Nadodi Mannan

After the release of Naam (1953),[6] M. G. Ramachandran and his brother M. G. Chakrapani, who were its co-producers and shareholders,[7] were keen to make a film under their own production banner.[3] Hence, they established Em.Gee.Yar Productions and hired M. Karunanidhi to draft a script for their company's debut film titled Vidivelli. The film was shelved after Karunanidhi was imprisoned for participating in the Kallakudi demonstration in July 1953.[3][8] Ramachandran and Chakrapani then dissolved Em.Gee.Yar Productions and established the Em.Gee.Yar drama troupe instead, but the idea of producing a film was still on Ramachandran's mind.[3]

Ramachandran had dreamt of making his own film ever since he attended a screening of Frank Lloyd's historical drama, If I Were King (1938) starring Ronald Colman, in Calcutta.[9] This occurred while he was playing a minor role in Maya Machhindra (1939).[3] He wished to make a film that would express his political views and interests to the people of Tamil Nadu. To this end, he assembled a team of three people: R. M. Veerappan, V. Lakshmanan and S. K. T. Sami.[10][11] He gave them suggestions about the outline of the story and urged them to watch If I Were King and two other films: The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), another Colman film, and Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata! (1952).[12] After several brainstorming sessions, the team came up with a story loosely based on the three films and decided on the title Nadodi Mannan.[10][11] The trio then helped make it look more Indian.[11]

Nadodi Mannan was produced on a budget of ₹1.8 million,[lower-alpha 3] which was considered approximately two-and-a-half times more expensive than the average Tamil film made at the time. Nearly a year was spent on pre-production and casting.[3] K. Ramnoth was appointed initially to direct the film, but died before production began resulting in Ramachandran taking over the position himself, thereby making his directorial debut.[3][14] This was the second film produced by Ramachandran, and the first under the production banner of Em.Gee.Yar Pictures, which was handled by Ramachandran, Chakrapani and Veerappan.[15][16] Kannadasan and Ravindar, who assisted Veerappan, Lakshmanan and Sami with the story, wrote the dialogues.[3][17] The screenplay was written by the trio of C. Kuppusami, K. Srinivasan and P. Neelakantan.[17] G. K. Ramu, K. Nageswar Rao and R. N. Nagaraja Rao were in charge of cinematography, art direction and stills.[17] K. P. Ramakrishnan and Arunachalam acted as stunt doubles for Ramachandran.[18][19]

Film historian Film News Anandan noticed publicity stills of Nadodi Mannan on Veerappan's office desk when he happened to visit the office of Em.Gee.Yar Pictures. He then offered to distribute them to the press. Veerappan agreed knowing that Anandan was then a member of the South Indian Film Journalists Association. After a few days, stills of the film were published in many magazines. Ramachandran was impressed with Anandan's work and, at Veerappan's suggestion, hired him as the film's public relations officer (PRO).[20][21] This was Anandan's debut film as a PRO; however, his name does not appear in the opening credits.[17][22]

During the filming of Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum (1956), an advertisement for Nadodi Mannan was released describing it as an adaptation of The Prisoner of Zenda.[lower-alpha 4] Two days later, Bharani Pictures, the production company co-founded by P. S. Ramakrishna Rao and P. Bhanumathi, released an advertisement for a film whose concept was similar to The Prisoner of Zenda. When Ramachandran and Bhanumathi heard their films were similar, they tried to convince each other to change their film's storyline. After much deliberation, Ramachandran told Bhanumathi that he was keeping "only the section of a commoner switched to king" in the original, while the rest of the film would be different. Ramachandran accepted that they were both confused over what to do next. A few days later, for unknown reasons, Bharani Pictures' planned film was shelved. Bhanumathi informed Ramachandran and told him he could go ahead with his film. She offered Ramachandran her shelved film's script, written by A. K. Velan, and asked him to use it for Nadodi Mannan. Ramachandran thanked her for her generosity, and offered her the role of Madhana; Bhanumathi agreed.[3][24]

M. N. Rajam was cast as Manohari, the queen of Ratnapuri, and king Marthandan's wife. Ramachandran wanted Rajam for the role to avoid her being typecast as a character-driven by jealousy and malice.[25] For the role of Ratna, B. Saroja Devi was selected after a successful audition. Saroja Devi was not fluent in Tamil at the time, so her dialogues were written in such a way that she would find it easier to pronounce them.[26] P. S. Veerappa, M. N. Nambiar and Chakrapani played the antagonists Vijayavarman, Pingalan and Karmegam.[27][28] T. K. Balachandran, who was prominent in Malayalam films, was cast as Bhupathi.[28] K. R. Ramsingh was selected for the role of Madhana and Bhupathi's father, Veerabahu, after Ramachandran was impressed by his performance in one of the stage plays he featured in.[28] Chandrababu played Veerangan's friend and sidekick, Sagayam.[29] T. P. Muthulakshmi was cast as Nagamma, a native of Kanni Theevu, who wants a husband. G. Sakunthala played Manohari's lady-in-waiting Nandini and K. S. Angamuthu the restaurateur Pappa respectively.[26][30]

Nadodi Mannan was filmed in black-and-white for the sequences in Ratnapuri, and in Gevacolor for the later scenes depicting the happenings on Kanni Theevu.[3][31] The film's colour sections were processed at the Film Centre laboratory in Bombay.[2][17] Principal photography took place from 1956 to 1957 over a period of 156 days, which was more than the usual amount of time taken for shooting as most films in that period were completed in 40–50 days.[3] The song "Sammadhama" was the first sequence to be shot. The underwater sequence for the song "Kannil Vanthu Minnalpol", the dance scenes for the song "Maanaithedi Machchaan", and "Thoongathey Thambi Thoongathey" took 12, 9 and 3 days each to shoot. The climax portions involving Ramachandran, Saroja Devi and Veerappa required 11 days of filming, while the sword fights between of Ramachandran and Nambiar were shot in a week.[3]

As the director, Ramachandran wanted the end result to be perfect and shot multiple retakes for the same scene. Bhanumathi found his perfectionist directorial style demanding as she was used to finishing her scenes in a single take. She complained about the same, opining that Ramachandran should leave the job of directing the film to someone else instead, only then would she provide her commitment without charging any additional cost.[9][32][33] Ramachandran asked her to either do the role as he preferred or leave the project. Bhanumathi left, and her remaining scenes were altered by having her character, Madhana, die.[9][33] Since Ramachandran shot retakes, a lot of film was wasted. At the time, film studios allowed the use of only a small number of film rolls to avoid budgetary concerns. Ramachandran bought 1,000 feet (300 m) from outside sources for ₹500,[lower-alpha 3] which was considered expensive.[15] As a result of these various problems during the project's production, it was dubbed as Komali Mannan ("Jester King") by the magazine Dina Thanthi.[32]

During filming, Ramachandran received support from various members of the Tamil cinema industry. B. Nagi Reddy allowed Ramachandran to build the sets for Nadodi Mannan at Vijaya Vauhini Studios. Likewise, S. S. Vasan of Gemini Studios volunteered his equipment to ensure that the climax scenes came out well; it was the only time the studio's equipment was used outside its premises. The outdoor sequences were shot in collaboration with Aruna Films.[34] Ramachandran asked director K. Subramanyam to participate in the filmmaking as an overseer. Subramanyam was impressed with Ramachandran's approach and felt there was no need for anyone to supervise him. Subrahmanyam also helped make arrangements for filming some outdoor shots at Munnar. These were done in collaboration with Aruna Films.[34][35] Aarumugam handled the editing initially, but left during the beginning of the film's principal photography; he was later replaced by K. Perumal. C. P. Jambulingam took responsibility for editing the film's colour portions after Perumal suddenly fell ill.[36] The final length of Nadodi Mannan was 19,830 feet (6,040 m).[2]

The film received positive critical response.[1] A review carried by Ananda Vikatan dated 7 September 1958, appreciated the film for being a commercial entertainer, describing it as a treat to the eyes. The review concluded that the film could be seen more than once.[62] K. Jeshi from The Hindu appreciated the filmmaking techniques used to portray Ramachandran's dual roles, noting that it was "technically superior".[63] A reviewer from the entertainment and news website Sify called it "a pucca mass entertainer".[64]

Rajadhyaksha and Willemen mention that Nadodi Mannan was made "in a style derived from Gemini's post-Chandralekha (1948) films".[1] James K. Norton, the author of the book Global Studies, India and South Asia, called the film "a prime example of how rhetoric and action were combined to build an image as a hero of the oppressed".[65] Rajanayagam however, criticised Ramachandran's role as Marthandan, pointing out that the character's mannerisms are "overdone to the point of annoyance".[66]

Shortly before its release, Ramachandran's take on the film's fate was: "I am a king if this were to succeed. If not, I will be a vagabond."[9][67] The film turned out to be an unprecedented success at the box office, grossing ₹11 million,[lower-alpha 3] becoming only the second Tamil film to earn more than ₹10 million after Madurai Veeran (1956), which also featured Ramachandran in the lead.[4][9][lower-alpha 3] The film ran for 100 days in 23 theatres worldwide.[4] It went on to achieve a theatrical run of 175 days and become a silver jubilee film.[68][69][lower-alpha 7] It was dubbed into Telugu as Anaganaga Oka Raju and as Hamen Bhi Jeene Do in Hindi.[2][71]

The DMK party celebrated the success of Nadodi Mannan with a public function on 16 October 1958 at the Tamukkam Ground in Madurai organized by R.M.Veerappan. The function, which was attended by 200,000 people, saw Ramachandran being taken in a procession on a chariot drawn by four horses and garlanded twice. He was awarded a golden sword worth 110 pounds by the party leader C. N. Annadurai and member V. R. Nedunchezhiyan.[72][73] Ramachandran later donated the sword to the Kollur Mookambika Temple.[74]

The film's 100th-day theatrical run celebrations were held on 30 November 1958 at the Alagappa College in Madurai.[45][67] Another round of celebrations were held on the same day at the SIAA Grounds in Chennai where Annadurai praised Ramachandran, calling him his "Idhayakkani" or "heart's fruit", also stating, "Praising MGR is like me praising myself". Ramachandran later called that moment as the most memorable one in his life.[52]

Nadodi Mannan was a turning point in Ramachandran's career as both an actor and a politician. The film's success earned him the nickname "Puratchi Thalaivar" ("revolutionary leader").[1][76] Biographer Kannan dubbed the film as "the biggest propaganda blitzkrieg for the DMK till then.[32] Film historian Swarnavel Eswaran Pillai called Nadodi Mannan Ramachandran's "defining film as a star".[77] The film acquired cult status in Tamil cinema and propelled Saroja Devi to stardom.[78] T. S. Subramanian of Frontline noted that it was one among many of Ramachandran's films in the 1950s where he "espoused his personal ideals such as helping the poor, being chivalrous and fighting injustice."[79] Film historian and critic Randor Guy labelled Nadodi Mannan as among the most memorable films both Nambiar and Veerappa had worked in.[80][81]

Ramachandran planned his second directorial film to be titled after the song "Thoongathey Thambi Thoongathey", but the project was abandoned,[82][lower-alpha 8] and the song was instead used as the title for a 1983 film starring Kamal Haasan.[83] In their 2006 reviews of Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikecei, both Baskaran of The Hindu, and S. Sudha of Rediff.com, mention the film shared similarities with Nadodi Mannan.[84][85] In July 2007, S. R. Ashok Kumar of The Hindu asked eight Tamil film directors to list their all-time favourite Tamil films; K. Bhagyaraj named Nadodi Mannan. Bhagyaraj selected the film because he "enjoyed the way both heroes combine acting prowess with entertainment".[86] In the film Padikkadavan (2009), Assault Aarumugam (Vivek) is disguised as a woman and is chased by two thugs who mistake him for a real woman. During the chase, the song "Maanaithedi Machan" is played in the background.[87]

Baradwaj Rangan, writing for The Hindu in 2014, mentions in his review of Kaththi that the film's basic plot was "the old Naadodi Mannan [sic] template, shaped with a relevant, burning social angle."[88] For the same newspaper, Namrata Joshi noted that Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015) bore a resemblance to Nadodi Mannan in terms of a prince's look-alike taking his place.[89] Lyricist Thamarai mentions in her interview with Rangan that she wishes to write songs as beautiful as "Thoongathey Thambi Thoongathey".[90] Haasan has acknowledged various films as influences on Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990), namely Nadodi Mannan along with Deiva Magan (1969) and Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973).[91]

Ramachandran had planned a sequel to Nadodi Mannan titled Nadodiyin Magan, but the project was abandoned.[74][lower-alpha 9]

Nadodi Mannan was first re-released on 4 August 2006 in Chennai and Chengalpattu by Divya Films,[92] which spent ₹300,000 on poster designs and promotions for its re-release.[93][lower-alpha 3] The film opened to a positive response from the audience.[93] It received another successful re-release on 18 March 2011 in Madurai.[94]