Vigathakumaran () is a 1930 Indian silent film written, produced and directed by J. C. Daniel. He also played the role of hero in the movie. A social drama, Vigathakumaran was the first Malayalam feature film and J. C. Daniel is considered as the father of Malayalam cinema industry for this work. This movie is also the first Indian social drama feature film. This film is lost, as no copy of the film has survived. Plot Chandrakumar, son of a rich man in Travancore is kidnapped by the villain Bhoothanathan to Ceylon. The efforts of his parents to find him do not succeed and Chandrakumar is brought up as a labourer in an estate. The estate owner, who is British, takes a liking to him and in time, Chandrakumar rises to the post of Superintendent. At this time Jayachandran, a distant relative of Chandrakumar happens to come to Ceylon. Incidentally, he is robbed of all his belongings by Bhoothanathan. Stranded, he gets acquainted with Chandrakumar and they become close friends. They come to Travancore where Chandrakumar's sister falls in love with Jayachandran. Meanwhile, Bhoothanathan attempts to kidnap her and the duo's timely intervention saves her. A scar on the back reveals Chandrakumar's identity which eventually leads to the happy reunion of the family. After this the film ends. Cast J. C. Daniel as Jayachandran P. K. Rosy as Sarojam Johnson as Bhoothanathan Sunder Raj as Chandrakumar Production J.C. Daniel Nadar developed a passion for cinema while completing his higher education in Travancore. He was interested in martial arts and was an expert in chelambatam, the traditional martial art of southern Travancore. He published an English book titled Indian Art of Fencing and Sword Play in 1915, when he was 15. Daniel was well aware of the scope of cinema as a public medium. He wished to popularise chelambatam by harnessing the popular influence of cinema. At that time the common mass of Kerala were not even aware of cinema, hence the idea was quite a challenge. He took the challenge and left to Madras (now Chennai) to learn techniques of film-making and to acquire necessary equipments. Madras was the budding centre of film production in South India and had the only permanent talkies in South India, named Gaiety which was established in 1912. However, he could not get what he wanted from Madras and was even denied permission to enter