Ponmudi is a 1950 Tamil film

Tamil cinema

Tamil cinema is the film industry based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, dedicated to the production of films in the Tamil language. It is based in Chennai's Kodambakkam district, where several South Indian film production companies are headquartered...

 directed by Ellis R. Dungan. It was based on the Tamil rationalist poet Bharathidasan

Bharathidasan

Bharathidasan was a twentieth century Tamil poet and rationalist whose literary works handled mostly socio-political issues. His writings served as a catalyst for the growth of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu...

's Verse novel

Verse novel

A verse novel is a type of narrative poetry in which a novel-length narrative is told through the medium of poetry rather than prose. Either simple or complex stanzaic verse-forms may be used, but there will usually be a large cast, multiple voices, dialogue, narration, description, and action in a...

 Ethirparatha Mutham.

Production

Producer T. R. Sundaram of Modern Theatres

Modern Theatres

Modern Theaters Ltd was a motion picture movie studio in Salem, Tamil Nadu, India, started by Thiruchengodu Ramalingam Sundaram in 1935. The studio produced over more than 150 movies until 1982 in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Sinhalese and even English of which Tamil movies were the...

 wanted to make a film based on Edhirparatha Mutham (lit. Unexpected Kiss) - a novel written by the Tamil rationalist poet Bharatidasan. Ellis Dungan was hired to direct Bharathidasan's script. The film was made at the Modern Theatres studio in Salem. Some scenes were also filmed in Yercaud. For shooting beach scenes, Dungan had a beach set constructed in Salem, out of sand brought from Adyar beach. Music was composed by G. Ramanathan and lyrics were written by Marudhakasi-Ka. Mu. Sheriff. Most of the songs were copied from popular Hindi movie tunes. P. V. Narasimha Bharathi and Madhuri Devi were cast in the lead roles and M. G. Chakrapani as the villain. The film had intimate love sequences which were unusual in the (then) conservative Tamil film industry.

Cast and crew

• P. V. Narasimha Bharathi
• Madhuri Devi
• R. Balasubramaniam
• T. P. Muthulakshmi
• M. G. Chakrapani
• A. Karunanidhi
• Kali N. Ratnam
• Dhanalakshmi
• Saraswathi
• Ellis R. Dungan - Director, Editor
• Bharatidasan - Story, Screenplay and Dialogue
• G. Ramanathan
  G. Ramanathan
  G. Ramanatha Iyer was a famous Music Composer for Tamil Movies. He is also known as 'Isai Methai' or 'Sangeetha Chakravarthy' and considered to be one of the influential Tamil Music composers to take Carnatic Music to the masses. Notable for his association with M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar...
  
   - Music
• J. G. Vijayam - Cinematographer
• Marudhakasi - Lyrics
• Ka. Mu. Sheriff - Lyrics
• K. K. Sinha - Choreographer
• R. T. Krishnamurthy - Choreographer

Reception

Ponmudi was released on Pongal day (14 January) 1950. It was a commercial failure as its intimate scenes shocked the Tamil audience. The film was criticized in the press for being "vulgar" and Dungan was accused of "corrupting the population with American ways".J. G. Vijayam's cinematography was acclaimed and won him an award.

Soundtrack

Partial list of songs from Ponmudi :

• Neela vanum nilavum pol - G. Ramanathan
  G. Ramanathan
  G. Ramanatha Iyer was a famous Music Composer for Tamil Movies. He is also known as 'Isai Methai' or 'Sangeetha Chakravarthy' and considered to be one of the influential Tamil Music composers to take Carnatic Music to the masses. Notable for his association with M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar...
  
   and T.V.Rathinam
• Van mazhaiyindri vadidum payir pola

External links