Underplayed Gems

Miss Malini (1947)

Miss Malini poster
Directed by
Kothamangalam Subbu
Genre
comedy drama
Country
British Raj
Rated
U
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

An impoverished woman joins a theatre company and becomes a star. But her success is threatened when she befriends a charming fraud.

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What happens

Miss Malini is a 1947 Indian Tamil-language satirical comedy drama film written and directed by Kothamangalam Subbu and produced by K. Ramnoth, from a story by R. K. Narayan. Subbu also starred in the film alongside Pushpavalli, Sundari Bai and Subbiah Pillai. Javar Seetharaman and Gemini Ganesan made their acting debuts in the film appearing in minor roles. The film focuses on Malini (Pushpavalli), an impoverished woman who joins her actress friend Sundari's (Sundari Bai) theatre company and becomes a success. Matters worsen when she befriends Sampath (Subbu), a charlatan. Miss Malini ridiculed aspects of life in Madras (now Chennai) during the World War II period, and was the only story written by Narayan for the screen that came to fruition. It was released on 26 September 1947, and was accompanied in theatres by Cinema Kadhambam, the first animated film produced in South Indian cinema. Miss Malini was praised by intellectuals; Subbu's performance as Sampath was widely appreciated. The songs composed by S. Rajeswara Rao and Parur S. Anantharaman became popular, and the film gained cult status in Tamil cinema. Miss Malini marked Narayan's earliest use of story elements that would recur in some of his later novels. It was later rewritten by him as the 1949 novel Mr. Sampath – The Printer of Malgudi, which in turn was adapted into the Hindi film Mr. Sampat (1952) directed by S. S. Vasan, and a 1972 Tamil film directed by Cho Ramaswamy. Although no print of Miss Malini is known to survive, thereby making it a lost film, surviving artefacts include its songs, along with a few stills and newspaper advertisements. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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