Makkal Thilagam MGR Part -19

[Richardsof]

Blast from the past: Nallavan Vaazhvaan (1961)


Star cast: M.G. Ramachandran, Rajasulochana, M.R. Radha, M.N. Nambiar, E.V. Saroja, D. Balasubramaniam, Lakshmiprabha, Lakshmirajam, C.T. Rajakantham, S. Rama Rao, M.N. Krishnan, R.M. Sethupathi, Seethalakshmi

Nallavan Vaazhvaan is a crime thriller written by C. N. Annadurai, based on the story by Na. Pandurangan. The movie is about a man (MGR), who gets sent to prison by a lecherous man (M. R. Radha), on false charges. M. R. Radha plays the role of a womaniser who is after two women: his clerk’s (D. Balasubramaniam) daughter, E.V. Saroja, and Rajasulochana (who is in love with MGR and is soon to marry him). MGR then escapes from police custody and the inspector, who’s after him (M. N. Nambiar) is in love with E.V. Saroja. How MGR eventually proves his innocence and emerges victorious is what Nallavan Vaazhvaan is about.M. R. Radha excelled in his role as the villain. He stole the show with his characteristic dialogue delivery (written by Aringnar Anna). The fight scenes in the climax between him and MGR, that were shot under water by the talented G. Durai, received a lot of accolades. were shot well by cinematographer G. Durai. The film was produced and directed by noted filmmaker P. Neelakantan under his home banner, Arasu Pictures. The director, incidentally, has directed MGR in as many as 17 movies, with most of them turning out to be hits.

Music was by T. R. Pappa, with lyrics by K.D. Santhanam, A. Maruthakasi, M. K. Athmanathan and Kavi Rajagopal. The film also saw Vaali writing two songs in an MGR movie for the first time. After this, he went on to write many more for the star, with some of them becoming all-time hits.

The choreography was by P. S. Gopalakrishnan and G. Devarajan, while the production was supervised by Mohan Gandhi Raman, who was a close associate of Pa. Neelakantan before becoming a director himself.

Music was a positive for this film, out of the eight songs, some, like the duet ‘Kutrala aruviyile…’, turned out to be big hits. Another duet with peppy lyrics and a catchy tune ‘Adichirukku Nallathoru Chance-u’, filmed on Saroja and her lover (Nambiar), sung by A. L. Raghavan and S. Janaki, became a hit too. Saroja’s Bharatanatyam dancing in this song was quite appreciated. For Nambiar, the role of a lover was a marked difference from the usual villain roles.

Despite the interesting story, good dialogues by Anna and good performances by MGR, Rajasulochana, M. N. Nambiar, and E. V. Saroja, the film ran only for 80 days at the box office.

Remembered for: The music of T. R. Pappa, and good performances by MGR, M. R. Radha, and Nambiar.

Keywords: MGR, M.G. Ramachandran, Rajasulochana, M.R. Radha, M.N. Nambiar, E.V. Saroja, Tamil film Nallavan Vazhvaan
courtesy - the hindu .

[Richardsof]

MGR at Ratmalana airport shows that he was walking with a sun glass, probably with his writing assistant Ravindar to his left. Saroja Devi, follows two steps behind. He has his wrist watch in his right hand. The white cap (with which his image came to be known in later years) was missing. He was then 48. Unfortunately, MGR himself has failed to record a word about his Ceylon visit, in his two volumes of autobiography. Why? No one knows for sure. MGR and Saroja Devi were invited by the Davasa Newspaper Group of Newspapers (Sinhalese ownership), based in Colombo. Though the owners were Sinhalese, the group also had a Tamil language daily named Thinapathi, with its weekly Tamil edition called ‘Chintamani’. To cater to the semi-literate working class, it also brought out a tabloid with the name Radha filled with cinema news, court stories of murder and divorce. Thinapathi’s editor was S.D. Sivanayagam from East Ceylon, who jumped ship from Federal Party’s organ Sutantiran, over personal issues with the then young star politician A. Amirthalingam. The question of why MGR’s wife Janaki Ramachandran did not accompany her husband on this trip remains unanswered too.

When MGR and Saroja Devi visited Colombo, their super hit color movie Enga Veettu Pillai (Our Own Child), of Vijaya Productions, was released for Deepavali festival. In Tamil Nadu, the same movie was released in January 1965 for Thai Pongal festival. Few titles of MGR’s movies are difficult to translate into English. Literal translation can be done, but it doesn’t do justice to the essence of the plot summary capsulated in Tamil title. Enga Veettu Pillai is one of these. While I opt for ‘Our Own Child’ (a figurative translation), fellow biographer M.S.S. Pandian opted for ‘The Son of Our Home’ (a literal translation). On the plot construction, prominence and significance of this movie in MGR’s film and political careers, Pandian had covered much ground, though one should be cautious in accepting all the reasons he trots out to de-base MGR’s profile. Another MGR movie which offers this translation dilemma was Petral Thaan Pillaiya (1966), which would subsequently lead to the MGR – M.R. Radha shooting episode in January 1967.