Summary: The first Tamil sound feature, made by the
director of
Bhakta Prahlada (1931), was
released in Madras on 31 October 1931, but
shot in Bombay like most Tamil films between
1931 and '34. It tells the familiar tale of Kalidas,
the legendary 3rd-C. Sanskrit poet and
playwright. A minister at the court of King
Vijayavarman of Thejavathi wants Princess
Vidhyadhari (Rajalakshmi) to marry his son.
She refuses and the minister tricks her into
marrying a cowhand. The duped princess
invokes the help of Kali, who appears to the
couple and endows the cowhand with literary
talent, allowing him to become Kalidas
(Venkatesan). Although mostly in Tamil,
including its 50 or so songs, some characters,
incl. the male lead, spoke in Telugu, to
accommodate actors from Surabhl Theatres,
and in Urdu. The use of Telugu is partially in
the context of its classical proximity to Sanskrit,
as well as the later domestication of the Kalidas
tradition (in the 1966 version Mahakavi
Kalidas he was presented as belonging to the
local Konar caste). RajaIakshmi sang some
numbers she had made popular on the stage as
well as two nationalist songs unconnected with
the plot, linking the film to the Civil
Disobedience Movement of the period: one
song called for national unity, the other was in
praise of the spinning wheel. The film was
released with what is probably the first Tamil
sound film, a four-reel short called Korathi
Dance and Song, starring Rajalakshmi with the
gypsy dancer Jhansi Bai.
