On the Tamil screen ... the first novel Menaka is the first film based on the novel ... In the early days of the Tamil screen where myths, legends and stories of Raja Rani were filmed. This is a novel written by Vaduvoor Duraisamy Iyengar, a famous Buddhist writer of the day. Before being made into a film, Maneka's novel was adapted into a play and became popular on stage several times. Back then, actor M.K. Radha's father, M. Kandasamy Mudaliar wrote the script for the play Maneka (The play was produced and presented by the DK Shanmugam brothers)