Uthama Puthiran (1958 film)

Uthama Puthiran
Theatrical release poster
Tamil	உத்தம புத்திரன்
Directed by	T. Prakash Rao
Produced by	S. Krishnamoorthy C. V. Sridhar T. Govindarajan
Written by	C. V. Sridhar
Screenplay by	C. V. Sridhar T. Prakash Rao
Based on	Uthama Puthiran by T. R. Sundaram
Starring	Sivaji Ganesan Padmini M. N. Nambiar P. Kannamba K. A. Thangavelu
Music by	G. Ramanathan
Cinematography	A. Vincent
Edited by	N. M. Sankar
Production company	Venus Pictures
Distributed by	Venus Pictures
Release date	7 February 1958
Running time	157 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Uthama Puthiran (English: Virtuous Son) is a 1958 Indian Tamil-language historical action film directed by Tatineni Prakash Rao. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, Padmini and M. N. Nambiar in the lead roles, while K. A. Thangavelu, Ragini and P. Kannamba play supporting roles. It is the first film to feature Sivaji Ganesan in two distinct roles. The film was released on 7 February 1958, and ran for over 100 days in theatres. The film was also released in Telugu as Veera Prathap and in Hindi as Sitamgar.

Uthama Puthiran is the story of a queen who gives birth to twins. But as fate would have it, one of the twins is forcefully abandoned and grows up elsewhere. He grows up as a kind and honest man, while the other twin grows up as a greedy and arrogant man. When fate brings both the twins together and they start fighting, it is only their mother who can bring peace. The film's plot is loosely based on The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas. It is the second Tamil film to be based on the same novel after the 1940 film of the same name.

In the kingdom of Malarpuri, the queen (P. Kannamba) delivers a male child. Her brother Naganathan (M. N. Nambiar) replaces it with a dead child with help from a maidservant, and informs king Varaguna Pandiyan (Sadasiva Rao) that the newborn is dead. To Naganathan's surprise, the queen gives birth to another boy soon after delivering the first. Minister Gunaseelar arrives by then and the king is informed of the birth of two children, one dead and one alive. Everyone is happy that at least one is alive. Naganathan decides to kill the first infant and hands it over to his servant Somappa (Stunt Somu). However, Somappa and his wife raise the prince in a forest.