Summary: The Tamil debut of Bombay-based producers making cheaper versions of Wadia Movietone stunt films such as C. Parekh’s
Jungle Ka Jawan (1938) or Amarnath’s
Chashmawali (1939). Left fatherless and swindled by a nasty uncle, young Mohini (Anglo-Indian actress Rukmini) and her servant (Coco, aka Pasubulti Ramulu Naidu, a circus artiste turned comedian) come across the injured dacoit Minnalkodi. When he dies, Mohini takes on his identity and becomes a feared Robin Hood-type figure pursued by Inspector Jayakumar (Srinivasa Rao) who falls in love with her, reforms and marries her. The accent is on Mohini imitating Fearless Nadia as a dacoit: fighting, riding horses and, unusually for the genre, motorcycles. Rukmini models herself on the Hindi cinema’s Gohar, even draping her sari in the Gujarati style.
