pictures.[3] The story was written by him, and the dialogues by Vindhan.[1] Cinematography was handled by G. Vittal Rao, editing by S. A. Murugesan, and the choreography by P. S. Gopalakrishnan, K. N. Dandayudhapani Pillai and B. Heeralal.[3] Shooting took place at Newtone and Citadel studios.[1]

The music was composed by T. R. Pappa. Lyrics by Papanasam Sivan, Kambadasan, Ka. Mu. Sheriff, Suratha, Dandapani & Rajappa. Singer is T. R. Rajakumari. Playback singers are A. M. Rajah, M. L. Vasanthakumari, Jikki, N. L. Ganasaraswathi and A. P. Komala.[4]

Anbu was released on 24 July 1953.[3] Natesh Art Pictures distributed the film themselves in Madras and select regions, while others did so for other regions in Tamil Nadu.[5] Kumudam, a Tamil weekly published the review of this film in a unique way. It was written as such, the characters in the film were telling about their roles. This prompted Natesan to go for a defamation case against the weekly. However, the legal adviser of the weekly settled the matter amicably with Natesan.[1] The film was dubbed into Telugu with the title Apeksha.[3]

• Anbu at IMDb