Uthama Puthiran (1958 film)

Uthama Puthiran (transl. Virtuous Son) is a 1958 Indian Tamil-language historical action film directed by T. Prakash Rao. Co-produced by C. V. Sridhar, who also wrote the screenplay, it is a remake of the 1940 Tamil film of the same name, and also adapts from The Man in the Iron Mask, the third part of the 1847–1850 novel The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini, with M. K. Radha, M. N. Nambiar, K. A. Thangavelu, Ragini and Kannamba in supporting roles. It is the first film to feature Ganesan in two distinct roles.

For the 1940 film, see Uthama Puthiran (1940 film). For the 2010 film, see Uthamaputhiran (2010 film). For other uses, see Uthama Puthiran.
Uthama Puthiran
Theatrical release poster
Directed byT. Prakash Rao
Produced byS. Krishnamoorthy
C. V. Sridhar
T. Govindarajan
Screenplay byC. V. Sridhar
Based onUthama Puthiran (1940)
StarringSivaji Ganesan
Padmini
Music byG. Ramanathan
CinematographyA. Vincent
Edited byN. M. Shankar
Production
company
Venus Pictures
Distributed bySivaji Films
Release date
  • 7 February 1958 (1958-02-07)
Running time
157 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Uthama Puthiran is the story of a queen who gives birth to twins. But one of the twins is forcefully abandoned and grows up elsewhere. He grows up as a kind and honest man, while the other twin grows up as a greedy and arrogant man. When fate brings both the twins together and they start fighting, it is only their mother who can bring peace. The film was released on 7 February 1958, and became a major commercial success, with a theatrical run of over 100 days. It was also dubbed in Telugu as Veera Prathap and in Hindi as Sitamgar.

Plot

The queen of Malarpuri delivers a male child. Her brother Naganathan replaces it with a dead child, and informs king Varaguna Pandiyan that the newborn is dead. To Naganathan's surprise, the queen gives birth to another boy soon after. Minister Gunaseelar arrives by then and the king is informed of the birth of two children, one dead and one alive. Everyone is happy that at least one is alive. Naganathan decides to kill the first infant and hands it over to his servant Somappa. However, Somappa and his wife raise the prince in a forest.

The crown prince is Vikraman and his identical twin in the forest is Parthiban. On his deathbed, the king appoints Naganathan as the guardian of crown prince Vikraman, and gives the order that Naganathan would be solely responsible for Vikraman's safety. To achieve his objective of ruling the country, Naganathan brings up Vikraman with all vices and does not allow him to bond with his mother. On the other hand, Parthiban grows up to become a valiant warrior under the guidance of Somappa and fights for the public.

After the king's death, Vikraman ascends the throne and hands over administrative controls to Naganathan, who indulges in all kind of looting by levying more taxes. Parthiban comes out of forest and saves the minister's daughter Amudhavalli "Amudha", when her chariot goes out of control. They fall in love, and he starts visiting her palace late in the night. Amudha encounters Vikraman, who looks similar to Parthiban, but does not disclose this to anyone. Vikraman likes her and tells Naganathan to fix his marriage with her. Amudha does not accept when Vikraman's mother comes with the proposal.

One night, the soldiers notice Parthiban getting into the palace and they reach Amudha's room. She makes him escape by making him wear Vikraman's costume. While leaving, he meets his mother, but pretends to be Vikraman. When he is talking to her, Vikraman arrives and they scuffle. Parthiban escapes, but when he comes again to meet Amudha, he is thrown into prison.

Through the maidservant, the queen learns that Parthiban is also her son. She goes to the prison and orders his release. By then, Vikraman arrives with Naganathan, who confirms they are brothers, but states that the kingdom cannot afford to have two brothers fighting for power. Vikraman does not wish to share the kingdom and to avoid anyone recognising him, orders that Parthiban be masked and imprisoned. Parthiban has an iron mask locked on his face; its key is with Vikraman.

Amudha and Parthiban's friend Ponnan hatch a plan to rescue Parthiban. Amudha makes Vikraman insensibly drunk after a dance and takes the key. Parthiban's associates reach the prison, set him free, put the same on Vikraman's face and dump him in prison. Parthiban assumes charge of the kingdom and introduces citizen friendly policies which are welcomed by the people.

Naganathan suspects foul play. By then, Vikraman sends a message to Naganathan by writing on his dinner plate about Parthiban impersonating him. Naganathan releases Vikraman, brings him to the assembly and stops the coronation of Parthiban as king. In the fight that ensues between Naganathan's army and Parthiban's people, Naganathan dies. Parthiban and Vikraman fight despite a plea from their mother. When Vikraman loses, he escapes in a chariot wearing his mask. Parthiban tries to stop him, but he rushes away. Vikraman dies when his chariot falls off a cliff. Parthiban rules Malarpuri as a virtuous son along with Amudha and his mother.

Cast

Production

Development
In those days, it was technically very difficult to film movies which call for double roles. Though computer technology was non-existent those days, filming was very well executed. There was nothing much to my dance performance in Utthama Puthiran. I had already mentioned I was a good dancer, having been trained in the art of traditional Indian dance. The dance performance for Utthama Puthiran was different. The credit goes to the dance master, Heera Lal, who conceived the dance and choreographed it with fast steps and claps.

—Sivaji Ganesan in his autobiography.[2]

Uthama Puthiran is a remake of the same-titled 1940 Tamil film that featured P. U. Chinnappa in two distinct roles.[3][4] It also adapts from The Man in the Iron Mask, the third part of the 1847–1850 novel The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas.[5][6] The film was directed by T. Prakash Rao, and its screenplay was written by C. V. Sridhar, who co-produced the film with his partners S. Krishnamoorthy and T. Govindarajan under the banner Venus Pictures.[7] When Venus Pictures announced this film in a newspaper, the same day M. G. Ramachandran announced a film with the same title in the same paper. Ramachandran eventually scrapped his film, but persisted with his plans to make a dual role film and finally made Nadodi Mannan, and released it several months after Uthama Puthiran.[8] Cinematography was handled by A. Vincent, and the editing by N. M. Shankar.[1]

Casting

Sivaji Ganesan was chosen to portray the twin brothers Parthiban and Vikraman,[9] making this the first film to feature him in dual roles.[2] Padmini was cast as the female lead.[10] M. K. Radha was cast as the king of Malarpuri, and P. Kannamba as the queen of the same kingdom.[9] Bollywood dancer Helen was recruited to perform a dance sequence in the song "Yaaradi Nee Mohini".[11]

Filming

The song "Kaathiruppan Kamalakannan", is picturised on Padmini and her sister Ragini's characters performing a Bharatham dance.[10] Vincent recalled shooting a song sequence at Brindavan Gardens, Mysore:[12]

Padmini was standing on the first floor of the hotel and Sivaji Ganesan was at a waterfall in the garden below. To show them in the same frame I had placed the camera at a distance but in that long shot the images were not visible properly. Then I saw a French lady tourist taking snaps. I borrowed her camera, took out its lens and fitted it to the Paillard Bolex 16 mm camera that I had with me. The lens gave a zoom effect. I could now film the actors in one shot and, without cutting the shot, I also took the close-up of Padmini. Since I had taken this particular block of the song in 16 mm colour film, we sent it to the Kodak lab in London for processing and blew it to 35 mm. The technicians there were surprised at the result and asked me how I had taken the shot. We had no zoom lens in India then.

Thus, Uthama Puthiran became the first Indian film to have the shots with zoom technique.[13][14] The final length of the film measured 116,044 feet (35,370 m).[7]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by G. Ramanathan.[1] "Yaaradi Nee Mohini" is Tamil cinema's first "rock ‘n’ roll dance".[11] The song "Mullai Malar Mele" is set in the Carnatic raga known as Darbari Kanada,[15][16] while "Kaathiruppan Kamalakannan" is set in Saramati.[17]

No.SongSingersLyricsLength
1"Muthe Pavalame"R. Balasaraswathi Devi, A. P. KomalaA. Maruthakasi05:28
2"Yaaradi Nee Mohini"T. M. Soundararajan, A. P. Komala, K. Jamuna Rani, JikkiKu. Ma. Balasubramaniam07:06
3"Moolai Neranjavanga"T. M. Soundararajan, Sirkazhi GovindarajanPattukkottai Kalyanasundaram
4"Mullai Malar Mele"T. M. Soundararajan, P. SusheelaA. Maruthakasi03:22
5"Mannulagellam Ponnulagaga"Jikki, P. SusheelaKu. Ma. Balasubramaniam03:14
6"Kaathiruppan Kamalakannan"P. LeelaSundhara Vathiyar04:48
7"Kondattam Manasukulle"P. LeelaK. S. Gopalakrishnan03:55
9"Anbe Amudhey"T. M. Soundararajan, P. SusheelaA. Maruthakasi03:20
9"Unnazhagai Kanniyargal"P. SusheelaK. S. Gopalakrishnan04:45
10"Pulli Vaikkiraan"Sirkazhi Govindarajan, P. LeelaThanjai N. Ramaiah Dass02:03

Release and reception

Uthama Puthiran was released on 7 February 1958,[7] and was distributed by Ganesan's own company Sivaji Films in Madras.[18] In a review dated 16 February 1958, the magazine Ananda Vikatan praised the acting by Ganesan, the grand making, songs and the fight scenes.[19] The film became a major commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.[20] Its Telugu-dubbed version, Veera Pratap, also performed well, having grossed over ₹4 lakh (equivalent to ₹3.1 crore or US$430,000 in 2019).[21] It was also dubbed in Hindi as Sitamgar.[22] The success of Uthama Puthiran established Ganesan as a bankable star in Tamil cinema.[23]

Legacy

Uthama Puthiran was the inspiration behind Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikecei, a 2006 comedy film starring Vadivelu as the twins.[24]

References
  1. உத்தம புத்திரன் [Virtuous Son] (songbook) (in Tamil). Venus Pictures. 1958.
  2. Ganesan & Narayanaswamy 2007, p. 118.
  3. Guy, Randor (2 May 2008). "Blast from the Past: Utthama Puthiran (1940)". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  4. Pillai 2015, p. 241.
  5. Guy, Randor (17 March 2011). "A trailblazer". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 21 March 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  6. Rangarajan, Malathi (5 April 2018). "Sivaji's 'Uthama Puthiran' has a timeless appeal". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  7. Film News Anandan (2004). Sadhanaigal Padaitha Thamizh Thiraipada Varalaru [Tamil film history and its achievements] (in Tamil). Chennai: Sivagami Publishers. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018.
  8. "பிளாஷ்பேக்: நாடோடி மன்னனை உருவாக்கிய உத்தம புத்திரன்" [Nadodi Mannan was made by Uthamaputhiran]. Dinamalar (in Tamil). 6 October 2016. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  9. "அப்போ இருந்து ஆள் மாறாட்டம்தான்". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). 27 July 2013. Archived from the original on 7 August 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  10. Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (3 June 2015). "♬ P. Leela, 'Forgotten' Singer Who Sang Unforgettable Songs in Tamil Cinema ♥". DBSJeyaraj.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  11. Guy, Randor (5 January 2013). "Blast from the Past: Uthama Puthran 1958". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 7 September 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  12. Narasimham, M. L. (2 December 2012). "I worked with three Chief Ministers". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  13. Ram'nan (16–31 March 2015). "Quizzin' with Ram'nan". Madras Musings. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  14. Sankar (27 February 2015). "அஞ்சலி: ஏ.வின்சென்ட் | ஒளியில் கலந்த கலைஞன்!". The Hindu Tamil. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  15. Mani, Charulatha (8 June 2012). "A Raga's Journey – Dynamic Durbarikaanada". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  16. Sundararaman 2007, p. 144.
  17. Sundararaman 2007, p. 138.
  18. "Utthama Puthran". The Indian Express. Madras: Venus Pictures. 25 January 1958. p. 12.
  19. முனுசாமி; மாணிக்கம் (16 February 1958). "உத்தம புத்திரன்". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  20. Ganesan & Narayanaswamy 2007, p. 240.
  21. Narasimham, M. L. (24 September 2015). "Blast from the past: Illarikam (1959)". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 9 December 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  22. "Did you know?". The Times of India. 13 August 2013. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  23. Joshi & Dudrah 2016, p. 79.
  24. Rangarajan, Malathi (14 July 2006). "Messages in a light vein – Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikesi". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 3 December 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2012.

Bibliography
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