President Panchaksharam

President Panchaksharam is a 1959 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed by A. Bhimsingh and written by B. S. Ramiah. It is based on the play of the same name written by Ramiah, itself adapted from the 1836 play The Government Inspector by Russian Nikolai Gogol. The film stars S. S. Rajendran, S. V. Sahasranamam and B. Saroja Devi. It was released on 10 July 1959 and became a commercial success.

Plot
A District Board president has a daughter studying in Madras. While he and his wife have different men as prospective grooms for her in their minds, the girl falls in love with her friend Sigamani. The two aspiring grooms come to the president's town to finalise the marriage. Suddenly, the president receives a letter stating that the government is sending an official to secretly investigate his fraudulent affairs. When Sigamani visits the president and says he loves his daughter, the president mistakenly identifies Sigamani as the official.

Cast

 * Male cast
 * S. S. Rajendran as Sikhamani
 * S. V. Sahasranamam as President Panchaksharam
 * T. R. Ramachandran
 * V. R. Rajagopal
 * D. Balasubramaniam
 * D. V. Narayanasami
 * Pakkirisami
 * Kottapuli Jayaraman


 * Female cast
 * B. Saroja Devi as Panchaksharam's daughter
 * S. N. Lakshmi
 * T. V. Kumudhini
 * N. Chandhini
 * Dance
 * Sayee Subbulakshmi

Production
Playwright B. S. Ramiah adapted Russian dramatist Nikolai Gogol's 1836 play The Government Inspector into a Tamil play titled President Panchaksharam with S. V. Sahasranamam starring. The play, which was produced by Sahasranamam's own company Seva Stage, and had Devika in a key role, was critically acclaimed, and it was adapted into a film with the same title. Sahasranamam, who appeared in the play, returned for the film as well. The film adaptation was directed and edited by A. Bhimsingh, and produced by V. Arunachalam and Chinna Annamalai under Savithri Pictures. Ramiah wrote the screenplay and dialogues. Cinematography was handled by M. Karnan, and the art direction by Chowdhury. The film featured a musical play based on V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. The final length of the film was 14614 feet.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by G. Ramanathan.

Release and reception
President Panchaksharam was released on 10 July 1959. Kanthan of Kalki positively reviewed the film for being different from formulaic Tamil films released before. The film was commercially successful, and film historian Randor Guy said it would be remembered for "the interesting screenplay and good performances by Sahasranamam, Rajendran and Saroja Devi."