Kalathur Kannamma is a 1960 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by A. Bhimsingh and written by Javar Seetharaman.
Kalathur Kannamma, inspired by the 1960 Chinese film Nobody's Child, was originally directed by T. Prakash Rao who left due to creative differences, resulting in Bhimsingh taking over.
It won the Certificate of Merit by the Government of India, and the President's Gold Medal award for Haasan at the age of 6.
The film was remade in Telugu as Mooga Nomu, in Hindi as Main Chup Rahungi (with Bhimsingh returning as director), and in Sinhala as Mangalika.
A few days later, Kannamma learns the truth and to reassure her, Raja marries her secretly in a temple.
Ramalingam arranges Murugan and the now pregnant Kannamma to stay in a nearby town, Sevalpatti.
Her presence in the house and reticence to Raja's questions strengthens his belief that Kannamma is a woman of ill repute and in disgust, he returns home.
Kannamma's son Selvam grows up into an intelligent boy and is living in the orphanage in Sevalpatti.
Raja is invited to Sevalpatti by Singaram, a rich merchant who wants to marry his daughter Maduram to him, to preside over a school function.
A seriously ill Murugan confesses to Kannamma that her child is not dead and reveals the identity of Selvam.
Kannamma, who has followed, takes Selvam and tries to move away when she is intercepted by Raja who demands the boy back.
Ramalingam observes that even in such a humiliating situation, Kannamma is silent and does not breathe a word about her promise to him.
Vellaichaami, an ex-employee of AVM, told Saravanan that Javar Seetharaman had been discussing a story with Meiyappan.
After Seetharaman realised that Saravanan and his brothers were interested, he willingly gave them his story, which evolved into Kalathur Kannamma.
[7] Impressed with T. Prakash Rao's work in Amara Deepam (1956) and Uthama Puthiran (1958), Saravanan and his brothers considered he would be best to direct Kalathur Kannamma.
[8] Despite Saravanan's desire, the credit of producing the film was given to Meiyappan, Kumaran, and Arun Veerappan.
[9][3] The story by Seetharaman was loosely adapted from two sources: the play The Forgotten Factor by the Moral Rearmament Army,[10] and the 1960 Chinese film Nobody's Child.
[15] Daisy Irani was originally chosen to play Rajalingam and Kannamma's son Selvam, after AVM were impressed with her performance in Yaar Paiyyan (1957).
[16] Meiyappan insisted to shoot the entire song so that Selvam could be established, and reshoot other scenes he was not satisfied with.
Prakash Rao felt Meiyappan was interfering creatively and expressed his desire to quit the film, although up to nearly 8,000 feet (2,400 m) had been canned.
[37] On 11 September 1960, Ananda Vikatan praised Kamal Haasan's performance and described Kalathur Kannamma as one of the best films in Tamil to that point.
[3] Kanthan of Kalki lauded the performances of the various cast members, including Subbaiah and Balaiah, and said the film could be watched once.
[44] Bhimsingh later remade the film in Hindi as Main Chup Rahungi (1962),[45] where "Ammavum Neeye" was re-used as "Tumhi Ho Mata".