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President Panchaksharam
Poster
Directed by	A. Bhimsingh
Screenplay by	B. S. Ramiah
Based on	The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol
Produced by	V. Arunachalam Chinna Annamalai
Starring	S. S. Rajendran S. V. Sahasranamam B. Saroja Devi
Cinematography	M. Karnan
Edited by	A. Bhimsingh
Music by	G. Ramanathan
Production company	Savithri Pictures
Release date	10 July 1959 (1959-July-10)
Running time	162 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

President Panchaksharam is a 1959 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed by A. Bhimsingh and written by B. S. Ramiah. It is based on the play of the same name written by Ramiah, itself adapted from the 1836 play The Government Inspector by Russian Nikolai Gogol. The film stars S. S. Rajendran, S. V. Sahasranamam and B. Saroja Devi. It was released on 10 July 1959 and became a commercial success.

Plot

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A District Board president has a daughter studying in Madras. While he and his wife have different men as prospective grooms for her in their minds, the girl falls in love with her friend Sigamani. The two aspiring grooms come to the president's town to finalise the marriage. Suddenly, the president receives a letter stating that the government is sending an official to secretly investigate his fraudulent affairs. When Sigamani visits the president and says he loves his daughter, the president mistakenly identifies Sigamani as the official.

Cast

Production

Playwright B. S. Ramiah adapted Russian dramatist Nikolai Gogol's 1836 play The Government Inspector into a Tamil play titled President Panchaksharam with S. V. Sahasranamam starring. The play, which was produced by Sahasranamam's own company Seva Stage, and had Devika in a key role, was critically acclaimed, and it was adapted into a film with the same title. Sahasranamam, who appeared in the play, returned for the film as well. The film adaptation was directed and edited by A. Bhimsingh, and produced by V. Arunachalam and Chinna Annamalai under Savithri Pictures. Ramiah wrote the screenplay and dialogues. Cinematography was handled by M. Karnan, and the art direction by Chowdhury. The film featured a musical play based on V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. The final length of the film was 14,614 feet (4,454 m).

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by G. Ramanathan.

Release and reception

President Panchaksharam was released on 10 July 1959. Kanthan of Kalki positively reviewed the film for being different from formulaic Tamil films released before. The film was commercially successful, and film historian Randor Guy said it would be remembered for "the interesting screenplay and good performances by Sahasranamam, Rajendran and Saroja Devi."

References

1. ^ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1998, p. 360.
2. ^ Guy, Randor (1 October 2011). "President Panchatcharam [sic] 1959". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
3. Goble 1999, pp. 183.
4. Proceedings of the Annual Conference. Vol. 19. National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions (U.S.). Conference, South Indian History Congress. 2000. p. 358.
5. தீனதயாளன், பா. (27 August 2016). "தேவிகா: 2.பாலிருக்கும் பழமிருக்கும்...!". Dinamani (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
6. Bhatt, Karthik (25 April 2015). "Policekaran Magal: From stage to celluloid". The Cinema Resource Centre. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
7. ^ "1959 – பிரசிடெண்ட் பஞ்சாட்சரம் –சாவித்திரி பிக்சர்ஸ்" [1959 – President Panchaksharam –Savitri Pictures]. Lakshman Sruthi (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
8. Higgins, Keresztesi & Oscherwitz 2015, pp. 165.
9. Venkatraman, Karthikeyan (28 July 2016). "கேமராவுக்கு சவால்: ஒளிப்பதிவாளர் கர்ணன்". Dinamani (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
10. Neelamegam, G. (December 2014). Thiraikalanjiyam — Part 1 (in Tamil) (First ed.). Chennai: Manivasagar Publishers. p. 178.
11. காந்தன் (16 August 1959). "பிரசிடெண்ட் பஞ்சாட்சரம்". Kalki (in Tamil). pp. 26–27. Archived from the original on 22 May 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024 – via Internet Archive.

Bibliography

• Goble, Alan, ed. (1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 1-85739-229-9.
• Higgins, MaryEllen; Keresztesi, Rita; Oscherwitz, Dayna, eds. (2015). The Western in the Global South. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-84312-7.
• Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul (1998) . Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema. British Film Institute and Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-563579-5.

External links

• President Panchaksharam at IMDb 

• 1959 films
• 1950s Indian films
• 1950s Tamil-language films
• 1959 comedy films
• Films based on adaptations
• Films based on The Government Inspector
• Films directed by A. Bhimsingh
• Films scored by G. Ramanathan
• Films set in Chennai
• Indian black-and-white films
• Indian comedy films
• Indian films based on plays
• Tamil-language Indian films