Hi all, the concept of grouping kalki's works of similar genre was quite succesful last year book fair. 3 of kalkis stories with supernatural phenomena were published last yearas " maandavar mindum varuvaro?" 2 of kalki's stories that became movies, thyagaboomi and kalvanin kathali are being published this year in one compendium. i am writing the forewords and trivia section . I would be most thankful if people could share with me some interesting info on the filming of the two novels.
Dear Venkat, I don't know much of KK movie except that my mother said it was not a good adaptation. Thyagabhoomi, we have a book at home that has pictures for every chapter, fascinating. The movie was made in 1939 financed by SS Vasan. The great tamil Tyagaraja Papanasam Sivan played Sambu Sastri, the 'hero' or protagonist and also wrote all the songs. SV Venkataraman - SV Sekar's father who did the music for Meera scored the music for this too, unfortunately none of the songs are available other than DK Pattammal's Desa Sevai Seyya Vareer. SD Subbulakshmi played the heroine or Sastry's daughter Savitri and Baby Saroja also called Shirley Temple of India played her daughter. They hired a real english woman to play Susie, the mistress of the hero.
The movie was a really bold venture, and crowds were lathi charged by the British police as they went to watch it. My grandfather was among one of the people and till he died he proudly had even the torn shirt he wore to the movie(Gaeity cinema, Chennai!) Despite it they could not control the crowds until finally British government decided to ban it altogether. Can one imagine being lathi charged for a movie nowadays in the cause of freedom?? How things have changed.
They say the film institute in Pune has a copy but nobody knows of it or has seen it otherwise. I treasure the book and would love to scan it someday.
Very interesting, both articles. The thyaga bhoomi article by Randor Guy has been published multiple times in Hindu itself. The other article has lots of insights, especially the comparison with Devan is most interesting. I dont' know if there are any Devan fans here, I remember as a teenager though I read a few pages of Gomathiyin Kadhalan and could not get through it. My mother always used to say his writing was not as interesting as Kalki's. Any more insights would be worth knowing.