Patni (1942)

Synopsis: Kovalan, the rich merchant of the sea in the Chola Kingdom and Kannagi, his beautiful virtuous and devout wife lived happily till the danseuse Madhavi entered Kovalan's life. He attended the maiden dance performance of the voluptuous Madhavi in the King's court. Pleased withe her performance, the Chola king gifted her gold coins and the customary green leave garland. Madhavi's mother Chitra auctioned the garland as per tradition and Kovalan bid the highest amount thus becoming the lord of Madhavi who by then fell in love with him.
Kovalan's friend Velu had an amorous eye on Madhavi and was dismayed at being forestalled in the bid. Passionately in love with Madhavi, Kovalan lost all his wealth including his wife's jewels to please her mother. Kovalan went to Madurai with his wife to sell the diamond anklet that she gave him to restart business. He met a goldsmith for this purpose. The vicious goldsmith who stole the Pandyan queen's precious anklet puts the blame on Kovalan.
Without verifying the facts, the angry King orders that Kovalan be executed. Kannagi hustles to Pandyan king's court where she proves that hers was a diamond anklet whereas the queen's anklet was of pearls and blames him for punishing Kovalan without bothering to verify the facts. In a fit of rage she curses the city where injustice was done to her innocent husband.
The Pandyan king and queen die out of shock and feeling a guilt. The city too was engulfed by a fire. Before Kannagi ends her life, Lord Siva and Parvathi appear. Kannagi was deified on the nearby Murugavel hill and even today people worship her as 'Patni Devi'. The film ends on this note.
Cast: KS Prakasha Rao (Kovalan), Rushyendramani (Kannagi), Surabhi Kamalabai (Chitra),  Hymavathi (Madhavi), Rallabandi Kutumba Rao (Velu), Vangara Venkata Subbaiah (goldsmith), Kocharlakota Satyanarayana (Pandyan King), Annapurna (Pandyan Queen), Bholanath Sharma (Lord Siva), Samrajyam (Parvathi), Kosaraju Raghavaiah Chowdary (Pandyan minister)
Dialogues and Lyrics: Tapi Dharma Rao
Music: Kopparapu Subba Rao
Cinematography: Sudhish Ghatak
Editing: Govind Dinakar Joshi
Choreography: Bholanath Sharma
Art: Vali Subba Rao
Costumes: K. Koteswara Rao
Director: Gudavalli Ramabrahmam
Banner: Sarathi Films

Release Date: 17 March
Trivia: This was the film version of revered Tamil Jain saint Ilango Adigal's 'Sillappadikkaram'.