~ The First Ever Tamil Movie ~

[MysteRy]

The First Ever Tamil Movie

Kalidas (The Servant of Kali) also known as Kalidasa, was a 1931 Indian bilingual mythological film.

The movie most notable for being the first sound film made in Tamil, as well as the first sound film ever to be made in South India. It was produced by Ardeshir Irani, and directed by his former assistant H.M. Reddy.



The film was based on the life of the fourth-century Sanskrit poet, Kalidasa. It features P. G. Venkatesan as the eponymous character and T.P Rajalakshmi as the female lead, with L.V. Prasad, Thevaram Rajambal, T.Susheela Devi, J.Sushila and M.S. Santhanalakshmi in supporting roles.

Due to additional dialogue in Telugu & Hindi, some film critics and scholars see it as India's first multilingual film. It was even billed in the Tamil newspaper Swadesamitran as the "First Tamil-Telugu Talking Picture".

However, because all of its fifty songs were in Tamil, YES - Five Zero songs, the film historian S. Theodore Baskaran considers Kalidas mainly a Tamil film.

Despite its mythological theme, the film also featured patriotic songs. It was shot in Bombay (now Mumbai) on the sets of India's first sound film Alam Ara  (1931) and was completed in just eight days.

Amid much hype, Kalidas released on Deepavali, 31 October 1931 - the only Tamil film that year. It received critical acclaim, with Rajalakshmi's singing performance being praised. The film also became a commercial success, grossing Rs 75000 (US$1,200) against a budget of Rs 8000 (US$130).

The success of Kalidas spawned numerous other films based on the character in various languages. No print, gramophone record or songbook of the film is known to have survived, making it a lost film!