Marumagal (transl. Daughter-in-law) is a 1953 Indian Tamil-language drama film, produced by Lena Chettiar on Krishna Pictures banner and directed by D. Yoganand. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao, Padmini and Lalitha, with music composed by C. R. Subburaman. It was simultaneously shot in Telugu-language as Ammalakkalu (transl. Mothers and Sisters).^[1]

This is the plot of the Telugu version.

Ramaiah (B. R. Panthulu) & Kistaiah (D. Balasubramanyam) are close friends and farmers. Ramaiah's family consists of his wife Sugunamma (Rushyendramani) and two sons Sundar (Amarnath), Kumar (N. T. Rama Rao) and a daughter Rupa (Surabhi Balasaraswathi), who are struggling for their daily needs. On the guidance of Kishtaiah, Ramaiah starts a small contract business in the town for which Kistaiah organizes the amount by mortgaging his wife's jewelry. Right now, Ramaiah settles in the town, returns the debt and also promises to couple up Kishtaiah's daughter Usha (Padmini) with Kumar. Meanwhile, Ramaiah's sons move to town for education when this Ammalakkalu heckles at Usha which makes Kistaiah offended, so, he too joins Usha in the same school. Years roll by, Kumar & Usha grow up together and love each other. At present, Ramaiah arranges his elder son Sundar's marriage with a shrew woman Shanta (Lalitha). During the time of the wedding, Ammalakkalu provokes Sugunamma and she insults Kistaiah's wife when a rift arises between families. Here Kistaiah becomes furious leaves the venue and even breaks up the match of Usha & Kumar. So, they perform register marriage when soft-hearted Ramaiah welcomes the couple into the home. But Sugunamma & Shanta are very cold towards Usha. During that plight, Kumar leaves abroad for higher studies and Usha faces a lot of difficulties in her in-law's house. The rest of the story how she gets rid of these problems and reunited the family.

• N. T. Rama Rao as Kumar
• Padmini as Usha
• Lalitha as Shanta

Tamil version

Telugu version

• Relangi as Riyo
• Amarnath as Sundar
• Dr. Sivaramakrishnaiah as Achchaiah
• B. R. Panthulu as Ramaiah
• D. Balasubramanyam as Kishtaiah
• Suryakantham as Seshamma
• Rushyendramani as Sugunamma
• Surabhi Kamalabai as Parvathi
• Surabhi Balasaraswathi as Rupa

The music was composed by C. R. Subburaman with background music to be completed later by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy and Party after the untimely death of C. R. Subburaman.T. K. Ramamoorthy acted as his assistant in several films and was asked by the producer to complete the music for the film. Tunes for both languagres are the same.

Tamil soundtrack

However, there was one song in the film "Aanukkoru Penn Pillai" that was composed by G. Ramanathan. Lyrics by Udumalai Narayana Kavi & K. D. Santhanam. Singer is T. R. Ramachandran. Playback singers are A. M. Rajah, C. R. Subburaman, P. A. Periyanayaki, M. L. Vasanthakumari, Jikki, A. P. Komala & A. G. Rathnamala.

Telugu soundtrack

Playback singers are A. M. Rajah, Pithapuram Nageswara Rao, P. A. Periyanayaki, M. L. Vasanthakumari, Jikki, A. P. Komala & R. Balasaraswathi Devi.

The film fared well at box office in both languages, but the Telugu version was more successful.^[2] In Ammalakkalu, the duet song sung by Relangi became popular in Telugu districts.^[2]