Chintamani
About Chintamani
Bilwamangal, a Sanskrit scholar in Varanasi, leaves his wife for the courtesan Chintamani. She spends her time singing to Krishna. His attachment to her pulls him toward the god. He becomes a devotee and writes the Sanskrit poem Sri Krishna Karnamritam.
Cast & crew
More about Chintamani
Y. V. Rao directed for Rayal Talkies, a Madurai company owned by yarn merchants. Papanasam Sivan wrote the music. Rao had wanted to play Bilwamangal and instead played Manoharan. Serugulathur Sama, who was considered for the lead, plays Krishna. The film opened on 12 March 1937.
Themes
Background
A devotional tale already familiar on the South Indian stage, filmed in Tamil just as singing stars were becoming the draw.
In film history
The gramophone versions issued by Saraswathi Stores later fed into Sinhala film music.
Making
Publicity favored Aswathamma over the singer who played the poet. The theater named for the film is the concrete result of that run.
Audiences
It ran more than a year without interruption, the first Tamil film to hold one theater that long.
Music
Papanasam Sivan composed the songs. The commercial discs use Thuraiyur Rajagopala Sarma's voice in the Bilwamangal numbers.
Notes
- The first Tamil film to run for a year without a break in a single theater.
- Profits paid for a new cinema in Madurai, which the owners named Chintamani.
- K. Aswathamma, in her first Tamil role, was billed above M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. She died of tuberculosis in 1939.
- Bhagavathar was not under contract for the discs, so Thuraiyur Rajagopala Sarma sang his songs for Saraswathi Stores.
- The story had already been a stage play and a silent film, and talkie versions existed in Bengali, Hindi, and Telugu.
- Rao shot it at Deva Datta Films Studio.
Scenes
- Bilwamangal leaves his wife for Chintamani.
- She sings to Krishna, and the scholar's obsession turns into the poem Sri Krishna Karnamritam.