Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum (1956 film)

For the 1941 film, see Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum (1941 film).

Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum
File:Alibabavum 40 thirudargalum poster.jpg Promotional poster
Directed by	T. R. Sundaram
Produced by	T. R. Sundaram
Starring	M. G. Ramachandran P. Bhanumathi P. S. Veerappa K. A. Thangavelu M. G. Chakrapani
Music by	S. Dakshinamurthy
Distributed by	Modern Theatres
Release date	14 January 1956 (1956-01-14)
Running time	149 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum (English: Alibaba and 40 Thieves), also spelt as Alibabavum Narpadhu Thirudargalum, is a 1956 Indian Tamil swashbuckling-adventure film directed and produced by T. R. Sundaram. The film stars M. G. Ramachandran and P. Bhanumathi in the lead roles, while P. S. Veerappa, K. A. Thangavelu and M. G. Chakrapani play supporting roles. It is notably the first colour film made in Tamil language. The film tells the story of a poor woodcutter, whose fortune changes when he learns about a secret cave full of treasures, but he must keep his source of wealth as a secret, in order to lead a peaceful life.

Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum was released on 14 January 1956, coinciding with Pongal Day. A remake of the 1954 Hindi film Alibaba aur 40 Chor, the film which was also based on the popular story Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from the 1001 Arabian Nights, became an instant success at the box office. It was later remade in Telugu as Alibaba 40 Dongalu, which also became successful.

Plot

The film opens with Marziana (Bhanumathi) dancing and singing in the public square of Baghdad, her faithful aide Dhowlat (K. Sarangapani) playing the dholak. Marziana is an orphan and sings and dances on the streets to earn a living. As the song ends, the tyrant Sher Khan, commander of the unpopular ruler Amir Kasim Khan (M. G. Chakrapani) tries to force Marziana to come with him to be inducted into the king’s harem, but she resists him with all her might. She is rescued by Ali Baba (MGR), who fights with Sher Khan and vanquishes him. Marziana and Dowlat find refuge in Alibaba’s house. Alibaba is a poor woodcutter and lives with his sister Ayisha (Susheela) and servant Bulbul (M. N. Rajam). Marziana learns that they are the siblings of the king, who had driven them out at the instigation of his cruel wife Salima (Vidyavati). Marziana and Alibaba find themselves falling in love.

One day, when Alibaba goes to cut wood as usual, he happens to notice the leader of 40 thieves opening a mysterious cave just by saying "Andha ka kasam, Abu ka hukum, Thirandidu Sesame". After the thieves leave, Alibaba secretly enters the cave after memorizing the pass code. He is astounded to see many treasures found in the cave. He slowly collects some of them and brings them home. Seeing the fabulous wealth that Alibaba has brought home from the hideout of the robbers, Marziana is seized by sudden insecurity and doubt. She suspects that this sudden affluence would change Alibaba and he would not remain loyal to her anymore, though she reconciles with with him later. Both Alibaba and Marziana use the newly found wealth to serve the poor people around Baghdad.

Amir Kasim wallows in jealousy when he hears of the sudden fortune of Alibaba, and is determined to ferret out the source of Alibaba’s riches. Under Salima’s guidance, he invites Alibaba and his household for a feast. Cunningly obtaining the secret of the robbers’ cave from Alibaba, he then orders Alibaba’s arrest, accusing him falsely of attempted murder. The ever-resourceful Marziana pretends to hail Kasim’s order. She declares that Alibaba had been unfaithful to her and he deserved this retribution. And taking a knife, she sings this song, acting as though she means to kill Alibaba. But as she nears Alibaba at the end of the song, in a swift movement of the knife she cuts the ropes that bind his hands. Alibaba is free and after a thrilling sword fight in which he is naturally the victor, they make good their escape.

Kassim, having memorized the secret message to enter the cave, he goes there and in great greed, starts collecting many treasures. Shortly, he forgets the message, and is left trapped. The thieves come, and kill Kassim for entering their secret cave. Alibaba visits the cave, and is shocked to see his brother dead. He takes away Kassim's body and after the latter's death is publicly announced, Alibaba is declared the king of Baghdad. The entire city rejoices, as Alibaba is known for his noble qualities. Marziana greets him with a song in praise. Meanwhile, the 40 thieves return to their cave and see that Kassim's body is missing. Realizing that someone else has entered their cave, the thieves start their search for the mystery person.

From the cobbler Gulam’s (Thangavelu) assertion that the woodcutter Alibaba had become wealthy overnight, the leader of the thieves Abu Hussain (P.S. Veerappa) guesses that it is Alibaba who has discovered the secret of his cave. However, he kills the cobbler after finding out the secret. Having his men hidden inside barrels, Abu Hussain comes to Alibaba’s house disguised as an oil merchant seeking shelter for the night. By happenstance Marziana notices Abu Hussain whispering to his man hidden in the barrels and realizes his true identity. Dancing at a banquet that Alibaba hosts in honour of the guest, Marziana sings this song even as per prior arrangement each time she sounds the gong while dancing, Dowlat and Bulbul roll the barrels one by one into the swirling waters.

Abu Hussain calls his men who were hiding in the barrels, but when they don't come, Marziana reveals that she overheard his conversation with them and eventually had them killed. She reveals that Abu Hussain is present and he also accepts it. This leads to a fight between him and Alibaba, which results in Abu Hussain kidnapping Marziana and fleeing to the secret cave. Alibaba chases him and reaches the cave, where he kills Abu Hussain after an intense battle. After Alibaba rescues Marziana, they both get married and continue to serve the poor people.

Cast

• M. G. Ramachandran as Ali Baba. A poor man who cuts wood for a living. His life changes after he overhears the secret pass code to a cave full of treasures, owned by the leader of 40 notorious thieves. Entering the cave secretly, he takes some of thr treasures and becomes wealthy overnight.

• P. Bhanumathi as Marziana. Once a very wealthy woman, she is soon reduced to dancing on the streets to earn a living. After being rescued by woodcutter Alibaba from a public brawl, she falls for him and he also lets her stay with him.

• P. S. Veerappa as Abu Hussain. The ruthless leader of 40 dacoits, he also owns a mysterious cave which contains various treasures. The cave, which has an entry message known only to him, he is later unaware that someone else (Alibaba) also knows the message and has looted the cave.

• K. A. Thangavelu as Gulam, a cobbler. When the thieves find out that their cave has been accessed by someone else, they come across Gulam who tells them it is Alibaba, having witnessed the woodcutter turn wealthy overnight.

• M. G. Chakrapani as Amir Kassim Khan, the infamous elder brother of Alibaba. In spite of being wealthy, he is still greedy and after finding out about Alibaba's wealth, forces him to reveal the secret. After entering the cave, he forgets the password, and is left trapped till the thieves kill him.

• K. Sarangapani as Dowlath. He is Marziana's sidekick who plays the dholak whenever she dances.

• M. N. Rajam as Bulbul
• Vidhyavathi as Salima
• P. Susheela as Ayisha
• Waheeda Rehman as Court-dancer

Production

Development

The Hindi film Alibaba aur 40 Chor was running successfully in Tamil Nadu in 1954. T. R. Sundaram, the owner of the Modern Theatres studio had purchased the screenplay and rights to remake the film in Tamil as Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum. A. J. Dominic was signed as the film's art director, while W. R. Subba Rao and A. L. Narayanan were in charge of the cinematography and dialogues respectively. There was an earlier version of this film under the same title, which released in 1941, starring N. S. Krishnan and T. A. Mathuram.

Casting

M.G. Ramachandran was cast in the role of Ali Baba, and P.S. Veerappa as the antagonist. Actress Padmini was initially given the role of the female lead Marziana, but she was subsequently replaced by P. Bhanumathi. MGR's elder brother M. G. Chakrapani was cast in the role of Alibaba's elder brother Kassim. Waheeda Rehman, who would later become a leading actress in Hindi cinema, made her debut in this film as a dancer. T. R. Sundaram had used her for the club music number Salam Babu Salam Babu ennai parunga, a practice which became common in most Tamil films since then.

Filming

Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum was shot entirely on indoor sets, with the exception of a few riding sequences. Though the film featured incongruities like Alibaba's wife Marziana referring to Yama, the Hindu god of death, the costumes worn by the characters were middle-eastern. For changes of scenes, irises and wipes were used. The film was colorized using Gevacolor, making it the first Tamil film to be released in color.

The scenes involving horses were were shot at Mysore for 10 days, the horses used belonged to the Mysore Reserve Police. The cavernous hideout of the fictional thieves was created at two locations - the outside cave shots with the horses were taken at Mysore, while the inside scenes at the set were taken at Yercaud near Salem. Director T. R. Sundaram brought 20 horses from Mysore for the shoot at Yercaud.

When only a song and a fight sequence were left to be finished, MGR was unable to attend the shoot. Those portions were eventually shot with a body double. Three days later when MGR returned, he was "amazed" to see how the scenes were shot. In one particular scene, MGR objected to the dialogue where he had to "swear in the name of Allah", as he was then associated with the rationalist DMK party. He suggested that the dialogue be changed to swearing "in the name of my mother", but was finally forced to use the original dialogue. Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum eventually became MGR's last work with Modern Theatres.

Differences

Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum is different from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in some ways:

• The character Morgiana is known as Marziana in this film. She is also depicted as a once rich girl who turned slave, though she was always a slave in the original story.
• She marries Alibaba at the end of the film, although Alibaba was already married in the original story, where Morgiana married his son.
• In the original story when Morgiana overhears the conversation between the thieves and their leader, she kills the thieves by pouring hot oil in each of the barrels containing them. In this film, she however gives the job to her aide who tosses the barrels into the river.
• In the original story, it is Morgiana who suddenly kills the thief leader, later disclosing his true identity. In the film, Alibaba himself finds out the truth after Morgiana fails to kill the thief, leading to a fight between Alibaba and him.

Soundtrack

Untitled

The film's original soundtrack was composed by S. Dakshinamurthy, while the lyrics were penned by A. Maruthakasi. A large number of the tracks were re-used from the original film Alibaba aur 40 Chor. The soundtrack played a key role in the success of the film. The song Ullasa Ulagam was later remixed by Pravin Mani and Vidyasagar in the 2008 film Jayam Kondaan.

Tracklist

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Masila Unmai Kathale"	A. M. Rajah, P. Bhanumathi	3:04
2.	"Chinnanjiru Chitte"	S. C. Krishnan, Jikki	2:53
3.	"Azhagaana Ponnu Naan"	P. Bhanumathi	3:04
4.	"Naama Aaduvathum"	Swarnalatha, K. Jamuna Rani	3:34
5.	"Unnaivida Maattaen"	P. Bhanumathi	2:40
6.	"Ullaasa Ulagam"	Ghantasala	2:47
7.	"Salaam Baabu"	Jikki	4:19
8.	"Anbinaale Aalavandha"	P. Bhanumathi	3:25
9.	"En Aattamellaam"	P. Bhanumathi	3:56

Critical response

The May 2012 issue of the South Indian cinema magazine Galatta wrote that the film's "success was buoyed by the super hit songs 'Azhagaana Ponnu Naan, athuketha kannu than...', [....] and 'En nattamellam oru vettaiyile thane...', which remain evergreen today."

Release

During the filming of Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum, another producer announced a film with the same script and his plan to release it before Sundaram's version. However, Sundaram "worked hard" to see that his film released earlier, and achieved the same. Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum was released on 14 January 1956, coinciding with Pongal day.

Reception

Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum was very successful during its theatrical run, and is considered a "landmark" in MGR's acting career. Tamil film historian S. Theodore Baskaran wrote in his book The Eye of the Serpent, "The film's cast of M.G. Ramachandran as the swash-buckling Alibaba, Bhanumathi as the singing-heroine — two of the most popular artistes of the fifties — and Thangavelu as the comedian was the main factor contributing to it's huge success. The screen villain of the fifties, P.S. Veerappa's portrayal of the heartless Abu Hussain was memorable".

The May 2012 issue of the Galatta Magazine labelled the film as "one of the finest action packed entertainers with fantastic songs and dances". The critic further mentioned "Though MGR scored through his heroics, Bhanumathi also played an equally important role and exhibited her histrionics in several scenes. Her intelligence and presence of mind were exhibited in several scenes, including the last scene where kills all the thieves during her dance and teases Abu Hussain back in his own style", while concluding that "The film belongs to both MGR and Bhanumathi".

Box office

Due to the hype of being the first color film in Tamil cinema, Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum became a huge box-office success and successfully ran for over 100 days theatrically. According to one report, the film's "success was largely contributed by a lively screenplay, massive sets never seen before, excellent fight scenes, interesting comedy scenes and evergreen songs ably supported by the lovely pair MGR and Bhanumathi".

External links

• Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum at IMDb