Krishnan Thoothu

Krishnan Thoothu also known as Sri Krishnan Thoothu was a film produced by S. M. Letchumanan Chettiyar and Rajagopal Talkies in the year 1940. The film was directed by R. Prakash. This film was known famously since this was the debut Tamil film of Telugu actress P. Kannamba.[1]
A short comedy film titled Kozhukattai Kuppu was also screened along with the main film,[2]

Krishnan Thoothu
Directed by	R. Prakash
Produced by	S. M. Letchumanan Chettiyar
Screenplay by	Nagainallur Lakshminarayana Bhagavathar
Story by	Nagainallur Lakshminarayana Bhagavathar
Cinematography	Kamal Ghosh
Production company	Motion Picture Productions Combine Ltd.
Distributed by	Rajagopal Talkies
Release date	27 April 1940 (1940-04-27) (India)
Country	15,973 ft.
Language	Tamil

Plot

The story of the film was of the history of Lord Krishna undertaking the mission of getting justice for the Pandavas from the Kaurava King Duryodhana. Serukulathur Sama played the main role of Lord Krishna. The debut actress P. Kannamba played the heroine role. Both N. S. Krishnan and T. A. Mathuram contributed to the short film with their comedies.

Cast

Cast adapted from the database of Film News Anandan[2] and the film's songbook[3]

Male Cast Serukulathur Sama as Krishnan Visalur Subramania Bhagavathar as Duryodhanan Nagainallur Lakshminarayana Bhagavathar as Vidhurar Sandow Natesa Pillai as Karnan D. Bala Subramanyam as Balaramar S. S. Mani Bhagavathar as Dharmar Battling. C. S. Dhan Singh as Bhiman R. S. Ramaswami Iyengar as Arjunan K. V. Krishnan as Nagulan Kothamangalam Ramasami as Sahadevan M. R. Durairaj as Sadhaki M. A. Ganapathi Bhat as Aswathama M. S. Velayutham as Devendran

Male cast (continued) T. Gopal Rao as Viradarajan L. Narayana Somayajalu as Sanjayar C. Chinaiah as Dhritharashtran K. S. A. Sami as Bhishmar M. Thiruvenkatam as Dushasanan K. Devanarayanan as Vikarnan T. M. Babu as Durvasar P. G. Venkatesan as Naradar N. S. Krishnan! (Kozhukattai Kuppu) Comedian Jolly Kittu Iyer as Sakuni Comedian E. Krishnamoorthi as Kandhan Comedian Kunchithapadam Pillai as Rangan

Female cast Gruhalakshmi Star P. Kannamba as Draupadi M. R. Vasuvambal as Kunti Devi M. N. Vijayal as Sathyabhama T. S. Krishnaveni as Rukmani T. A. Mathuram! (Kozhukattai Kuppu) M. K. Babuji as Young Kunti Dhanabhagyam, Janaki Bai as Dancers Baby Ranga & Sulochana as Baby Dancers Female support cast M. R. Kanakarathnam, M. R. Ramalakshmi, Pushpammal, Rajeevi, Pattu, Sulochana, Lakshmikantham, Shankari, Padmavathi.

Songs

No music director was credited, but the lyrics were written by Papanasam Sivan and Rajagopala Iyer. The songs were recorded by Jyotish Sinha.[3]

Box office

The film though well directed by R. Prakash, the drawback was with the debut heroine P. Kannamba's poor Tamil accent. She didn't knew Tamil and spoke it with a Telugu slang, which didn't go well with the Tamil audiences. So the film fared badly in the box office.[1]

References

1. Guy, Randor (20 April 2013). "Krishnan Thoothu 1940". The Hindu. The Hindu. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
2. Film News Anandan (23 October 2004). Sadhanaigal Padaitha Thamizh Thiraipada Varalaru [History of Landmark Tamil Films] (in Tamil). Chennai: Sivakami Publishers. Archived from the original on 10 November 2017.
3. கிருஷ்ணன் தூது (song book) (in Tamil). Rajagopal Talkies. 1940.