''Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal'' () is a 1989 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, nati ...

-language

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

, written and directed by

K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...

. The film stars

Rahman Rahman (Arabic: or ) may refer to: *Rahman, one of the names of God in Islam *Ar-Rahman, the 55th sura of the Qur'an People *Rahman (name), an Arabic male personal name **Short form of Abd al-Rahman *Rahman (actor) (born 1967), Indian actor *Rah ...

(credited as Raghu) and Geetha, with

Sowcar Janaki Sankaramanchi Janaki (born T. Janaki; 12 December 1931), popularly known as Sowcar Janaki (Tamil) or Shavukaru Janaki (Telugu) or Sahukar Janaki (Kannada), is an Indian actress who has appeared in over 300, films, predominantly in Tamil, Telug ...

Jayachitra Jayachitra is an Indian actress films who works mostly in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. Early life Jayachitra was born in 1957. Her father Mahendra was a veterinary doctor, who had earlier worked as a lawyer. Her mother Ammaji (a.k.a. Ja ...

Janagaraj Janagaraj is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 200 films predominantly in Tamil cinema as a comedian or in supporting roles. He also starred in few Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life Janagaraj was born to Vadivelu and Muthul ...

and Sithara in supporting roles. It was released on 28 October 1989. The film won a

Filmfare Award South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing f ...

, and two

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The aw ...

Plot

Manibharathi is a famous singer who lives with his possessive wife Gowri. Tricked into marriage by his convincing mother-in-law, what really irks Bharathi is his wife's inability to deal with his rabid female fans. Tensions escalate until Bharathi flees from home and ends up encountering someone else named Jyothi who's also escaping from her life as a dancer because her husband made her dance forcefully and tried forcing her to be a prostitute. Then, he makes a living in

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

with Jyothi. Then ManiBharathi get a prank call from his PA that Gowri is ill. So he comes back with Jyothi from Goa, which makes Gowri angry and she doesn't let Jyothi in without knowing who she is. Bharathi gets angry and they stay in another one of his houses. Bharathi gets so angry that he claims that he loves Jyothi and that she cannot go because of her problems. So Gowri files for a divorce and informs news reporters about Jyothi. Jyothi's husband appears later in the story. Gowri plans to marry a cricket player Guru. Guru had proposed to her in the past. He accepts the proposal and abandons one of his fans, Yamuna, who is obsessed with him. Later, Yamuna commits suicide in the marriage hall readied for Gowri's marriage. Gowri's mother and her PA feel that she is mentally unstable. Her mother begs Bharathi to go and see her in the hospital and he goes with Jyothi to see her. Jyothi then sees that Bharathi and Gowri belong to each other. Jyothi later finds her husband, who was indeed in love with her. After that, Bharathi goes to recording with him being happy and visits his wife in the hospital.

Cast

Raghu Raghu () is a ruler of the Suryavamsha dynasty in Hinduism. According to the '' Raghuvamsha'', he is the son of King Dilīpa and Queen Sudakshina. His successors styled themselves as belonging to the eponymous Raghuvamsha dynasty, or the '' ...

as Manibharathi * Geetha as Gowri *

as Baby Fernandez *

as Kanchanamala *

as Jolly * Sithara as Jyothi *

K. S. Jayalakshmi K. S. Jayalakshmi is an Indian actress who works in the Tamil film and television industries. She has acted in comedy roles in movies. Jayalakshmi made her acting debut in the Tamil film ''Etharkum Thuninthavan'' released in 1976. Career Sh ...

as Krishnaveni *

Lalitha Kumari Lalitha Kumari (born 18 May 1967) is an Indian actress who worked in Tamil films. She is the daughter of Tamil actor C. L. Anandan and the younger sister of actress Disco Shanti. Personal life Lalitha Kumari married actor Prakash Raj in 1994 ...

as Jolly's wife *

Chi. Guru Dutt Chitnahalli Guru Dutt is an Indian actor and director, primarily concentrating on Kannada and Tamil films. He is the son of Chi. Udaya Shankar. Career He debuted along with Shivrajkumar in the Kannada film '' Anand'' (1986). He was launched i ...

as Guru * Shabana as Yamuna *

Poornam Viswanathan Poornam Viswanathan (15 November 1921 – 1 October 2008) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil films. He started performing on stage at age 18. He worked as a reader for All India Radio and went on to act in films such as ''C ...

as Ruby Fernandez *

Charle Velmurugan Thangasamy Manohar (born 6 March 1960), professionally credited as Charle, is an Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema. He has acted in more than 800 Tamil films as a comedian and supporting actor. He was named after the English co ...

as Diwakar, Reporter *

Vivek Vivek (or Bibek/Bivek in some regions) (विवेक in Devanagari script) is a masculine given name that is popular in South Asia, particularly in India and Nepal. It is of Sanskrit origin and means "wisdom" and/or "conscience". Vivek may refe ...

as Vittal ;Cameo appearances *

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

as himself in "Kalayanamalai" song *

Kuyili Kuyili is a fictional character introduced by K Jeevabharathi in his book "Velu Nachiyar". She was portrayed as an army commander of queen Velu Nachiyar who participated in campaigns against the East India Company in the 18th century. She is ...

Visu Meenakshisundaram Ramasamy Viswanathan (1 July 1945 – 22 March 2020), best known by his stage name Visu, was an Indian writer, director, stage, film and television actor and talk-show host. Visu initially worked as an assistant to director K ...

* Vaali *

Vinu Chakravarthy Vinu Chakravarthy (15 December 1945 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director who is known for acting in more than 1000 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Badaga and Malayalam mostly as a comedian, supporting actor or in ...

Disco Shanthi Santha Kumari (born 28 August 1965), famously known as Disco Shanti, is an Indian actress who was particularly famous in South India for her appearances in item numbers. She has appeared in more than 900 films in different languages of India, ...

G. Venkateswaran G. Venkateswaran (died 3 May 2003), popularly known as G.V., was an Indian film producer and chartered accountant. He was the elder brother of director and screenwriter Mani Ratnam and G. Srinivasan. Venkateswaran was the promoter of GV Films, ...

Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Natak ...

Keyaar Kothanda Ramaiah (also known as K.R and Keyaar) is an Indian Tamils, Tamil film director, producer, distributor and exhibitor. He has held various leading positions in different film industry organizations. Career KR studied film processing at ...

Production

Sithara from

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

was introduced as an actress through this film. It also marked the acting debut of

. Balachander chose

Kala Kala or Kalah may refer to: Religion Hinduism *Kāla, a Sanskrit word meaning ''time'' *Kāla, a Hindu deity of time, destiny, death and destruction closely related to Yama and Shiva. *Kalā, a Sanskrit word meaning ''performing arts'' * Kala Bo, ...

as the lead dance choreographer after being impressed with her work in his previous directorial venture ''

Punnagai Mannan ''Punnagai Mannan'' () is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language musical romantic drama film written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Revathi, with Srividya, Rekha, Delhi Ganesh, Sudarshan and Sundar Krishna Urs in suppor ...

'' (1986). The dubbing voice for Rahman was provided by

Nizhalgal Ravi Ravichandran Samanna (born 16 April 1956), known professionally as Nizhalgal Ravi, is an Indian film, television and voice actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has performed in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films and television series. He st ...

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

and the lyrics were written by Vaali. This was the last collaboration between Ilaiyaraaja and Balachander. According to journalist Kamini Mathai, the split may have been due to the fact that Ilaiyaraaja could not commit to re-recording as there was a

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

; an impatient Balachander decided to use background scores from his older films to fill the unfinished portions, angering Ilaiyaraaja to the point of ending his alliance with Balachander. The song "Kalyana Maalai" is set in the

Carnatic raga Carnatic raga refers to ''ragas'' used in Carnatic music. A Carnatic raga has several components - primordial sound (''nāda''), tonal system (''swara''), pitch (''śruti''), scale, ornaments ('' gamaka'') and important tones. Origins and histo ...

known as

Sindhu Bhairavi The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

, "Eduthu Naan Vidava" is set in

Bageshri Raga Bageshri or Bageshree () is a Hindustani classical raga. It is a popular night raga, which is meant to depict the emotion of a woman waiting for reunion with her lover. It is said to have been first sung by Miyan Tansen, the celebrated co ...

, and "Guruvayurappa" is set in

Abheri Abheri (pronounced ābhēri) is a raga in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a ''Janya'' raga (derived scale), whose ''Melakarta'' raga (parent, also known as ''janaka'') is ''Kharaharapriya'', 22nd in the 72 ' ...

, "Keladi Kanmani" was later adapted in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

as "Chandni Raat Hai", composed by

Anand–Milind Anand and Milind Srivastava are a duo of Indian film music composers. Born to composer Chitragupt, they have composed music for over 200 Bollywood films. The brothers debuted in 1984 with '' Ab Ayega Mazaa'' and had their major breakthrough with ...

for '' Baaghi'' (1990).

Release and reception

''Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal'' was released on 28 October 1989,

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...

day. P. S. S. of ''

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...

'' opined that Balachander, despite having done so many films, did not have the courage to give a different result.

Accolades

Impact

Rahman considered ''Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal'' to be "the biggest milestone in iscareer" in Tamil, saying, "It helped me set my two legs permanently in

amil cinema Amil Kahala Whitehead (born September 19, 1973) is an American former rapper and singer. She was prominent in the late 1990s as a Jay-Z protégé, and recorded the single "Can I Get A..." with him for the ''Rush Hour (1998 film), Rush Hour'' s ...

. The song "Keladi Kanmani" inspired the title of a 1990 film. A Hindi remake of ''Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal'' entered production with

Rahul Roy Rahul Roy (born 9 February 1968) is an Indian actor, producer and former model known for his works in Hindi films and television. Roy began his acting career with the 1990 blockbuster ''Aashiqui'', a Mahesh Bhatt production as the lead actor w ...

starring, but the film never had a theatrical release.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{TamilNaduStateFilmAwardBestFilm 1980s Tamil-language films 1989 films 1989 romantic drama films Films directed by K. Balachander Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films with screenplays by K. Balachander Indian romantic drama films