Keechaka Vadham

Keechaka Vadham
Directed by R. Nataraja Mudaliar
Produced by R. Nataraja Mudaliar
Written by C. Rangavadivelu
Starring Raju Mudaliar
Jeevarathnam
Cinematography R. Nataraja Mudaliar
Edited by R. Nataraja Mudaliar
Distributed by India Film Company
Release dates
 1916—1918[lower-alpha 1]
Country India
Language Silent film with intertitles
Budget ₹35,000[3]
Box office ₹50,000[4]

Keechaka Vadham (English: The Extermination of Keechaka)[5] alternatively spelt as Keechaka Vatham,[6] is an Indian silent film produced, directed, filmed and edited by R. Nataraja Mudaliar. The film is based on an episode from the Hindu epic Mahabharata focusing on the characters Kichaka and Draupadi; it stars Raju Mudaliar as Keechaka and Jeevarathnam as Draupadi, the female lead.

Keechaka Vadham was the first silent film made in South India. The film was shot in five weeks at Nataraja Mudaliar's studio, India Film Company. Despite being a silent film, the cast members were from Tamil Nadu, hence it was also considered the first Tamil film. Keechaka Vadham received critical acclaim upon its release and went on to become a commercially successful venture. The film's success prompted Nataraja Mudaliar to make a series of similar historical films. Because no print of the film is known to survive, this makes it a lost film.

Cast

Production

Nataraja Mudaliar, who produced, directed, edited and filmed Keechaka Vadham

Mooppanar, a wealthy landowner based in Thanjavur, had owned a Williamson 35mm camera and a printer purchased in England.[7] R. Nataraja Mudaliar, then an automobile dealer in Madras,[5] had taken the entire equipment from him at a price of less than ₹2,000,[lower-alpha 2] thereby making his debut in the film industry.[7] Nataraja Mudaliar developed a passion for moving pictures after watching the films of Dadasaheb Phalke. At the time cinematographers from Britain were filming a documentary on Lord Curzon, then the Governor-General and Viceroy of India.[7] Nataraja Mudaliar got introduced to Stewart Smith, one of the cinematographers who worked in the documentary, and learned about the basics of photography in film-making through him.[9] This eventually led to Nataraja Mudaliar establishing his production house, India Film Company.[10][lower-alpha 3] He brought together some of his business associates, allowing them to invest in the production house, and established South India's first film studio on Miller's Road, Purasawalkam, Madras.[12][lower-alpha 4]

Nataraja Mudaliar sought the advice of his friend, Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar, one of the founding fathers of the Renaissance of Tamil Theatre, who suggested that he should picturise the story of the Mahabharata characters Draupadi and Kichaka.[3] Some of Nataraja Mudaliar's relatives objected to it as they felt that it was not a proper story for his debut venture.[7] But Nataraja Mudaliar decided to proceed and launched his maiden film titled Keechaka Vadham,[7] which was based on an episode from the Mahabharatha.[14] The episode follows the attempts made by Keechaka, one of the generals of King Virata, to woo and marry Draupadi before she reports about it to Bhima, who kills him.[15] Nataraja Mudaliar was not a writer, so he had to take assistance from his close friend C. Rangavadivelu, a lawyer by profession.[7] Besides writing the screenplay, Rangavadivelu agreed to coach artistes on sets.[16] Nataraja Mudaliar engaged stage actors Raja Mudaliar and Jeevarathnam to play the roles of Keechaka and Draupadi respectively. The total budget of the film was ₹35,000,[lower-alpha 2] which was then considered high.[7]

According to film historian S. Muthiah, principal photography began in 1917, and was shot in a span of five weeks.[4] The entire film was shot at the India Film Company. The film's intertitles were written in English, Tamil and Hindi. The Tamil intertitles were written by Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar while the Hindi intertitles were written by Mahatma Gandhi's son Devdas Gandhi.[17] Nataraja Mudaliar also handled the film's production, cinematography and editing.[18] Despite being a silent film, the cast was filled with Tamil people, hence it was considered the first Tamil film.[4] The final length of the film was 6,000 ft (1,800 m).[19]

Release and legacy

Keechaka Vadham was the first silent film made in South India.[20] According to film historian Randor Guy, Nataraja Mudaliar established a film laboratory of his own in Bangalore to process the film negatives as there was no film laboratory in Madras. Nataraja Mudaliar believed that Bangalore's colder climate "would be kind to his exposed film stock". He processed the film negatives there each weekend and return on Monday morning to resume the film's shooting.[21]

According to Muthiah, Keechaka Vadham was released in January 1918 at the Elphinstone Theatre.[4] He states that the film netted ₹50,000[lower-alpha 2] after being screened throughout India and in Burma, Ceylon, the Federated Malay States and Singapore resulting in a yield of ₹15,000,[lower-alpha 2] a "tidy profit in those days."[4] According to writer Firoze Rangoonwalla, a reviewer from The Mail rated the film's success highly by commenting "It has been prepared with great care and is drawing full houses".[22] With the film's critical and commercial success, Nataraja Mudaliar had "created history".[23] No print of it is known to survive, so it is considered a lost film.[24]

The success of the film incited Nataraja Mudaliar to make a series of historical films such as Draupadi Vastrapaharanam (1918), Lava Kusa (1919), Shiv Leela (1919), Rukmini Satyabhama (1922) and Mahi Ravana (1923).[25] In 1923, the death of his son that occurred in a fire accident which also burnt up his entire studio led Nataraja Mudaliar to retire from filmmaking and close up shop.[26] Nataraja Mudaliar is widely recognised as the father of Tamil cinema and his films helped in laying the foundation for the South Indian cinema industry.[27] Nataraja Mudaliar's work inspired Raghupathi Prakasa, son of Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, later revered as the father of Telugu cinema, and J. C. Daniel, who was later revered as the father of Malayalam cinema.[28]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ While film historian S. Theodore Baskaran, film director R. K. Selvamani and professor Prem Chowdhry state the film release date as 1916, Suresh Chabria and Film News Anandan say the film was released in 1917.[1] Film historians Randor Guy, S. Muthiah and professor Knut A. Jacobsen asserted the film was released in 1918.[2]
  2. 1 2 3 4 The average exchange rate in 1917 was 0.077 Indian rupees (₹) per 1 US dollar (US$).[8]
  3. ↑ Both Baskaran and the Tamil feminist writer C. S. Lakshmi say that the name of the place where Mudaliar founded India Film Company was previously called Tower House.[11]
  4. ↑ The city was officially renamed to Chennai in 1996.[13]

References

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