Maruthayi is a village-based vegetable seller who, by sheer accident, becomes an actress named Mallika Devi. Murgesa, a farmer from the same village, loves Maruthayi and wants to marry her, but after she becomes an actress, she moves away from him. It was Gopinath, a wealthy socialite, who made her an actress as he laid a challenge that he would transform a vegetable seller into an actor if his regular heroine exited at the last second. A rich man's son Chellappa aspires to marry Maruthayi, but ends up marrying another girl. Murgesa realises that Maruthayi has a new status; when he tries to meet her, Gopinath discourages him, and he returns to his village. When Gopinath confesses his love for Maruthayi, she does not reciprocate. She is left alone, with nowhere to go.
Manam Oru Kurangu was a play written by Cho Ramaswamy and inspired by the George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion. It was originally announced as Dil Ek Bandhar, a pun on the title Dil Ek Mandir.[2][4] The play Manam Oru Kurangu, which also starred Delhi Ganesh,[5] was later adapted into a feature film with the same name directed by A. T. Krishnaswamy and produced by T. V. Arasu under Sashti Films. Cho was part of the cast and also wrote the screenplay.[2][6] M. P. Viswanathan worked as an assistant make-up artist.[7]
Themes
The film exposes the snobbish values dominating society in everyday life.[8]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by D. B. Ramachandran.[9] The title song, performed by T. M. Soundararajan, became the film's most popular song.[2][10]
Manam Oru Kurangu was released on 14 January 1967,[6] during the festive occasion of Pongal.[11]Kalki called it a film worth watching for relieving stress.[12] Despite facing competition from other Pongal releases such as Kandhan Karunai, Pattathu Rani and Penne Nee Vaazhga,[11] the film emerged a commercial success.[2]
