Thyagabhoomi

Thyagabhoomi English Land of Sacrifice is a 1939 film directed and produced by famous film director K. Subramanyam. Starring K.J.Mahadevan and S.D.Subbalakshmi, the film was produced at the height of Indias freedom movement and glorified Mahatma Gandhi and his ideals in no mean terms. The story for the film was based on a novel written by the great Tamil writer Kalki Krishnamurthy and was financed and distributed by the movie moghul S.S. Vasan before he created Gemini Pictures. Thyagabhoomi is the only Indian film to be banned after release by the British government. The films only existing print is now at an archive store in Pune. The story was serialized in Ananda Vikatan Kalki was still with the magazine at the time and S.S. Vasan was the financierdistributor of the film simultaneously when the film production was going on with stills from the film being published. This was the first time ever something like this had ever been attempted in the world and garnered great success both in India and across other Tamil populations across the world Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Burma etc. and British Empire.

However, censorship was reimposed when the Congress Government resigned on the eve of Indias entry into the Second World War. The Governor of Madras who took over the administration of the province subsequently banned Thyagabhoomi. The ban evoked severe protests from Indian filmviewers. However, by the time the ban was enforced, Thyagabhoomi was already a success it was being screened at packed theaters in and around Madras. British Government policy was to either completely prohibit films with potentially seditious or subject them to strict censorship. Thyagabhoomi was the first film released in Madras to be banned. As the British Government believed that Thyagabhoomi supported the Congress Party due to the visuals of congress cap wearing people in scenes as well as a sing rendered by D.K. Pattammal Desiya Sevai Seyya Vareer, it was banned as soon as the Governor took over the administration in 1940 when the film had already been running full forweeks. Unfazed by the declaration K Subrahmanyam and S.S. Vasan announced that shows would run for free continuously in Gaitey theatre until the ban declaration was served to it. This brought in a huge rush of viewers and finally the ban became enforced after a lathi charge took place inside the theatreSambu Sastri is a Brahmin priest who shelters Harijans who had been rendered homeless in a cyclone and is eventually excommunicated from the orthodox Hindu society and moves to Madras. The focus then shifts to Sambu Sastris daughter Savitri who is illtreated by her Westernized husband Sridharan and is eventually driven out of his palatial house in Calcutta. Meanwhile, Sambu Sastri had offered his ancestral home to Sridharan as dowry and hence Savitri finds herself homeless when she arrives in her native village. She gives birth to a baby girl Charu in hospital and entrusts her to the care of her father and continues on her wanderings. Sambu Sastri, meanwhile, along with Harijan Nallan, embarks on Gandhian social up

Source: Wikipedia