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Kaliyuga Kannan

1974 Tamil film directed by Krishnan-Panju

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ12976570 ↗
Source-derived summary

Kaliyuga Kannan (transl. Kannan, from the Age of Vice) is a 1974 Indian Tamil-language devotional comedy drama film directed by Krishnan–Panju. It is based on the play Sri Krishna Vijayam written by Vaali. The film stars Sowcar Janaki, Jaishankar, Jayachitra and Thengai Srinivasan. It was released on 13 November 1974 and emerged a commercial success. The film was later remade in Telugu as Devude Digivaste (1975), in Kannada as Devara Duddu (1976), and in Hindi as Yehi Hai Zindagi (1977).

Plot

While Sambu Iyer's wife is a devotee of Krishna, Sambu Iyer questions God's partiality and judgement. He happens to spend the money his wife had kept aside for God as an offering on a competition which he wins and uses to become rich. When God himself appears and asks for that money, he keeps putting off the return of the money taking credit for his success while blaming the lord for his failures. In the end, he concedes and acknowledges that God is fair, money is the root of all evil and reconciles with God at the time of his death.

Cast

Sowcar Janaki as Gayatri

Jaishankar as Sambu's son

Jayachitra as Radha

V. K. Ramasamy as Radha's father

Neelakantan as Krishnan

Thengai Srinivasan as Sambu Iyer

Production

Kaliyuga Kannan is the inaugural production of Ajantha Enterprises, and is an adaptation of Sri Krishna Vijayam, a play written by Vaali that featured Thengai Srinivasan as the protagonist.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Kaliyuga Kannan” as 1974 Tamil film directed by Krishnan-Panju. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Kaliyuga, Kannan and Tamil.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1974, 1975, 1976, 1977—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1974. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Kaliyuga, Kannan and Tamil providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Kaliyuga Kannan”, the useful work is to connect “1974 Tamil film directed by Krishnan-Panju” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12976570. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

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  • Tracing reception history
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Kaliyuga Kannan”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Kaliyuga Kannan primary sources, Kaliyuga Kannan archive and Kaliyuga research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Kaliyuga Kannan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.