Parasakthi (film)

Parasakthi
File:Parasakthi.jpg Promotional poster
Directed by	R. Krishnan S. Panju
Screenplay by	M. Karunanidhi
Produced by	P. A. Perumal Mudaliar
Starring	Sivaji Ganesan S. V. Sahasranamam S. S. Rajendran Sriranjani Jr. Pandari Bai
Cinematography	S. Maruti Rao
Music by	R. Sudarsanam Background score: Saraswathi Stores Orchestra
Release date	17 October 1952
Running time	170 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Parasakthi ([The Goddess] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) is a 1952 Indian Tamil social melodrama film directed by R. Krishnan and S. Panju, under the banner of National Pictures. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan in his debut, while Pandari Bai, Sriranjani Jr., S. S. Rajendran and S. V. Sahasranamam appear in supporting roles. It was produced by P. A. Perumal Mudaliar and funded by A. V. Meiyappan of AVM Productions, and is based on a stage drama titled Parasakthi, written by Pavalar Balasundaram. The film narrates the misfortunes that befall the members of a Tamil family during World War II, and how the members face their individual fate, and get reunited at the end.

The screenplay and dialogues for Parasakthi were written by M. Karunanidhi, who would later become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The film's soundtrack was composed by R. Sudarsanam. Parasakthi was released on 17 October 1952, during the festive occasion of Diwali, and ran into trouble because of its portrayal of Brahmins and Hindu customs and practices in poor light. The elitarian society including the then ruling State government even demanded the film to be banned. Nevertheless, the film was critically acclaimed, with critics praising its dialogues and the actors' performances in particular. The film also become a commercial success, and had a theatrical run of over 175 days. Parasakthi also acquired cult status, and later became a trendsetter for dialogues and acting in Tamil cinema.

Plot

The film begins in 1942, during World War II, when Chandrasekaran, Gnanasekaran and Gunasekaran are three Indian immigrant brothers from Madurai, Tamil Nadu living in Rangoon, Burma. Their younger sister Kalyani was raised in their home town by their father Manickampillai. Her marriage is arranged with a writer named Thangappan, and the brothers plan to visit Madurai to attend the wedding. Due to war conditions and bombardment of Burmese ports by Japan, the shipping company offers only one ticket and Gunasekaran, the youngest brother, takes it and leaves for Tamil Nadu. The ship however fails to reach on time due to the dangers of the war, and Kalyani's marriage takes place without any of her brothers attending it.

Kalyani becomes pregnant. But on the day she delivers her child, her husband and her father die, leaving her and the child destitute. Her house gets auctioned off, and she makes her living by selling food on the streets. After being stranded at sea for several months, Gunasekaran finally arrives in Tamil Nadu at Madras. However, while watching a dance performance, he is robbed of all his belongings after being intoxicated. Reduced to the status of a pauper, he becomes enraged at the status of the once glorious Tamil Nadu, and fakes insanity by indulging in numerous tricks to make a living. Gunasekaran finally comes across his destitute sister at Madurai, having learned of their father's death and her poverty. He continues to play insane and does not reveal his true identity to her, but hovers around her. Kalyani is irritated by the stranger's "insane" behavior, unaware that he is her brother.

Kalyani is nearly molested by a vagabond named Venu, but is saved by Gunasekaran. She later leaves Madurai and arrives at Tiruchi, where she gets employed as the maid of blackmarketeer Narayana Pillai, who also tries to molest her. She is however saved by his wife, and leaves the job. While searching for his sister, Gunasekaran reaches Tiruchi and comes across Vimala, a wealthy woman to who he explains the miserable status of him and his sister in the society. After resting in her house for a while, he silently leaves to continue searching for Kalyani.

Meanwhile, as Japanese shelling intensifies in Burma, Chandrasekaran and Gnanasekaran decide to return to India. Chandrasekaran reaches Tiruchi safely and becomes a judge, but Gnanasekaran is lost in the journey and loses a leg in the shelling before arriving in India. He begs for a living, forms an association for beggars and tries to reform them. Kalyani reaches Chandrasekaran's palatial house seeking food, but Chandrasekaran throws her out without recognising her. She later arrives at a temple seeking help, but the temple priest also tries to molest her. Frustrated with life and unable to feed her child, Kalyani throws it into a river and attempts suicide, but is soon arrested for killing the child and brought for trial.

At the court, Kalyani defends her act of infanticide with the judge being Chandrasekaran, who after hearing her tragic story realizes she is his sister, and faints. Gunasekaran is also brought for trial, having attacked the priest who tried to molest his sister. Gunasekaran fights a battle in the court, explaining the misfortunes which has befallen him and his family, and justifies his actions. Gunasekaran's valiant defense in court awakens everyone on the evils of the society. As the trial proceeds, Vimala arrives and produces Kalyani's child, which was revealed to have fallen in her boat instead of the river. Kalyani and Gunasekaran are pardoned and acquitted by the court, and are finally reunited with Chandrasekaran. Gnanasekaran, while collecting donations for his association of beggars, also joins them unexpectedly. With Vimala and Gunasekaran deciding to get married, the family subsequently inaugurates a welfare home for orphans.

Cast

(L-R) Sahasranamam, Ganesan and Rajendran

File:Parasakthi Sriranjani.jpg

Sriranjani Jr

File:Parasakthi Pandaribai.jpg

Pandari Bai

Male cast

• Sivaji Ganesan as Gunasekaran, the youngest of three brothers
• S. V. Sahasranamam as Chandrasekaran, the eldest of three brothers
• S. S. Rajendran as Gnanasekaran, the second of three brothers
• Duraiswamy as Manickampillai, the father of the three brothers
• T. K. Ramachandran as Venu, a local vagabond
• K. M. Nambirajan as Vellai Swamy
• Venkatraman as Thangappan, husband of Kalyani
• V. K. Ramasamy as Narayana Pillai, a blackmarketeer
• K. P. Kamatchi as the Temple Priest
• M. N. Krishnan as Kuppan
• Sakthivel as a servant
• D. V. Narayanaswamy as Thambi Durai
• V. K. Karthikeyan

Female cast

• Sriranjani Jr. as Kalyani, the sister of the three brothers
• Pandari Bai as Vimala, Gunasekaran's future wife
• Susheela as Saraswati, Chandrasekaran's wife
• Kannamma as Jolly
• Angamuthu as a Fruit seller
• T. P. Muthulakshmi as Kantha
• A. S. Jaya as Parvati

Production

"My intention was to introduce the ideas and policies of social reform and justice in the films and bring up the status of the Tamil language as they were called for in DMK policies."

– Karunanidhi, in a 1970 interview with Robert L. Hardgrave Jr.

Parasakthi was a popular Tamil play written by Pavalar Balasundaram, a Tamil scholar. Around the same time, En Thangai (My Sister), written by T. S. Natarajan, became popular. Sivaji Ganesan, at that time a struggling stage actor, acted in En Thangai as "a brother sacrificing his love for the sake of his sightless kid sister." The pre-production crew at Central Studio, Coimbatore, initially planned to merge these two plays to make a film. However, Natarajan, the author of En Thangai disagreed to the idea, and indeed sold the rights of the play to another producer. The shooting of the film En Thangai began with Tiruchi Loganathan, then a popular playback artist, playing the lead role of the sacrificing brother. However, he was eventually replaced by actor M. G. Ramachandran. Meanwhile, film distributor P. A. Perumal of National Pictures, with the patronage of A. V. Meiyappan of AVM Productions, bought film rights of Parasakthi. M. Karunanidhi was signed to write the script. Sivaji Ganesan, the stage actor of En Thangai was chosen to play the hero, making his acting debut in film. Ganesan had simultaneously shot for the film Poongothai, which was supposed to be his actual film to release first, but released much later. He had earlier dubbed for Telugu actor Mukkamala Krishnamurthi in the 1951 Tamil film Niraparadhi.

Parasakthi did not begin well for Ganesan. After 3000 feet of the film was shot, Meiyappan was dissatisfied with Ganesan's performance and suggested that he be replaced by K. R. Ramasami, then a popular actor and singer. Producer Perumal refused to have Ganesan replaced, and even considered taking the production house elsewhere. He later approached political leader C. N. Annadurai, who convinced Meiyappan to retain Ganesan in the film. Ganesan was paid a monthly salary of ₹250, which is equal to ₹11,577.45 (US$140) when adjusted for inflation. S. S. Rajendran, who was another successful stage artist, also debuted in Parasakthi after the advice of Annadurai. Actress Raja Sulochana was initially cast as the female lead, but opted out due to her pregnancy, and was eventually replaced by Telugu actress Sriranjani Jr. Pandari Bai was also added to the film, after Meiyappan was impressed with her performance in Raja Vikrama (1950). Poet Kannadasan declined the offer to be one of the film's lyricists, and instead acted in a minor role as a court judge, as he was "determined to take part in the Parasakthi movie". The cinematography was handled by S. Maruti Rao, while the songs were choreographed by Heeralal. The dialogues of the film, written by Karunanidhi, critically examined the social issues of the time and holds an important part in the Dravidian Movement. The film's climax song Ellorum Vazha Vendum featured stock footage of the political leaders Rajaji, Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, Bhakthavatchalam, Annadurai, and Karunanidhi.

Themes

The poem featured at the beginning of the film and written by Bharathidasan, in keeping with the early DMK's demands of seeing a sovereign Dravidian nation, was meant to celebrate the greatness of the Dravidian nation by speaking of its Utopian nature, followed by a long monologue that laments and grieves at the nation's despairing reality. The film deploys Kalyani's so-called inauspicious and unprotected state as a widow and the consequent threats to her Chasity as a sign for the current Dravidian nation. Revealingly, the name Kalyani is chosen by the script writer to emphasize the contradiction between her auspicious name and her present state. Gunasekaran, in the course of his arguments in the court despairs, "[My] sister's name is Kalyani. An auspicious name [indeed]. But there is no 'mangalyam' around [her] neck".

The film also presents powerful images to underscore Kalyani's unfortunate status. For instance, after she leaves Madurai to escape the sexual advances of vagabond Venu, in a powerful sequence, she is shown with her child, dwarfed against a huge barren tree with a cactus plant in the background. The camera lingers on. The barren tree, the tabooed cactus and the haunting loneliness all around accentuate and effectively communicate her deplorable status to the audience. Similarly, when she leaves Narayana Pillai's house, a lonely Kalyani burdened with her child, is shown to be walking drearily surrounded by fallen dry leaves - as if life has ceased to exist. In fact, references to Kalyani's Chasity and the ever-present threats to it is repeated in the film, especially during the sequences of Kalyani's and Gunasekaran's court trials. Also, Vimala, who becomes Gunasekaran's bride, compares herself to Kannagi, a popular signifier of Chasity in Tamil culture. If threats to Kalyani's chasity acts as a trope for the current state of Dravidian nation, Gunasekaran's constant vigil to help Kalyani from this threat stands undoubtedly for the DMK's promise of a glorious 'Dravidanadu'. Sivaji Ganesan, who enacted the role of Gunasekaran in Parasakthi, was in 1952 still a DMK activist in real life.

Secondly, the film in portraying the tragic course of events that marks Kalyani's life, exposes the fraud in the name of religion and even the futility of religion itself in certain sense. Equally important, the film succeeds in importing into the narrative a powerful critique of the Congress rule in the Madras Presidency. Parasakthi was indeed an explicit DMK film.

Music

The music of Parasakthi was composed by R. Sudarsanam and the lyrics were written by Kannadasan, Bharathidasan, T. N. Ramaiah Nadu, Bharathiyar, Karunanidhi, and Udumalai Narayana Kavi. The background score was composed by the Chennai-based Saraswathi Stores Orchestra. Relatively higher importance was given to the film's dialogues over its music, therefore the dialogues were printed and sold separately like film song books. Parasakthi established this trend, which was eventually followed by later Tamil films. The track O Rasikkum Seemane is said to have inspired the song Itai Tazhukikkolla from the film Periyar. The 2010 film Rasikkum Seemane borrows its title from the song of the same name.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singers	Length
1.	"Desam Gnanam Kalvi"		C. S. Jayaraman	3:26
2.	"Kaa Kaa Kaa"		C. S. Jayaraman	3:00
3.	"Nenju Porkku Thillaiye"	Bharathiyar	C. S. Jayaraman	4:50
4.	"Ill Vaazhviniley"		T. S. Bhagavathi, M. H. Hussain	2:07
5.	"Puthu Pennin"	T. N. Ramaiah Nadu	M. S. Rajeswari	4:23
6.	"Oh Rasikkum Seemane"	Kannadasan	M. S. Rajeswari	1:44
7.	"Ellorum"	Bharathidasan	T. S. Bhagavathi, M. L. Vasanthakumari	1:35
8.	"Konju Mozhi"	Bharathidasan	T. S. Bhagavathi	3:03
9.	"Poomaalai"	Karunanidhi	T. S. Bhagavathi	3:01
10.	"Porule Illaarkku"	M. Karunanidhi	T. S. Bhagavathi	3:37
11.	"Vaazhga Vaazhgave"	Bharathidasan	M. L. Vasanthakumari	5:00

Reception and legacy

Sivaji Ganesan in Parasakthi's iconic court scene

Parasakthi was released on 17 October 1952, on Diwali day. Regarded as the first significant attempt by the Dravidian Movement to use media for propaganda, the film catapulted Ganesan to fame overnight and evoked comparisons with Hollywood actor Spencer Tracy. Ganesan's performance in the film's court scene was also very well received by audience, and was considered to have propelled him to stardom. The film took a very big opening and became an instant commercial success. It ran for over 175 days in several theatres, including the Madurai-based Thangam theatre, which was noted as Asia's largest theatre at the time, and Parasakthi was among the first films to be screened there.

Parasakthi changed the character of Tamil cinema. Dialogue writing was given more importance than ever before. Speeches of the film replaced traditional music of artists like M. S. Subbulakshmi, K. B. Sundarambal and others at festivities. The film also had its share in giving the DMK the necessary stimulus to overthrow the Congress party in Tamil Nadu. The dialogues became so popular that "roadside entertainers used to recite long passages from the film in market area of Madras and collect money from bystanders", and memorising the film's dialogues became "a must for aspirant political orators". They were even released separately on gramaphone records. Ganesan's first dialogue in the film "Success" also became very popular, and a same-titled film starring his grandson Dushyant was released in 2003 to negative reception.

In celebration of the film's 50th year, Ganesan's autobiography titled Sivaji Ganesan: Autobiography of An Actor was released on 1 October 2002 in Tamil, exactly a year after the actor's death in 2001. The English version was released exactly five years later in 2007. Parasakthi is included with other Sivaji Ganesan-starrers in 8 Ulaga Adhisayam Sivaji, a compilation DVD featuring Ganesan's "iconic performances in the form of scenes, songs and stunts" which was released in May 2012. During the film's "diamond jubilee" year celebrations in January 2013, K. Chandrasekaran, the president of Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Social Welfare Association said, "Six decades down the line 'Parasakthi' is remembered because it is not just a film, but an epic".

Critical response

Reviews for Parasakthi have been mostly positive. P. Balasubramania Mudaliar of Sunday Observer wrote, "The story is simple but it has been made powerful by Mr. Karunanidhi by his beautiful dialogues. Mr. Shivaji Ganesan, who plays the main role dominates from the beginning to the end" and concluded, "If an Academy award were to be given to any picture, I have little doubt that this picture would be entitled on its merits to such an award." Film historian Randor Guy said, "1952 ... an eventful year for Tamil cinema, the beginning of a new period" and added that "The film that ushered in that new era was Parasakthi written for the screen by another fast-rising star Mu. Karunanidhi", while concluding that the film would be "Remembered for the dialogue and the stunning performance of the new hero." In an interview with Shobha Warrier of Rediff, Tamil film historian S. Theodore Baskaran said, "Sivaji's best and most memorable films are his early ones" and mentioned that Ganesan was "very lucky to get a role in Parasakthi", which he praised for the "flowery dialogues."

Entertainment portal IndiaGlitz said, "One can never forget the impeccable and revolutionary dialogues from Parasakthi. Former chief minister M. Karunanidhi's power packed dialogues and Shivaji Ganesan's master class acting made this movie a unforgettable watch." Behindwoods.com praised the film for the "fiery dialogues, talented direction, and terrific acting by the cast". Film historian S. Muthiah, in his book Madras Miscellany said that Parasakthi "showed Karunanidhi as the master of meaningful screen dialogue that carried forceful messages to the masses". The Sunday Indian called it "a classic DMK film scripted by M Karunanidhi". In a 2007 interview with S. R. Ashok Kumar of The Hindu, director Balu Mahendra said, "'Parasakthi's' heavy dialogue (written in chaste Tamil by the current Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi) coupled with a stunning performance by newcomer, Sivaji Ganesan, make it a favourite." Film historian "Film News" Anandan called it "one of the most elaborately plotted melodramas in the Indian cinema". In August 2012, South Indian entertainment magazine Galatta Cinema said, "The impact of the film can be felt even after 60 years among the film loving audience, who fondly remember its dialogues, acting and songs", and called the film a "must watch."

Controversies

Post release, Parasakthi was marred by numerous controversies, and was defined as "one of the most controversial films in the history of Tamil cinema" by film historian Theodore Baskaran. It was accused of trying to portray Brahmins in poor light. Abuse of Hindu customs and religious practices evoked strong protests from the Hindu orthodoxy. Scenes like a priest attempting to rape a woman in a temple were found to be very provocative. The social elite and members of the then ruling Congress party demanded the film to be banned. The Chief Minister of Madras, Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari was unhappy with the extremely provocative nature of the film, but allowed it to be screened. One of the reasons stated by them was the dialogue spoken by Ganesan's character, "Just because you came around chanting names and offered flowers to the stone, would it become a god?", which was accused of "mocking the audiences." His reference to Goddess Parasakthi as a stone created a stir, and the word "stone" was eventually censored from the soundtrack. However, the given message was still "clear and the impact viral." The State Government requested the Union Government to reconsider the film certification, but they declined, due to a previous examination by a Madras intelligence officer, who stated:

The dialogues for the film have been specially written in a forceful manner by Sri M Karunanidhi, the well known leader of the Dravidian Progression Federation ... The film graphically describes the sufferings and hardships that a young widow with her babe in arms has to face due to poverty and how cruelly society treats her, or illtreats her. The substance of the story by itself is not objectionable. The plot is interesting and the story has a powerful moral appeal, namely that there will be ups and downs in a man's life and that chastity is the most precious jewel of womanhood.

— A Madras intelligence officer, who reviewed the film

Further reading

• M. S. S. Pandian (1991). "Parasakthi: Life and Times of a DMK Film". Economic and Political Weekly. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Randor Guy (April 23, 2011). "Parasakthi 1952". The Hindu.
• R. Kannan (2010). Anna : The Life and Times of C.N. Annadurai. Penguin Books India. ISBN 978-0-670-08328-2.

See also

• Portrayal of Tamil Brahmins in popular media

External links

• Parasakthi at IMDb
• Parasakthi at Upperstall.com