A logic-defying tale about angels (devakanyas) coming down to Earth toplay with the lives of mortals, changing their sex and watching the fun. Written, produced and directed by the totally forgotten G. R. Lakshmanan, this film had brilliant cinematography, thanks to the lights and lens maestros of South Indian cinema, Marcus Bartley and Adi Irani, who were associated with Vauhini Studios, Madras where this film was made.
The film is about devakanyas who descend on Earth to play games in the lives of two poor girls (Kumari Kamala and Vanaja). The girls earn their daily bread by dancing in the streets. One of them (Kamala) is lost while bathing. The other (Vanaja) is now a young man (Varadan)!
The young man meets a lovely princess, Lavanya, (Suryaprabha) and falls in love with her and both decide to marry. Meanwhile, a Divine Being appears before the young man and presents him with a magic ring, which will enable him to realise all his dreams. However, there is a snag. If he consummates his marriage, he will lose all at once!
Understandably, the young man avoids making love to his wife who tries to seduce him in every possible way. After a while, he is unable to resist the temptation and yields to her! The ring disappears and along with that everything he had. How he fights back and saves the missing girl forms the rest of the movie….
Kumari Kamala expectedly had dance numbers, and so did Vanaja, composed by Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai, K. N. Dhandayuthapani Pillai and Hiralal. Papanasam Sivan wrote the lyrics and the music was composed by the highly talented S.V. Venkataraman.
Even though it was a folktale, there was a song picturised on Kumari Kamala about ‘Bharatha Naadu...' and how her citizens suffer in poverty — it was sung off screen by the inimitable D. K. Pattammal. During that period, she lent her silky voice to quite a few movies, the most successful of them all being the AVM hit movie, Naam Iruvar (1947).
A handsome Science graduate, Varadan, introduced to movies by the Coimbatore movie mogul S. M. Sriramulu Naidu, played the hero. After acting in a few films as hero, he bade goodbye to cinema and became a successful businessman. He passed away some years ago. Well-known cricketer T. E. Srinivasan who passed away recently was his son.
Attractive Suryaprabha was the sister of the famed star of yesteryear Pushpavalli and she was on the staff of Gemini Studios for some years and played supporting role in many of its productions. Later, she married the Kuchipudi choreographer and successful filmmaker Vedantham Raghavaiah. ‘Pulimoottai' Ramaswami and Jaya provided the comic relief and sang a duet.
In spite of the pleasing music and brilliant cinematography, Lavanya did not fare well at the box office.
Remembered for the dance sequences and camerawork by Marcus Bartley and Adi Irani.
