I am back with the 20th movie of the list and I hope to finish it by this year at least :) As I quipped in the last post, the movie I am going to talk about is the classic of Tamil Cinema. I can confidently say there hasn’t been a movie that can beat the quality of this movie. Mahendran is a master story teller who tried to weave stories that are realistic and he somehow brought the right expressions from his actors.

Udhiripookal (1979)

Udhiripookal is the masterpiece of Mahendran based on the short story titled “Chitrannai” (Stepmom) written by Pudhumaipithan. The movie had Vijayan, Ashwini, Madhumalini, Sundar, Chaaruhassan, Sarath Babu and Bhoopathy with Ashok Kumar handling the camera and Ilaiyaraaja composing the musical score. The movie was produced by Radha Balakrishnan of Dimple Creations.

The story is about a village chieftain Sundaravadivelu (Vijayan), who exploits the village and makes sure that none of them live happy in the village except him. He is married to a good hearted woman (Ashwini), who is prone to illness. Sighting her illness and children as reason, Sundaravadivelu tries to marry her sister too. But her sister (Madhumalini) falls in love with a school teacher (Sundar) who comes to work in a school owned by Sundaravadivelu. The story revolves around how villagers fight against Sundaravadivelu.

Why it’s special?

1. On the first look, the story seems to be a simple good vs evil fight but the specialty of the movie resides in the way the scenes are conceived and directed.

2. Mahendran weaves a poetry on the screen with brilliant screenplay and scene conceptions. He never shows the violence and moves on to symbolism that has far more greater impact than showing the original violence itself. For instance the iconic climax scene where the protagonist is forced to jump in the flowing river is unmatched till date. The viewers end up feeling sympathetic towards the protagonist amidst the rage they have towards his atrocities. The whole movie is filled with such gems of scene conceptions.

3. Mahendran showed that you don’t need pages of dialogues to express the emotions. The film is filled with sharper dialogues mainly uttered by the protagonist’s father in law played by Charuhassan.

3. The fantastic acting of the leads especially Ashwini shows melancholy through her expressions. Vijayan as the protagonist evokes hatred. Master Raja and Baby Anju as the children give us a heart wrenching portrayal. Every actor in the supporting cast are perfectly chosen – even the smallest characters like the hair dresser and teachers in the school make a great impact in the movie. Sarath Babu gives a dignified cameo and Bhoopathy as Sundaravadivelu’s brother makes the casting perfect

4. The music. Mahendran has been collaborating with Ilaiyaraaja for all his movies. The songs in his movies go with the narration but he gives challenging sequences for Raaja to play around in the background score and Udhiri Pookal showed why Raaja is a master composer when it comes to background scores and interludes. The second interlude in Azhagiya Kanne song is the best example that blends the magic of Raaja, the brilliance of Mahendran and the acting prowess of Ashwini

5. Udhiripookal is a perfect movie that combines master class writing, direction, acting and music. It can’t get better than this

Why is it in the list?

1. Udhiripookal is an epitome of what Tamil movies should have been. But we got lost in the process.

2. For inspiring a number of directors to come in to movie making. Udhiripookal invariably stays in the top ten movies list of most of the young and established directors.

3. There hasn’t been a movie that matched the excellence of Udhiripookal in Tamil Cinema

4.Maniratnam famously said “If I get anywhere near what Mahendran did in Udhiri Pookkal, I’ll be a happy man.“ Do you need a better testimonial for this movie?

Trivia

1. As I have quoted earlier, the movie is based on the short story “Chitrannai” written by Pudhumaipithan. He is considered to be the father of short story revolution in Tamil Language. He wrote on progressive themes that became controversial during his time. Although his literary life was short, he is still revered by Tamil authors.

2. One of the teacher characters in the movie is played by Anbalaya Prabhakaran. He later became a famous actor/director/producer. One of his famous creations would be Vaigasi Porandhachu that launched Prashanth

3.Bhoopathy is the son of Manorama. Although quite talented, he never became successful in silver screen.

4.Charu Hassan. elder brother of Kamal Hassan and father of Suhasini Maniratnam had done interesting roles in his tenure. He also won a National Award for his role in a Kannada movie Tabarana Kathe in 1987. It’s very interesting to note that there were 3 National Award winners from the same family in 3 consecutive years. 1986 – Suhasini (Best Actress) for Sindhu Bhairavi, 1987 for Charu Hassan and 1988 – Kamal Hassan for Nayagan.

5. Udhirpookal didn’t win any major awards in the following year. No national awards. No Filmfares. The National Award for Best Tamil film had not been announced for 1980 as per records.  No awards for a movie that could have even fulfilled the oscar dream of India. The movie remains as an unsung classic of Indian Cinema.

Have a look at the complete list in the following link
http://www.sylvianism.com/50-tamil-movies-to-watch-before-you-die/

Subtlety thy name is Mahendran. When Tamil cinema was reeling under overrated emotions, a few directors tried to break the norms of Tamil cinema. As I already explained in previous posts, I would consider this as the golden period of Tamil cinema. Mahendran played a very important role in shaping up this period of directorial excellence

Mullum Malarum (1978)

Mullum Malarum is a movie that depicts the love between a ruffian brother and innocent sister. The movie had Rajinikanth, Sarath Babu, Shoba and Fatafat Jayalakshmi in lead roles with Balu Mahendra wielding the camera and Ilayaraja composing the score. It was produced by V.Mohan (Anandhi Films) and directed by Mahendran.

Set in a rural backdrop near Annamalai Hills in Tamil Nadu, it paints the story of Kali (Rajinikanth) and his sister Valli (Shoba). Kali is a winch operator in the hills and enters Kumaran (Sarath Babu), an officer and the boss of Kali. Interesting encounters between Valli and Kumaran blossoms in to a tender love between them. Kali doesn’t approve this love while he falls for Manga (Fatafat Jayalakshmi), a bratty village girl. In a freak incident, Kali loses one of his hands. Valli is torn between the love for her brother and Kumaran. The whole village tries to arrange for the marriage between Kumaran and Valli with the help of Manga. The climax tells you who Valli chooses to be with.

Why it’s so special?

1. Although brother-sister relationships have been portrayed a lot of times in the past (Paasa Malar, Pachai Vilakku), they were always filled with an overdose of melodrama. Mullum Malarum deliberately broke the rules to give more subtle, natural version of a brother – sister relationship. It broke the stereotypes and gave a honest portrayal of the relationship

2. The acting of the ‘actor’ Rajinikanth rather than the superstar. You would not believe that it was only the 3rd year in his film career. The anti-heroish act of the first half and the disabled man in the second half was simply brilliant. He was challenged in every quarters by the young Shoba (was just 16) with her portrayal of innocent sister. Her eyes showed more emotions than her face when she is torn between the love of her brother and lover.

3. The able supporting cast of Fatafat Jayalakshmi and Sarath Babu (some feel he is a miscast, but there couldn’t have been a better person given the choices for the director).

4. The brilliance of the man by the name Ilayaraja. If Senthazham Poovil is an evergreen classic, Raman Aandalum is still one of the most favourites of Rajini fans. Adi Penne is a uncelebrated classic and Nitham Nitham nellu choru provided a prelude to interesting rural orchestrations that Ilayaraja would do later in various movies.

5. The rusticity in the movie is the main reason for the honest portrayals. Balu Mahendra (Cinematography) and Mahendran have worked hard to preserve it. A deft screenplay, some wonderful writing and brilliant portrayals made the movie an instant classic

Why it’s in the list?

1. It broke the stereotypical portrayals of brother and sister relationships sans the melodrama
2. For the ‘actor’ Rajinikanth – one of his best
3. The subtlety of Mahendran

Trivia

1. Mullum Malarum is based on a short story by Uma Chandran that won the Kalki Silver Jubilee Issue award.

2.Mahendran had scrapped the “Senthazham Poovil” song in the original cut due to the budget constraints and producer couldn’t provide the money. Hearing this, Panchu Arunachalam gave some money to shoot the song as he thought it was too brilliant to be left out. We would have lost a classically shot song, if not for Panju Arunachalam.

3.The movie has two actresses who died of suicides, Fatafat Jayalakshmi and Shoba both committed suicide after a few years. Tamil industry lost two great actresses. Shoba won a national award for Pasi, a year later at the age of 17.

4.Mahendran was originally born as Alexander.It’s said that he changed the name in honour of a school senior, who was a famous athlete.

5.Mullum Malarum is the only movie where the 3 greats came together to work – Mahendran, Balu Mahendra and Ilayaraja. Incidentally, Kamal introduced Balu Mahendra to Mahendran.

If you think Mullum Malarum was a classic, the next movie that I am going to write about equals any international classic. A movie that I am proud that it was made in Tamil.

Bharathiraja doesn’t love criticisms. But when the media rubbed him in the wrong side early in his career, he answered in the way he could. So what was the criticism all about? His first two movies (16 Vayadhinile, Kizhakke Pogum Rail) were village based and he was branded as a director who can only give rural based movies. Sigappu Rojakkal was a revenge that he took on his critics and it became another trendsetter.

Sigappu Rojakkal (1978)

Sigappu Rojakkal is a thriller with Kamal Hassan and Sridevi in the lead with a unknown (at that time) supporting cast of Bhagyaraj, Vadivukkarasi, etc.,The movie’s music was scored by Ilayaraja with the cinematography of PS Nivas. The movie was written and directed by Bharathiraja.

Sigappu Rojakkal is about a young man Dileep (Kamal) who kills young women in the city after seducing them, buries them in his bungalow garden below rose bushes with the help of his step father and a dumb loyal servant. He falls in love with Sarada (Sridevi), who is a poor girl making her life working as a sales girl in a cloth shop. Much against his wishes of his step father, he marries her. When she enters the bungalow, strange things happen and slowly finds the truth about her husband. Sarada realises that Dileep is a victim of child abuse by various women and had transformed into an psychopathic killer. In the end, he tries to kill Sarada as she finds the truth but ends up in mental asylum after a freak encounter with police.

Why it’s so special?

1. Sigappu Rojakkal is the first psychopath killer story of Tamil movies and one of the best thrillers to have been made.

2. A wonderfully crafted writing in which both the lead characters had the space to showcase their talent. Kamal as Dileep – a charming businessman with the other side showed why he is gonna become the benchmark for actors in the future – the “nothing scene” is one instance whereas Sridevi as the innocent Sarada steals your heart and you just want her to escape from the clutches of Dileep.

3. Ilayaraja was in second year of his career. If the songs like Ninaivo Oru Paravai and Miniminikku are classics, the background score is brilliant. The Dileep theme gives you mixed feeling of sympathy and eeriness to the situations. The final scenes are totally his forte where he runs riot with his music

4. The reason why I am reiterating the fact that it’s one of the well written movies is that because the movie is an open-ended thriller. The audience know that the hero is the killer and he may attempt to kill the heroine. The reason for the murders is unknown and the suspense is sustained throughout the span of the movie. You are forced to see the other side of the killer and be sympathetic about it. The screenplay is deft but there are a few minute mistakes in the movie but it’s overcome by the wonderful casting and direction

Why it’s in the list?

1. For the guts of Bharthiraaja, who had an anti-hero as his lead protagonist and pulled off such performances from the lead actors.

2. A trendsetter – gave the confidence to other directors to move from their comfort zones and make different movies. I think any psychopathic story can’t go without the shades of Sigappu Rojakkal. We even had a cheap comparison lately.

3. The first original thriller in Tamil Cinema as all the previous attempts were based on Hollywood flicks.

Trivia

1. Bharathiraaja never knew how to write English dialogues for this movie and he had to pull off some English words which he hears in daily life (told by him during a promo program for Nadunisi Naaygal)

2. The movie was originally offered to Sivakumar (!!!) but he refused the role as it would not suit him. (Anecdote from Idhu Rajapaattai Alla – autobiography of Sivakumar)

3. The movie was remade as “Red Rose (1980)” in Hindi with Rajesh Khanna and Poonam Dhillon. Although critically acclaimed, the movie was a box office loss.

4. Bharathiraja is probably will be the director who introduced the most number of lead actors and actresses to Tamil cinema. The list includes the “R” actresses – Revathi,Radhika,Radha,Ranjita, Rekha, Riya Sen,Rati Agnihotri, Rohini and other wonderful actors like Napolean, Raja, Suganya, Bhagyaraj, Goundamani and Vijayashanti

5. The famed assistant directors from Bharathiraja became successful directors. The people who started their career with Bharathiraja include Bhagyaraj, Mani Vannan, Parthiban.

6. A strong supporter of Tamil Eelam cause, Bharathiraja returned his Padmashree back in order to show his protest against the inaction by the govt.

All Indian movies are musicals. We are one of the few movie makers in the world who love to express the situations of the movies through songs, dance and music. This is one of the main reasons why Indian movies are loved abroad and sometimes a few movies are really extravagant with music and dance. The next movie in my list is one such.

Thillana Mohanambal (1968)

Thillana Mohanambal is a story of two egoistic geniuses falling in love head over heels but never had the mettle to express each other. Too simplistic? A simple one-liner can become a classic with a superb screenplay and wonderful acting. This movie is an epitome of what I am talking about. Thillana Mohanambal is a novel by Kothamangalam Subbu and adapted by AP Nagarajan. Sikkal Shanmugasundaram (Sivaji Ganesan) is a renowned Nagaswaram maestro and egoistic about his talent meets the Bharathanatyam genius Mohanambal (Padmini) and they fall in love instantly because of mutual admiration towards their talents. Her mother (CK Saraswathi) wants her to get married to a wealthy man in-order to get a luxurious life. She tries to patch Mohana with different people through the help of Vaithi (Nagesh – at his Villainy best) but fails at every instant due to the determination of Mohana. Shanmugasundaram misunderstands Mohana and gets in to a depressed state but through the help of friends their love travels to an happy ending.

Why it’s so special?

1. The ensemble cast and brilliant acting. Sivaji and Padmini are fabulous. If you take the 10 best pairs in Tamil Cinema, they will rank right at the top, simply because of the chemistry and the way they try to overpower each other whenever they act together. Thillana Mohanambal provides the right premise for both the actors to shine.

2. The supporting cast of AVM Rajan, Balayya, SV Sahasranamam, TR Ramachandran, Thangavelu, CK Saraswathi and apt cameos from Balaji, Nambiyar make the movie perfect. You would be amazed at the screenplay and how each actor is provided with scenes where they can shine in their own way. For instance, the train scene where Balayya steals the show completely from the lead characters.

3. There are two actors without who Thillana Mohanambal would be half baked. Vaithi played by Nagesh and Jil Jill Ramamani by Manorama. Vaithi is the real villain of the story and Nagesh cakewalks the role. His saguni like villainy will make you laugh and hate him at the same time. Nobody other than Nagesh could have pulled it off. Jill Jill Ramamani on the other hand is the darling of the movie. Manorama’s portrayal is splendid with the unique gait and voice modulation. Even sometimes you feel that Sivaji let her to overshadow him. Don’t miss the folk dance performance from Manorama.

4. The music and dance. This is one of the movies whose soundtrack should be preserved in any Tamil music buff’s collection. Maraindhirunthu Parkum, Nalamthana and Pandiyan Naanirukka are instant classics. The musical pieces at various points of time performed by the Nagaswaram Troupe especially the western score done through traditional instruments are out of the world. the music was composed by KV Mahadevan. If music was perfect, the dance sequences are overwhelming. Padmini was at her best through the choreography of PS Gopalakrishnan. The Thillana contest between Nagaswaram and Bharathanatyam is a sequence not to be missed.

5. It’s one of the perfect screenplays as it was adapted from a 3 volume novel and wonderfully directed too.

Why it’s in our list?

1.One of the best novel adaptations and I could not find a better musical than this.

2.Perfectly casted, perfectly acted, perfectly composed (song and dance), perfectly written and perfectly directed

3.One of the few movies in Tamil which will not bore you even if you see it innumerable times and enjoy the movie from any point

Trivia

1.The nagaswaram played by Sivaji and AVM Rajan was played offline by MPN Sethuraman and MPN Ponnusami.

2.The western notes that’s played by Sivaji’s troupe during the western band standoff scene was composed by Harikesnallur Muthaiah Bagavathar for Madurai Mani Iyer. It was used by KV Mahadevan for the movie

3.The 3 volume novel written by Kothamangalam Subbu was published as a series in Ananda Vikatan 25 years before the movie was made. Interestingly, Vaithi’s caricature made by Gopu (artist) was very similar to Nagesh.

4.It was widely rumored that Padmini wanted to marry Sivaji. It was because of the screen chemistry shared by both the actors. She got married to an US based Physician Dr. Ramachandran and instituted her own dance school in New Jersey

5.The story is based out of the Kaveri delta area of Tanjore and adjacent places. Sikkal is a small village in Nagapattinam district and known for Singaravelan Temple. But the whole movie was shot in sets except for few scenes in Railway stations

Useless Trivia:

Tanjore Railway station makes a small cameo. (Giving credit to my native :P)

Click here to see the other movies in this 50 Tamil Movies to watch before you die list. You will love the list if you like this article.

Naan Avan Illai (1974)

No No No I am not speaking about the crappy remake directed by Selva with Jeevan in the lead. This is the classic of K.Balachander and Gemini Ganesh. Gemini was one of the most underrated actors in Tamil movie world as he was overshadowed by two giants – Sivaji and MGR, but he carved a niche for himself when it came to romantic movies. K.Balachander on the other hand casted in some of the most memorable performances. In fact, he was the most favorite actor next to Nagesh for K.Balachander. Velli Vizha. Iru Kodugal, Punnagai were interesting casting of this versatile actor. But the most memorable of all would be “Naan Avan Illai”

Naan Avan Illai was based on a Marathi play To Mi Nahvech written by Prahald K.Atre adapted to suit the local audiences. The story starts with a courtroom where a man named Nanjil Nambi (Gemini Ganesh) is accused of cheating women through marriage and robbing them off. The first man claims him to be his brother David Asirvatham who ran away after marrying a dumb woman. Nanjil Nambi dumps his lawyer to conduct the argument by himself while public prosecutor (Senthamarai) unfolds the case through different women cheated by David Asirvatham.Vijaysree (Varalakshmi) and her family through a marriage bureau as Lakshman Sharma, Ammukutty (Jayabharathi) and her brother (Kamal Hassan in a small role) as a naval officer Chatruganan Menon, Rani (Jayasudha) and her mother as Hariharadas Swamigal (claiming as Krishna’s avatar), Violet Solomon (a widow) as Jack Solomon (an anglo-indian) are the different women cheated by David.

The only argument that Nanjil Nambi keeps against the prosecution is that he and David Asirvatham are two different people. He even brings his wife Thanammal (Gandhimathi) as his alibi. The Judge (Poornam Viswanathan) gets confused over the way he escapes each prosecution through his intelligence, whereas his daughter Salima (Lakshmi) admires the intelligence of Nanjil Nambi. Salima had met David Asirvatham as Akbar Ali (an Urdu poet). Akbar Ali even cheats her father through a money order. What happens in the end is unfolded in an interesting and comic screenplay. Unveiling the end in this article would not do a justice to the movie.

The movie was produced by Gemini Ganesh under his Sri Narayani productions with music from MS Viswanathan and whole lot of actors like MN Rajam, Thengai Srinivasan, Asokan etc., doing wonderful cameos

Why it’s so special?

1. A comic thriller. No it’s not an oxymoron. A thriller can be comic too and “Naan Avan Illai” fits the bill perfectly. The movie perfectly paced with wonderful overdose of comic scenes

2. The movie also brought the acting skills of Gemini Ganesh as he was previously casted in stereotypical romantic roles. The scene in which the inspector and the lawyer try to find his mother tongue is hilarious to the core

3. While Varalakshmi and Jayabharathi portray the naive Jayasudha sizzles as a wronged woman. In fact Jayasudha steals the show in the small role provided to her. Lakshmi’s role was actually quite interesting as someone who has crush with a wrong guy

4. Wonderful musical score with two classic songs “Radha Kadhal Varadha” and “Naan Chinnanchiru Pillai” by MS Viswanathan

Why it’s in the list?

1. There has been a host of movies where the protagonist and the antagonist are the same. But this one stays right at the top where the story is made believable by an excellent screenplay. The real hero of the movie is the screenplay and not the actors

2. One of the best movies of Gemini Ganesh as an actor in fact Gemini himself claimed that this as is best performance ever in few of his interviews. He comes in 9 different disguises and each character portrays a different facet of this versatile actor

3. The screenplay, casting and acting is so impeccable that till the final scene the audience are made to think that David and Nanjil Nambi are two different people.

4. A must watch comic thriller from KB’s stable

Trivia

1. Gemini Ganesh produced this movie but it was not a commercial success. Now the movie is considered to be a classic and it was remade with Jeevan in the lead in 2007. The remake was a commercial success leading to a second part in 2009

2. Gemini Ganesh originally worked as a production executive with Gemini Studios. He actually started acting as a villain in Thai Ullam in which RS Manohar was the hero. Gemini was even a villain against Asokan in Modern Theatres’ Vallavanakku Vallavan

3. Gemini was an avid cricketer. In fact he captained an Madras Christian College (MCC) cricket team. He had 8 children out of which Dr.Kamala Selvaraj and Rekha are the prominent personalities

4. Kamal Hassan is credited as dance master in “Naan Avan Illai” but which song did he choreograph is not known. He is even credited as Asst.Director in some of the Balachander movies

5. The real story writer Prahalad Atre is not credited in the opening or end credits. In fact, interestingly there is no credit for the story. K.Balachander is credited only for Screenplay, Dialogue and Direction. The story is said to be based on a true story which has come in newspapers.

So I am back continuing with my list. I am always on and off with my blog so bear with me. Thanks to all those who still continue to read me even though I am very erratic in posting. On the revival of the series, I have made a separate page where the whole set of movies is listed. You can have a look at it here. Now for the 14th movie.

Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal (1976)

One of the toughest jobs in movies is to adapt a novel in to a screenplay. Somehow readers will find a flaw to say that the novel was better than the movie and many have failed miserably in this regard. There have been worst instances when Sujatha’s novels have become extremely forgettable movies. This is the first movie in our list which is a direct adaptation of a Sahitya Akademi award winning novel – Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal by Jayakanthan. Jayakanthan is one of the widely misunderstood authors of this era and writing about him will need a separate post. So let’s keep it aside for sometime

Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal is a novel adaptation by A.Bhimsingh with Lakshmi, Srikanth,Nagesh, YG Parthasarathy, Sundarabai and Jayageetha. The music was scored by MS Viswanathan with Kannadasan’s meaningful lyrics. Ganga (Lakshmi) is a young college student takes a lift in a car on a rainy day and she has a forcible (debated later in the movie) sexual encounter with the guy who drives the car. Although her mom (Sundarabai) tries to salvage the situation, her brother throws her out of the house citing disgrace to the family. She then moves to Madras with her maternal uncle (YGP) who also takes care of her education. He also makes sexual advances towards her citing the incident she went through and claims that she can never become someone’s wife but only a concubine.

A collage of scenes

After graduation, she gets employed in a private firm and accidentally bumps in to Prabu (Srikanth), with whom she had the sexual encounter initially. She slowly introduces herself to him and they both become friends, even discuss about that evening. She debates to herself about the sexual encounter and realizes that she willfully accepted that intercourse. The friendship gradually blossoms in to a lovely relationship but Prabu tries to convince her to marry someone else. Due to societal pressures, Prabu leaves her at last but Ganga disguises herself as a widow and film ends up with a open ended question of what’s her future will be.

Why it’s so special?

1. The film is special because it gave that poetic start to those directors who wanted to tread in to bolder themes which read taboo in Tamil cinema. ‘Sila Nerangalil’ was a bold movie and definitely ahead of its time. It spoke sexuality issues, created virginity debate and even slammed the orthodoxy attitude on chastity.

2. The wonderful performances of the leads and the supporting cast. Lakshmi was brilliant and she bagged a National award for her role. She would have romped with an Oscar if this movie had been made in Hollywood. Srikanth with his restrained acting and emotional outbursts showed why needs to be rated with other better actors in town. Sundarabai as Ganga’s mother showed naivety and at the same time her practical approach when she finds her child is sexually assaulted is simply superb. Nagesh’s character is interesting. He acts as the writer, who watches Ganga in her different times. He even writes it and even comments on it. In fact, I never understood the character nor he gives a self-explanation to his acts (like the writer himself)

3. The brilliant musical score and songs. The final song “Veru Idam Thedi Povalo” is so meaningful and heart wrenching. The minimalistic BGM accentuates the impact of the movie

Why it makes to the list?

1. This movie is really a path breaker in the Tamil filmdom and encouraged a lot of directors to tread in to different story lines.

2. One of the best novel- movie adaptations. In fact, the best of the lot. Bhimsingh was even careful as he didn’t change the open-ended climax of the novel to change. There should have been huge oppositions to make it “politically’ and “socially” correct.

3. For the brilliance of Lakshmi – should I say anything more?

Trivia

1. This was not Jayakanthan’s first novel to be adapted to a movie. The first one was his own directorial venture “Unnai Pol Oruvan” which was released in 1965. Kamal Hassan borrowed the title of the movie for his 2009 remake of  “A Wednesday”. The other two works of Jayakanthan that had been adapted were “Oru nadigai nadagam Parkiral” and “Yarukkaga Azhuthan”. Interestingly, “Oru Nadigal Nadagam Parkiral” was made by A.Bhimsingh with Lakshmi in the lead.

2. Music composer Ilayaraja’s most favorite author is Jayakanthan and he produced a documentary on Jayakanthan titled “Yellaikalaigal Vistharitha Yezhuthukalaignan” (“The writer who expanded the boundaries”)

3. Jayakanthan still remains as one of the two Tamil authors to have won the prestigious Jnanpith Award for Literature. The other being Akilan for his Chitrapavai.

4. Due to her acting skills Lakshmi was fondly called “Pombala Sivaji” (Lady Sivaji) referring to Sivaji Ganesan, arguably the best actor that Tamil Cinema has ever produced.

5. In 1977, Lakshmi became the First actress to win a National Award for a Tamil movie.

I didn’t like Aadhavan and I gave a critical review of the movie. The critical review started immediately after the movie and my friends were crticising me that I am expecting too much from a masala movie.

Chinmaya, my friend asked over a Chicken in KFC, “So tell me which is a perfect masala”. I immediately sprung up and said ” Enga Veetu Pillai”. He snubbed and said ” the MGR movie? That’s a old one man”. I just smiled and said ” Absolutely no. Take any double action movie in any language barring a few exceptions like Vaali, you will have the same storyline as that movie. Even the re-runs of “Enga Veetu Pillai” made more money than the so called masalas of recent times”

I don’t hate masala movies in fact I love them because it depicts the true Indian movie style. A perfect masala should be enjoyable and should not be boring at any point of time. Glorifying Heroes – perfectly fine as long as the hero is Rajini and not Vishal. So here comes the mother of all masala Tamil movie of all times – “Enga Veetu Pillai”

Enga Veetu Pillai (1965)

Enga Veetu Pillai is a remake of Ramadu Bheemadu, a Telegu Movie starring NT Ramarao (Doh, why a remake in the list? There is a difference). Nagi Reddy, the famous Telugu film producer and the owner of Vijaya Productions makes this movie in Telugu and as it became a good hit, he remade this movie with minor changes to suit MG Ramachandran’s image in Tamil. It became a blockbuster in Tamil and still remembered.

Incidentally, the original is not a original too as it borrowed the storyline from Alexander Dumas’ Corsican Brothers. The story is about twin brothers Ramu and Ilango (MGR) separated in birth due to a family problem. Ramu, grown as innocent and spineless by his uncle, Narendran (MN Nambiar), who is also his Sister’s (Pandari Bai) husband. Narendran is waiting for Ramu’s 25th birthday in order to swindle the family property as written in the will of Ramu’s father. Ilango on the other hand is a spendthrift and happy go-lucky guy lives with his step-mom ( later revealed).

Leela ( Saroja Devi) initially chosen as the bride for Ramu dislikes him as she finds him cowardly but later meets Ilango, mistakes him to be Ramu and unknowingly helps him to swap places with Ramu in Narendran’s house. Ilango realizing the plight of people inthe house, stays there and teaches a lesson to Narendran. Ramu on the other hand lives peacefully at Ilango’s house and falls in love with a village girl. The confusions and mix-ups dominate the movie unroll everyone finds the past and all ends well.

The movie was directed by Tapi Chanakya with Music from MS Viswanathan – Ramamurthy and produced by Nagi Reddy under Vijaya Productions Banner. The cast includes MGR, Saroja Devi, Pandari Bai, MN Nambiar, SV Rangarao, Nagesh and Thangavelu.

Why it is so Special?

1. As I said it’s the perfect masala movie with all the aspects of Indian movie style rightly placed in the right measure in a perfect way. Glorious music, hilarious comic scenes, well-made action sequences with the right dose of sentimental scenes

2. The music of the movie is still revered. Kumari Pennin Ullathile, Naan Maan Thoppil are classics and of course the best hero worship ever made “Naan Aanai Ittal”. The song is so perfectly choreographed for the lyrics of Vaali. The picture of MGR with the whip and hands spread is a long lasting image of Tamil Cinema

3. The comic scenes of Thangavelu, Nagesh, SV Rangarao and MGR. Nagesh, as stammering assistant of MGR was in his own self and Thangavelu as the assistant of Nambiar were equally hilarious. The facial expression of Thangavelu when Ilango hits Narendran for the first time shows it all

4. If the supporting cast especially Saroja Devi and Pandari Bai were awesome, Nambiar as the evil uncle was fantabulous. I always believe that Villain has to be strong, because the people will love it only when the Hero prevails over the strongest evil. I think Nambiar would have been the most hated villain of all times.In this movie, he even hits MGR with the whip during the  initial scenes and I dunno how people would have reacted in Theatres

5. MGR, the man. In fact this movie also gave him space to act, as the cowardly Ramu he scores full marks and Ilango is his usual charactersation which you see in most of his movies. I can only reiterate one fact – he is the best brand manager I have ever known. He knew how to engineer success and follow it up with huge success in political life too

Watch the video from 16.55 Minute for “Naan Aanaiyittal Song”

Why this is in the list?

1. One of the biggest trend setters in Tamil Movies. I can’t count the number of movies taken with the same story line. From the trash copy called Vani Rani (which even has a similar whipping scene like the one in Enga Veetu Pillai) to one of the recent hits of Surya – Vel, all the double action movies have been made with Enga Veetu Pillai in mind.

2. One of the biggest blockbusters in Tamil cinema and continues to be a hit even on reruns.

3. As I said, the perfect masala movie of all times which has all the ingredients rightly mixed in apt proportions

Trivia

1. Ramadu Bheemadu was released in 1964 and there was a Hindi remake of the same movie called Ram Aur Shyam with Dilip Kumar (!!! I dunno how he would suited such a storyline). It didn’t do well at the box office. All the movies were directed and produced by the same team of Tapi and Nagi Reddy

2. “Naan Aanaiyittal” was originally written as ” Naan Arasan Yendral, Naan Aandu vittal” but MGR made Vaali to change the lyrics to the current version as he felt it would the sentiments of DMK leaders. Eventually he came out of DMK to start ADMK and as they say the rest is history. Even ADMK uses the song for every election campaign

3. The song became so famous that there was a movie released as Naan Aanaiyital in 1966 with MGR in the lead.

– Post From My iPhone

The Tamil history is full of legends, interesting anecdotes and wonderful heroic stories. But the number of historical movies and Historical fictions is very minimal. The ones which came are either skewed or executed in the worst possible way. I think there will be only two movies in this genre.in my list. The one which I consider the perfect movie in Tamil, didn’t do well in the box office  too.. (it will be featured in the later part of the series)

During the 50s and 60s, there were lot of historicals featuring the freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu. Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Sivagangai Seemai, Raja Desingu were some of them and worst of all came in 1973 – Raja Raja Chozhan. The problem with all the historical movies were it gives you an skewed perspective and not the true history. All movies tried to glorify the lead characters rather than giving out the true to life depictions. I think that’s were Chinese and Hollywood movies score a point.

Kappalotiya Thamizhan

One historical which came close to be a true depiction was Kappalotiya Thamizhan, a biopic depicting the life V.O. Chidambaram, who fought an economic and business based war against the British. I said came close, because they had a lot of extra fictitious characters who may or may not have lived.

V.O.Chidambaram Pillai aka VOC ( Sivaji Ganesan) is an ardent nationalist and owner of a salt factory. On seeing that, Indians are discriminated in the ports and not allowed to export through ships, he starts the Swadeshi  Steam Navigation Company ( and hence the name Kappalotiya Thamizhan). As the British see the economic war, more dangerous than the ahimsa war, they confiscate VOC’s company and put him in jail. The movie depicts the struggle VOC went through in the jail and he writing his autobiography etc.

The movie not only focuses on VOC but also his interactions with the revolutionary Tamil poets Bharathiyar (a memorable performance by SV Subbaiah), Subramania Siva (TS Shanmugam) and other national leaders. It also depicts the other important moments of independence happened at that time, like the Vanchinathan – Collector Ash incident (K.Balaji as Vanchinathan was fantastic).

I could not understand the characterizations of Madasami and his wife ( Gemini Ganesh and Savithri) because there are no references of them in the history. They get a considerable screen presence and I think they were included to provide the lighter moments of a very tight serious drama. Madasami acts as the only link between Vanchinathan and VOC, who otherwise had not met in the history. Most of the websites claim that Gemini Ganesh was Vanchinathan and of course it is not true.

The movie was directed by BR Panthulu with Sivaji Ganesan, Rukmini, Gemini Ganesh, Savithri, SV Subbaiah, TS Shanmugam, K. Balaji as actors. The music was done by G Ramanathan and produced by Padmini Pictures.

Why it is so Special?

1. The memorable acting of Sivaji. Although people remember him as Kattabomman and Karnan, he himself loves VOC more than anything else. In every interview, he claims that this was the toughest and the most favorite of all. And you will know it only when you see it.

2. The supporting cast was equally awesome too. The court scene were SV Subbaiah counters the British lawyer and the collector office scene of TS Shanmugam bears testimony to their talent. Although subdued, Rukmini as VOC’s wife was wonderful.

3. The music and the lyrics. All the songs in the movie was from Bharathiyar’s poems. Only a few movies have all the songs written by Bharathi. The other two that I can remember now – Ezhavathu Manithan and Bharathi ( the autobiography). It was G.Ramanathan’s best (Kaatru Veliyidai Kannamma and Yendru Thaniyum indha Sudandhira Thagam are masterpieces still remembered)

4. A true biographical account well taken and rightly screen played.

Why it is in the list?

1. The historical movies of those times were totally skewed. Veera Pandiya Kattabomman ( incidentally made by BR Pantulu) and Sivagangai Seemai were one of the most skewed historical depictions. Although this movie had a lot of extra characters added, it was true to life when it came to VOC. They even skip the few years before his death, because they could not get enough information about that part of his life.

2. One of the best when it comes to historical biographies in Tamil Movies.

3. For Sivaji Ganesan – once again.

Trivia

1. Although a good movie, it ran only for a week when it was released for the first time even after giving a tax exemption. It did well in the sub-sequent reruns.

2. VOC is the most favourite role of Sivaji Ganesan and he reportedly said that he had difficult time doing it.

3. SS Gallia and SS Lawoe are the two ships bought by VOC to start his Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company

4. Padmini Pictures was the production company of BR Panthulu and produced famous blockbusters like Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Karnan, Kalyanam Panniyum Brahmachari. The last recorded movie produced by them was  Rahasiya Police 115 in 1968.

For more info about VOC and the movie peek in to the following link. This link has wonderful info about famous Tamils.

http://www.tamilnation.org/hundredtamils/voc.htm

PS: Its pity that his family is in road side now. Do we really respect the families which sacrificed for our country?

The definition of Anti-Heroism has been misinterpreted in many places referring it to those lead characters which have some Grey shades too. But according to me and even movie analysts, anti-hero is the one differs from the normal notions of an hero. A hero in Tamil movies is usually physically smart, has sharp features, strong, intelligent, suave, stylish, compassionate, girls fall for him naturally and he never does a mistake. The norms were never broken and actors like MGR were very successful proponents of this model.

But every one of these norms were broken in to pieces when a great actor entered this movie world. His name was Nagesh and the movie was Server Sundaram.

Server Sundaram (1964)

Server Sundaram was only the 5th movie of Nagesh. He was just a budding actor with only one hit in Nenjil Oru Aalayam and that too as a comedian. Server Sundaram is an adaptation of the play by the same name written by K.Balachander ( he is going to come again and again in this list), produced by AVM Pictures with music by MS Viswanathan – Ramamoorthy and directed by Krishnan – Panju.

The story is about a young wanna be actor (Sundaram) who comes to Madras to make it big in movies and ends up in a restaurant as a waiter. He meets his friend in the same hotel and his friend paves a way for him to get a big break in movies. In between Sundaram falls in love with the daughter of the restaurant owner, he works for without knowing that she is the bride to be of his friend. Sundaram becomes a star believing that making himself rich and famous will help him to get her. But eventually comes to know about his friend’s love and sacrifices his love for his friend’s sake. Finally, his mother’s demise teaches him the reality of life.

The movie is said to be semi-autobiographical of Nagesh as it traces the life of an actor, his rise and fall.

What’s so special about it?

1. If there are 100 reasons for this movie to be special, all the 100 reasons would be Nagesh. He makes you to laugh, cry, sad, think, retrospect and share the character’s emotions. I have not known any other movie which can make a normal person to relate to a character so much. In one scene where he goes to the heroine to express his love with a bouquet and she rejects his proposal. He asks for a gift from her. She asks “what you want?” He says ” Nothing much, I just want the dust bin you have. Because my heart would pain if you throw my bouquet in to the dust bin”… Nagesh gives an helpless expression at that moment which no actor would have matched. He was special…

2. The perfect supporting cast with Muthuraman as his friend Raghavan and KR Vijaya. Major Sunder Rajan as his restaurant owner and above all SN Lakshmi as Nagesh’ mother made to look the mother-son relationship so believable.

3. The witty one line dialogues which were KB’s trademark made it’s way to the big screen. I think Krishnan-Panju would have made a record being the only directors to be part of a film which had longest monologues and also be a part of movie which had short oneliners ( I can’t say shortest because later came Mani Ratnam, whose dialogues were mostly single words)

4. The movie has scenes which gave the inside view of the cinema world. How do they make sets, rain sequences etc. It was said that few producers showed their concerns for showing the cinema secrets to AVM. But AVM went on to make these sequences, which gave great impetus to the success of the movie.

5. The songs and music composition were at it’s best. Kannadasan and MSV were at their peak form. Songs like Avalukku Yenna (it even shows the live recording of the song) are still considered to be classics.. People never knew Nagesh could dance so well.

Why it makes to the list?

1. The critics, some directors and movie buffs are talking about movies which depict the reality of life. But I think Server Sundaram started it all. It broke the norms of Tamil Movies. I bet there would be no producer to take such a movie at this moment and that too with a 4 movie old comedian in the lead.

2. It also paved the way for demise of long monologues (it made a comeback with actors like Vijayakanth !!). Short, witty, powerful one -liners became the order of the day.

3. It brought two of the greats in Tamil Cinema in forefront, KB & Nagesh. They went to make a lot of meaningful movies together. Nagesh was casted in almost all the movies after 1964. He became a must have in a movie. There were times were directors were forced to include characters which will suit Nagesh. KB of course became one of the prolific film makers of Tamil and introduced the 2 Superstars – Rajini & Kamal.

4. It gave the concept of Anti -Heroism to Tamil Cinema. It changed the way people look at heroes. They started to relate to Sundaram like characters more because he was like just another person on the road.

5. It’s a complete package of a movie with the right doses of romance, comedy, sentiments with excellent music and classic acting.

Trivia

1. Although the play was directed by KB, the producers AVM opted for their successful director duo Krishnan-Panju. KB later made couple of successful movies for AVM.

2. The sequences were Nagesh does mono acting with a coin on the road and pining for his lady love were influenced by Chaplin’s City Lights.

3. Krishnan – Panju the ever successful director duo made 55 Movies together which include blockbuster hits like Rattha Kaneer, Parasakthi, Kuzhandhiyum Deivamum, Uyarntha Manithan and of course Server Sundaram.

4. Server Sundaram was remade in Hindi with Mehmood in the lead by the same directors and AVM as Main Sundar Hoon in 1970. Although it was not a blockbuster hit, it was a decent hit in Hindi.

5. The first picture in this article was taken originally as a promo pic but there was no such scene in the original movie. After seeing the first copy, AV Meyyappa Chettiar insisted on such a scene to make the promo shots authentic. He was vehemently against making fake promo shots without having it in the movie. But this picture eventually became a classic  photo for Nagesh

PS 2: I wrote a Tribute to Nagesh on his demise earlier this year.. Someone who i admired, loved and shared few coincidents..

PS3: In final moment of the scene which i have posted above, Sundaram says  “Love is a game of chance, I lost it in the finals” ( Hail KB for the Dialogue) – I lost one in finals too…

– Post From My iPhone.