''Kalam Vellum'' () is a 1970 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language

Western film The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

produced, filmed and directed by M. Karnan. The film stars

Jaishankar Jaishankar (12 July 1938 – 3 June 2000) was an Indian actor known for his work in Tamil cinema. He was a very popular lead actor in the 1960s and 70s. He was credited onscreen with title of ''Makkal Kalaingnar'' (people's artiste) or '' ...

Vijayakumari Vijayakumari is an Indian stage, television and film actress. She was a stage actress at Kerala People's Arts Club and Kalidasa Kalakendra. She is the winner of the Kerala State award for best stage actress. Currently she is the Secretary of Ka ...

and

Vijaya Lalitha Vijayalalitha or Vijaya Lalitha was an Indian actress who appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films in the 1960s and 1970s. She is best known for her appearances in '' Rani Mera Naam'' (1972), ''Baazigar'' (1972) and '' Saa ...

. It revolves around a farmer who, in his quest to avenge his sister's death, becomes a

dacoit Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquial ...

bent on revenge. The film was released on 11 September 1970.

Plot

Velu, a poor farmer, loses his sister Dhanam due to the atrocities and exploitation of landlord Periyaraja. To avenge his sister's death, Velu kills Periyaraja's brother Chinnaraja. He then escapes from there. He joins a gang of

dacoits Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloqui ...

, headed by Narasingam. The gang is initially perturbed by Velu's presence, but his courage and good nature wins him their love and respect. Velu succeeds Narasingam as the gang leader. His aim is to rob the rich and save the poor. He is constantly looking for an opportunity to take revenge against Periyasamy. Velu forgets that his wife is waiting for his return to his village. Finally, Velu takes revenge on Periyaraja and surrenders to the police.

Cast

as Velu *

as Kannamma *

Nagesh Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor, mostly remembered for his roles as a comedian in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 fil ...

as Paavadai * O. A. K. Thevar as Periyaraja * M. R. R. Vasu as Chinnaraja *

as Rani *

Ganthimathi Ganthimathi (30 August 1940 – 9 September 2011) was a Tamil stage and film actress. She acted in over 500 films. Early life Kanthimathi was born in Manamadurai in the then Ramanathapuram district of India. She started acting in dramas and ...

as Velu's mother * Usha as Dhanam *

Shanmugasundaram Shanmugasundaram was an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil films. He began his career as an actor by starring in '' Ratha Thilagam'' (1963) and '' Karnan'' (1964), and continued his career for seven decades. He is also a dubbing artist. He ...

as Narasingam *

V. Nagayya V. Nagayya (born Vuppaladadiyam Nagayya Sarma; 28 March 1904 – 30 December 1978) also known as Chittoor Nagayya was an Indian actor, singer, music composer, and director known for his works in Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, and Telugu theatre. ...

as a police officer

Production

In January 1970, several months after the release of his first film as a producer ('' Pennai Vazha Vidungal'', August 1969), M. Karnan began pre-production on his directorial debut, ''Kalam Vellum''.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Shankar–Ganesh Shankar–Ganesh is an Indian music director duo who has worked on Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada movies for around 50 years. Career They started as assistants to Tamil music composers M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy in 1964 an ...

, with lyrics by

Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...

Release and reception

''Kalam Vellum'' was released on 11 September 1970. ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' called it a "hotchpotch of all the adventure films that have come in Tamil and English movies that have been imported".

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=6568614 1970 directorial debut films 1970 films 1970s Tamil-language films 1970 Western (genre) films Films directed by M. Karnan Films scored by Shankar–Ganesh Indian films about revenge Indian Western (genre) films