Servant Maid) is a 1949 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by A. S. A. Sami and produced by M. Somasundaram under Jupiter Pictures.

It was based on the play of the same name written by C. N. Annadurai, while incorporating plot details from the Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo (1844).

The film was remade in Telugu as Santhosham (1955), in Hindi as Naya Aadmi (1956), and in Kannada as Malli Maduve (1963).

Unable to repay the borrowed money and finding it difficult to take Vedhachalam Mudaliar's insults, Sundaram Pillai commits suicide.

On close scrutiny, they realise that the body resembles Anandan; they learn from his diary that he is Paramanandam, son of a rich but blind landlady of Mevaar Vilasam.

Amirtham's father Murugesan, who is a loyal servant to Mudaliar's family, plans to get her married to an old man to avoid further embarrassment to his master.

Arguing beautifully in court, he establishes that, Yogi was a fraud and criminal wanted by the police; the death was not pre-planned or intentional; it happened during self-defence.

After the play's success, M. Somasundaram of Jupiter Pictures decided to make a film version and chose Annadurai as the screenwriter.

The original play was based on class conflicts and was partly inspired by the Bhawal case for the twists in the plot.

Some plot elements based on the Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) were suggested by Sami for the film version and accepted by Annadurai, who wrote the screenplay, which was over 1000 pages, in three days.

A few scenes from the 1934 film version of The Count of Monte Cristo were re-enacted in Velaikari, such as the protagonist deciding to take revenge on the people responsible for his jail term after escaping from there.

The climax scene of Anandan entering the court as a lawyer was inspired from the 1937 film The Life of Emile Zola.

[12] The scene where Anandan throws sacred objects and abuses the presiding deity at a Kali temple created controversy.

The film's final message Ondre Kulam, Oruvane Devan (One community and one god), became a popular rhetoric of the political party Annadurai founded.

The film become a trendsetter for its powerful and beautiful dialogues and for its strong approach on social issues and beliefs.

In which the lawyer's arguments are like the lamp light, but the poor cannot get it) and "Kathiyai Theettathey, Un Puththiyai Theettu" (Don't sharpen your knife but your mind) become very famous and are used among the common public and politicians.

The popular reception Velaikari received was the beginning of the long association between the Dravidian movement and Tamil cinema.

[5][7][13] Velaikari was remade in Telugu as Santhosham (1955), in Hindi as Naya Aadmi (1956),[14] and in Kannada as Malli Maduve (1963).