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1954 199’[Ta]/184’[Te] b&w Tamil/Telugu/Hindi? d L.V. Prasad pc Manohar Pics st P. Sambandam Mudaliar s/lyr[Ta] M. Karunanidhi dial/co-lyr[Te] Acharya Athreya co-lyr[Te] Balijepalli Lakshmikanta Kavi, Sri Sri lyr[H] Vishwamitter Adil c P. Ramasami m S.V. Venkatraman lp P. Kannamba, T.R. Rajkumari, Pandharibai, Girija, Sivaji Ganesan, S.A. Natarajan, S.S. Rajendran, K.A. Thangavelu, Sadasivarao, Kaka Radhakrishnan
Costume fantasy allegedly set in the 11th C. at the time of the Chola dynasty. The king (Sadasivarao), seduced by Vasantasena (T.R. Rajakumari), abandons his wife (Kannamba) and his son Manohara (Ganesan). Vasantasena wants Manohara arrested and her own son (Radhakrishnan) made heir. She has the king and queen imprisoned while she attempts to seize power. Manohara escapes from prison and leads a popular revolt against Vasantasena and her general Ugrasen (Natarajan). The hit, scripted by Karunanidhi and featuring a major star cast, is sometimes seen as the most chauvinist of all the DMK films with its anti-North India rhetoric climaxing in Ganesan’s monologue at the end characterising all ‘Aryans’ as intruders and jackals who entered through the Khyber Pass.