Ratha Kanneer

Ratha Kanneer இரத்தக் கண்ணீர்
Directed by	Krishnan-Panju
Produced by	Perumal Mudaliyar National Pictures
Written by	Tiruvarur K. Thangaraj
Starring	M. R. Radha S. S. Rajendran M. N. Rajam Sriranjani J. P. Chandrababu S. R. Janaki
Music by	C. S. Jayaraman
Release dates	November 6, 1954
Language	Tamil

Ratha Kanneer (Tamil: இரத்தக் கண்ணீர்; English: Tears of Blood) is a 1954 Tamil drama film directed by R. Krishnan and S. Panju. The screenplay was written by Tiruvarur K. Thangaraj, and the film features M. R. Radha in the lead role. The film was produced by Perumal Mudaliar of National Pictures. The story revolves around Mohanasundaram, a returned-from-abroad, westernized, rich man who shows arrogance and contempt towards anything part of Indian culture and anyone below his social standards.

The film was an adaptation of stage play of same name which also starred MR Radha. The film was released in November 6, 1964 .This film was the greatest hit in M. R. Radha's career. It was later remade as Raktha Kanneeru in 2003 in Kannada language starring Upendra and Ramya Krishna in the lead roles.

Plot

The film starts with Balu (S. S. Rajendran) giving a speech and narrating the story before an audience gathered around a man's statue.

Mohanasundaram (M. R. Radha) is a philanderer, chain-smoker and drunkard. He does not respect elders, or people below his social standards. He is ruthless and even beats his own mother (S. R. Janaki). Immediately after his return to India, he is married to Chandra (Sriranjani), a cultured, well-mannered, conservative Indian village girl. But he develops an affair with Kantha (M. N. Rajam), a prostitute. His best friend Balu tries to advise him and mend his ways but Mohan turns a deaf ear. Mohan even failed to attend his own mother's post-death formalities as he wanted to attend the birthday function of Kantha's mother. Mohan loses his mind over Kantha, even surrenders all his riches to her and also loses every loved one in his life. When he lost the last of his riches and close ones, he gets struck down by leprosy. His life then turns upside down. With no money left for the treatment of his disease, he is totally ignored and despised by Kantha and her associates. She even locks him up in a room and treats him like an untouchable. In a few days, Kantha throws him out of her house and Mohan loses his eyesight soon after. As a poor leper, he wanders the streets to beg for food. In this last stage of his life, he learns the value of life itself and how to respect others. He feels remorseful for the way he treated his wife, mother and everyone else around him. He meets Chandra, his wife, who now lives a scarce life. Both do not recognize each other, as he is blind and she gets to see only his disfigured, leprosy-stricken face. He also meets his old best friend, Balu. The trio finally recognize each other. Mohan also learns through Balu about Kantha's death in an air crash. Mohan marries Chandra to Balu, in the hope that the still-virgin Chandra can now only be loved and cared for by a better man than Mohan himself. He also speaks his parting words and requests a leper's statue to be risen in his likeness, as a threatening example to philanderers like himself.

In the final scene, Balu finishes his narration in front of Mohan's statue (as seen in the beginning) and breaks into a song about righteousness and values of life.

Cast

• M. R. Radha as Mohanasundaram
• S. S. Rajendran as Balu
• M. N. Rajam as Kantha
• J. P. Chandrababu as The pimp
• Sriranjani as Chandra
• S. R. Janaki as Mohanasundaram's mother

Production

Ratha Kanneer was a stage play written by Thiruvarur K. Thangarasu, a disciple of Periyar and contemporary of Mu. Karunanidhi.^[1] M. R. Radha portrayed the main character of philanderer in the play. Radha’s play was a roaring success wherever it was staged, elevating him to an iconic status in the field of theatre. The play was staged not only in south India but also in places like Malaya (now Singapore and Malaysia), Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where it met with equal success.^[2][1] Director duo Krishnan Panju who saw the play decided to adapt the play into a full fledged feature film with Radha reprising the character. The film was produced by National Pictures, which earlier produced the classic Parasakthi (1952).^[1]

M. N. Rajam was selected to portray the character Kantha. For the character, Rajam had to put weight.^[3] Rajam recalled none of the actresses were willing to portray the negative character, she agreed to play after she was approached by Krishnan-Panju. Rajam said she was hesitant to enact the scene where she had to kick Radha down from the staircase, she later relented after being requested by Krishnan.^[4]

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by C. S. Jayaraman while lyrics were written by Mahakavi Bharathiyaar, Bharathidasan, Udumalai Narayana Kavi and Ku. Sa. Krishnamurthy. The songs "Kutram Purindhavan" and "Aalai aalai" were popular songs.^[2] Aalai aalai paarkirar, was a straight lift of song "Jhumhe Jhumhe" from the 1952 film Poonam.^[1]

Adaptations and remakes

The play inspired an adaptation in Telugu by the Telugu film star C. Nagabhushanam, and later the Tamil film was dubbed into Telugu.^[2] After MR Radha's death, his eldest son, M.R.R. Vasu, played the protagonist in the play till his death, and at present donning the character is Radha Ravi.^[5] Kannada actor Upendra who saw the film and adapted the film in Kannada for the current trend, he appeared in a lead role. The remake titled Raktha Kanneeru was directed by Sadhu Kokila. The film was released in 2003 and became successful venture.^[6]

Legacy

After the success of the film, Radha became a much sought-after artiste in Tamil cinema.^[1] In July 2007, S. R. Ashok Kumar of The Hindu asked eight Tamil film directors to list their all-time favourite Tamil films; J. Mahendran and Balu Mahendra named Rathakanneer as one of the favourite films in Tamil. Mahendran said: "Ratha Kaneer, has progressive ideas and great acting by M.R.Radha".^[7] In September 2014, Vijay Sethupathi, in an interview with Sudhir Srinivasan of The Hindu, listed Ratha Kanneer among his favourite films alongside Thillana Mohanambal (1968), Puthiya Paravai (1964) and Rajapart Rangadurai (1973).^[8] Lyricist Vairamuthu listed Rathakanneer among his favourite films.^[9] On November 2008, Srikanth listed it among favourite films.^[10]

References

External links

• Ratha Kanneer at the Internet Movie Database