Ratha Kanneer

Tears of Blood) is a 1954 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Krishnan–Panju, and written by Tiruvarur K. Thangaraj.

Based on Thangaraj's play of the same name, the film stars M. R. Radha, Sriranjani and S. S. Rajendran, with Chandrababu, M. N. Rajam and S. R. Janaki in supporting roles.

It revolves around a returned-from-abroad, westernised rich man who shows arrogance and contempt towards anything part of Indian culture and anyone below his social standards.

The film was produced by Perumal Mudaliar of National Pictures, and had Radha reprising his role from the play.

The score was composed by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy and the songs by C. S. Jayaraman, with lyrics by Mahakavi Bharathiyaar, Bharathidasan, Udumalai Narayana Kavi and Ku.

Immediately after his return to India, he is married to Chandra, a cultured, well-mannered, conservative Indian village girl.

Some time after Mohan's death, a statue of him is erected per his request, and Balu breaks into a song about righteousness and values of life.

The play was staged not only in South India but also in places like Malaya (now Singapore and Malaysia), Burma (now Myanmar) and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where it met with equal success.

AVM Productions who was supposed to produce the film backed out due to the negative approach of the plot.

Rajam was hesitant to enact the scene where she had to kick Mohanasundaram (Radha's character) down from the staircase; she later relented after being requested by Krishnan.

[15] Writer Perumal Murugan feels the views of Mohan actually reflect those of E. V. Ramasamy,[16] of whom Thangaraj was a follower.

[17] Researcher and ethnographer Preeti Mudliar compared Andha Naal (1954) to Ratha Kanneer because in both films, "the sin of foreignness is [neutralised] by a chaste Tamil woman, the virtuous wife".

[22] The film emerged a critical and commercial success, with particular praise towards Radha's performance, and ran for over 100 days in theatres.

[27] In August 2014, Vasu's son Sathish announced his intention to make another modern film version of the story, but those plans were cancelled due to his death in May 2015.

[29] Actor Sivakumar stated that "You can't reproduce movies like Parasakthi, Pasamalar, Devadas, Veerapandiya Kattabomman or Ratha Kanneer [...] By remaking such films, you are lowering yourself, while it enhances the original artists’ image.