the Elphinstone Theatre in Madras; the film netted 50,000 after being screened in India, Burma, Ceylon, the Federated Malay States and Singapore. The film yielded 15,000 which Muthiah noted to be a "tidy profit in those days." Writer Firoze Rangoonwalla notes that a reviewer for The Mail praised the film: "It has been prepared with great care and is drawing full houses". Guy pointed out that with the film's critical and commercial success, Nataraja Mudaliar had "created history". Since no print is known to have survived, it appears to be a lost film. Keechaka Vadhams success inspired Nataraja Mudaliar to make a series of films based on Hindu mythology: Draupadi Vastrapaharanam (1918), Lava Kusa (1919), Shiva Leela (1919), Rukmini Satyabhama (1922) and Mahi Ravana (1923). He retired from filmmaking in 1923 after a fire killed his son and destroyed his production house. Nataraja Mudaliar is widely regarded as "the father of Tamil cinema," and his films helped lay the foundation for the South Indian cinema industry; his works inspired Raghupathi Surya Prakasa, the son of Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, and J. C. Daniel. See also Raja Harishchandra, the first Indian silent film Kalidas, the first sound film in Tamil and Telugu cinema List of lost films Notes References Bibliography Books Newspapers Websites External links 1910s directorial debut films 1910s historical films 1910s in Indian cinema 1910s lost films Films based on the Mahabharata Hindu mythological films Indian black-and-white films Indian historical films Indian silent films Lost Indian films