Tamil film Pavalakodi made history for a variety of reasons. It was the debut of South Indian cinema’s first superstar, Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, as well as film star S D Subbulakshmi (later known as Mrs K Subramanyam). It also saw the debut of director K Subramanyam. The film was released in 1934. Running for a total of 275 days, it set the record for Tamil cinema’s first silver jubilee film.
Though the story of Pavalakodi and Arjuna is not mentioned in Mahabharata, it was a successful Tamil play in which Bhagavathar made a name for himself as a stage actor. Bhagavathar, who reigned supreme on stage following the early demise of the iconic S G Kittappa, had plans to turn producer with this play. But S M Letchumanan Chettiar (better known as Lena), a Chettinad drama contractor, persuaded him to abandon such plans and instead act in the film.
Pavalakodi’s music was written by Papanasam Sivan, and there are 50 songs in total in the film. Bhagavathar sang 22 of the fifty songs. He received Rs 4,000 and ST Subbulakshmi received Rs 2,500 for their roles in Pavalakodi. K Subramaniam, who directed the film, had previously worked in some silent films. He later married ST Subbulakshmi, who appeared in Pavalakodi.
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