Kasethan Kadavulada

Kasethan Kadavulada (transl. Only money is god) is a 1972 Indian Tamil-language caper comedy film,[2] written and directed by Chitralaya Gopu. It is based on his play of the same name. The film stars Muthuraman and Lakshmi, with M. R. R. Vasu, Thengai Srinivasan, Srikanth, Moorthy, Manorama, Rama Prabha and Jayakumari in supporting roles. It focuses on a young man (Muthuraman) collaborating with his cousin (Sreekanth) and friend (Srinivasan) to steal money from his stingy stepmother (Manorama).

For the 2011 film, see Kasethan Kadavulada (2011 film).

Kasethan Kadavulada
Poster
Directed byChitralaya Gopu
Produced by
Screenplay byChitralaya Gopu
Based onKasethan Kadavulada
by Chitralaya Gopu
Starring
Music byM. S. Viswanathan
CinematographyK. S. Bhaskar
Edited byR. G. Gopu
Production
company
Release date
  • 19 May 1972 (1972-05-19)
Running time
142 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Kasethan Kadavulada is the directorial debut of Chitralaya Gopu, and was produced by AVM Productions. Muthuraman, Moorthy and Manorama reprise their roles from the play. Cinematography was handled by K. S. Bhaskar, and editing by R. G. Gopu.

The film was released on 19 May 1972, and became a commercial success, with Srinivasan's role as a fake godman becoming immensely popular.

Plot

Lakshmi, a domineering woman, controls all her husband Sivaswamy's money, treating him with scorn and disdain. When Ramu, Sivaswamy's son from his first wife, requires a sum of ₹3,000 (equivalent to ₹110,000 or US$1,500 in 2019) for his sister's husband, the stingy Lakshmi instantly refuses. Ramu and his cousin Mali hatch a plot with their tea vendor friend Appaswamy, who pretends to be a godman named Badrinath Swamy Sukranada to get to her money safe and steal a sum of ₹50,000. Meanwhile, Rama is an orphan whose only friend is Iruthayam, the doctor of a mental institution. When Rama wants a conduct certificate, Iruthayam bungles and hands over the certificate of an insane girl also named Rama.

DSP Paramantham, who previously arrested Appaswamy, comes to see the godman. Appaswamy tells Paramantham to not handle any cases at this time. An incident occurs when Rama encounters Appaswamy without a beard, but to his surprise she does not recognise the difference. The house receives a telegram saying that the real Badrinath Swamy Sukranada is arriving in two days, meaning Appaswamy has to loot his sum within that time frame. Latha's brother Mani wants to buy jewellery for his girlfriend, Latha, and needs money after being exposed by his girlfriend's brother. Mani steals Appaswamy's money ₹5,001 that he received as a donation from Lakshmi (the extra ₹1 came from Chettiar), but Rama catches him red-handed.

The sane Rama arrives at Lakshmi's house to work as a secretary. Lakshmi sees the certificate, but decides to keep her at her house since the certificate mentions that Rama becomes violent when somebody refuses to give her what she wants. Rama falls in love with Ramu. The insane Rama and her father also come there to work coincidentally. More complications arise (the insane Rama's father overhears Ramu and Appaswamy's heist plan and subsequently the insane Ramu lets her anger out on Appaswamy, leading to a deal in which Ramu and Appaswamy will not tell anybody that the sane Rama is insane as nobody knows and that the insane Rama's father will not tell anybody about the heist plan), leading to more incidents.

Lakshmi tells Appaswamy about the cash she has stashed in her secret hideout, and shows him how to access it. Appaswamy and Ramu succeed in their heist later that night, but are exposed after they place the cash in a flower pot. The insane Rama's father, the sane Rama, and Mani all encounter the cash. Mani throws it outside to his Latha's brother. Again, Rama catches him red-handed. The cash is in Latha's brothers' coat. To prove that the other Rama is truly insane, the sane Rama tells the insane Rama that the coat will look good on her. When Latha's brother refuses to give her his coat, the insane Rama shows her insanity. As a result, all problems are solved, Lakshmi is pacified, and agrees to Ramu and the sane Rama's marriage.

Cast

Production

Kasethan Kadavulada was a play written and directed by Chitralaya Gopu,[8] and staged over 300 times.[9] AVM Productions founder A. V. Meiyappan who saw the play decided to adapt it into a feature film and insisted Gopu direct;[10] the film adaptation thus marked his directorial debut.[11] Muthuraman, Moorthy and Manorama, who were part of the play, reprised their roles in the film.[8][9] Thengai Srinivasan was selected to appear in the character of the Madras Tamil speaking tea vendor Appaswamy masquerading as a godman.[12] Cinematography was handled by K. S. Bhaskar, and editing by R. G. Gopu.[3]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by M. S. Viswanathan.[13] The song "Jambulingame" became popular upon release.[4] Elements of the song were borrowed by S. Thaman and used in "Pudhu Punal" from Mouna Guru (2011).[14]

No.TitleLyricsPerformer(s)Length
1."Mella Pesungal"VaaliKovai Soundararajan, L. R. Eswari4:18
2."Jambulingame Jadaadaraa"VaaliK. Veeramani, Kovai Soundararajan, Dharapuram Sundarrajan3:33
3."Andavan Thodangi"VaaliM. S. Viswanathan, A. L. Raghavan, K. Veeramani3:29
4."Aval Enna Ninaithal"VaaliP. Susheela3:24
5."Indru Vantha Intha Mayakkam"VaaliP. Susheela3:35

Release and reception

Kasethan Kadavulada was released on 19 May 1972.[15] Gopu recalled that producers put up a huge cut-out for Srinivasan in the saint get-up. Srinivasan who was pleased did not want the lead actor Muthuraman to misunderstand so he and Gopu went to Muthuraman and explained that it was the role that became popular and even apologised to Muthuraman who smiled it away.[16][17] The film was a commercial success, and Gopu received more film offers to work as both director and writer.[10] Randor Guy of The Hindu attributed the success to "the excellent comedy sequences, humorous dialogue, fine direction of Chitralaya Gopu and excellent performances".[4] Thirumalai titled his 2011 comedy film as Kasethan Kadavulada which had no similarity with this film.[18] In 2017, Y. G. Mahendran organised a play based on the film that was staged in Mylapore.[19] Mahendran reprised the role of Srinivasan from the film.[20] The play was performed 100 times.[21]

Home media

Kasethan Kadavulada was made available for viewing on Prime Video when it was launched in India in December 2016.[22]

References
  1. Indian Films. B. V. Dharap. 1973. p. 142.
  2. Sampath, Janani (29 March 2020). "Good old Tamil humour to keep your spirits high in lockdown". The Federal. Archived from the original on 11 May 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  3. Kasethan Kadavulada (motion picture) (in Tamil). AVM Productions. 1972. opening credits from 1:55 to 4:38.
  4. Guy, Randor (20 June 2015). "Blast from the Past: Kaasethan Kadavulada (1972)". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  5. "Kasethan Kadavulada Press Meet Images & news Release". B4U Media. 13 June 2016. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  6. Venkataramanan, Geetha (13 April 2017). "'I'm like a fish out of water'". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  7. Yamunan, Sruthisagar (12 October 2015). "When the camera rolled, she lived the character'". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 October 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  8. Bhatt, Karthik (29 June 2016). "Kaasethaan Kadavulada: From Stage To Celluloid". The Cinema Resource Centre. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  9. Rekhs (29 June 2012). "Gopu Is Gold". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  10. Rangarajan, Malathi (10 July 2009). "Looking back with a smile". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 17 May 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  11. Rangarajan, Malathi (9 June 2016). "Classic comedy revisited". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  12. Sampath, Janani (20 August 2014). "Language Found in Transition". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  13. "Kasethan Kadavulada (1972)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  14. Ashok Kumar, S. R. (3 December 2011). "Twin treat". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  15. Saravanan, M. (2013) [2005]. AVM 60 Cinema (in Tamil). Rajarajan Publications. p. 227.
  16. Raman, Mohan V. (20 October 2012). "He walked tall in tinsel town". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  17. கமல்குமார் (9 November 2018). "கதாநாயகனுக்கு நோ கட் அவுட், காமெடியனுக்கு 16 அடி கட் அவுட்!!! 1970 களிலேயே கலக்கிய 'தேங்காய்' சீனிவாசன்". Nakkheeran (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  18. "Kasethan Kadavulada is old wine in a new bottle". The New Indian Express. 10 September 2011. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  19. "The Mint Planner, 26 May 2017". Mint. 25 May 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  20. "100th show of Kasethan Kadavulada next month". The Hindu. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  21. "100 மேடைகள் கண்ட காசேதான் கடவுளடா" [Kasethan Kadavulada drama reached 100th stage show]. Dinamalar. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  22. Poorvaja, S. (16 December 2016). "Tamil movie buffs welcome Amazon Prime Video". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 27 December 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
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