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[S.Balaji]

Making a movie out of a character from epic or history will require some imagination.Creating the life of a real life character will be much more challenging as it has to be backed by facts . Pantulu had faced both the situations…Veera Pandiya Kattabomman was made just 4 years before ( 1959 ). Karnan in 1964…

The main objective is to highlight the innumerable tough times and struggle the freedom fighers had to suffer including loss of personal life and even sacrifying one's wealth . KOT deserves an acknowledgement as the best representative movie depicting this.

The life of VOC is more saddening since he could not see a free India and died 11 years before we got it.KOT is about the life of a freedom fighter who was born in 1872 and passed away in 1936. While making a movie , it is not just VOC centric but also covers the parallel developments happening in India. Subramania Bharathi occupies a significant space in this movie….even Vanchinathan's episode has been covered.. the venerable Tilak appears for a minute through a telephonic conversation when VOC negotiates for the delivery of the Ship…Of course, Subramania Siva's selfless service to nation and the suffering he undergoes has been well explained……the Britishers who appear are Collector Ash ( Asokan ) and Vinch ( S.V.Ranga Rao ).
The movie runs for 3 hours ! It just cannot be moving around VOC …. Vanchinathan, Bharathi, Subramania Siva …..all these epic characters have been given some space , especially Bharathi…..Infact the scenes of Bharathi give more life to the movie….Madasami character and his wife Kanamma occupy lengthy space…..but , I feel this could have been minimised so that we could have had a 2 and half hour movie…still the movie at no stage lacks the interest…

However, the space given to Gemini and Savithri appear a bit too far and long …Easily Pantulu could have reduced the running time to 2 and half hours…but he might have thought that without a love story behind and sans Gemini-Savithri, the movie will become documentary and hence might have stretched it this far….even the comedy scenes of Karunanidhi and C.S.Durai raj could have been avoided but again, a typical movie should have all these ingredients.

The screen play has been nicely narrated with the introduction of a middle aged VOC responding to a case in a lower Court defending a poor man…BRP straight away defines the professional background of VOC….then comes the conversation with his Father where the patriotic VOC is shown…the meeting he holds along with Siva sets the pace for a larger agitation and a movement against colonialism. The scenes wherein he brings together like minded investors for the formation of a shipping company and the followup he had to make to get the vessel, all were well done. Even the entry of Bharathi and Vanchinathan were well crafted ones. The court scenes when VOC gets imprisoned are all short and crisp…the jail scenes are being shown through the background song Thaneer vitto valarthom…the movie also comes to an end sooner VOC gets released …the insult he undergoes from public is shown through a background song Nenjil uram indri …even at his death bed , he dies listening to a heart breaking song of Bharathi.

BRP has optimised the lyrics of Mahakavi and had picked the most ideal ones for the various scenes they appear…for example Vellipani malayin , Vande madaram , Nenjil uram indri, Thaneer vitto valarthom etc. Even the title time was maximised by a song ' Paarukulley nalla naadu ' .

Selection of artists was superb…. Avvai Shanmugam as Siva simply excels with his forceful acting and expressive body language….We have just finished writing on S.V.Subbaiah about his presentation as Bharathi…

Actually it deserved to win the highest award for acting, direction and music .What a pity ! the movie was just awarded as " the best tamil film " at the National film awards 1961 …

However, for Boodgur Ramakrishnaiah Pantulu, though the movie might not have been a commercial success, this is truly an unforgettable classic and the best suggested one with a candid depiction of a freedom fighter's life……

[S.Balaji]

Dear CSB,

Upon browsing google search , I realised that during 1961, Bhagini Niveditha , a story on Sister Niveditha , a Bengali movie in 1961 and Dada Thakur in 1962 have won national awards.
Even in 1959 ( Veera Pandiya Kattabomman ) , a Bengali movie had swept the award...

Omar Mukthar got the Oscar award while KOT didnt even go beyond regional movie section ! The TN govt then ( Kamaraj ) had even granted tax exemption. Still the movie didnt yield rich cash flows.

I feel sad that atleast it should have got a national recognition ..After all it was Congress ruled country then

We will finally now move to Nadigar Thilagam's prowess in KOT.