''47 Natkal'' () is a 1981 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

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written and directed by K. Balachander. It was simultaneously made in Telugu as ''47 Rojulu'' (). The film stars

Chiranjeevi Chiranjeevi (born Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad; 22 August 1955) is an Indian actor, film producer and former politician, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. Chiranjeevi starred in over 150 feature films in Telugu, as well as some fil ...

, Jaya Prada and Anne Patricia. Based on the novel of the same name by Sivasankari, it revolves around Vaishali (Jaya Prada) and how her marriage to Kumar (Chiranjeevi) lasts only 47 days. The Tamil version was released on 17 July 1981 and the Telugu version on 3 September 1981.

Plot

Actress

Saritha Saritha is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu languages. She was one of the popular and critically acclaimed lead actresses during the 1980s. She also appeared in a television serial, ' ...

comes to a small town to talk to Vaishali, because she is about to play her in a film based on her life. Vaishali suffers from hysteria and angrily shuts out Saritha. The story is now told in flashback form, when Vaishali's brother tells Saritha about her marriage to Kumar, lasting for only 47 days. Kumar takes Vaishali to a country manor in a town 30 km away from Paris, France ( Férolles). She does not know French or English. Kumar already has a French first wife Lucie living there on the top floor. He deceives both his wives: He tells Vaishali that Lucy is a friend, while he tells Lucy that Vaishali is his sister. Eventually, Vaishali figures out his bigamy and wishes not to stay with him as his second wife/ mistress. She does not know of anyone who knows her language and who can help her escape. Kumar tortures and threatens her to make her act as his mentally deranged sister. He treats her in a very sadistic manner unacceptable to any human in the world at all. He uses his cigarette to burn her fingers, burns her palm on the stove and takes her to watch a porn film since she did not want to sleep in the same bed as him. A pickpocket sees Kumar abusing Vaishali and tells her about an Indian doctor named Shankar who maybe able to help her. In the meantime, Vaishali becomes pregnant, and Kumar is afraid that Lucy will discover his deception. He tries to force Vaishali to have an unsafe and uncivil abortion. Dr. Shanker rescues her and tells Lucy everything about Kumar's bigamy. Lucy ends their marriage by throwing her ring into the river. Dr. Shanker brings Vaishali back to India; she moves back in with her brother and mother. No mention is made as to what happened to her pregnancy and no baby is seen or heard. It is presumed that she may have later had an abortion, since she did not want to be connected to her ex-husband Kumar in any way whatsoever. When Saritha asks why she didn't remarry (perhaps to her rescuer Dr. Shanker), Vaishali, clearly pissed off by the question, angrily replies that a woman does not always have to be married. However, she placates Saritha by saying that she wouldn't mind if her character is shown as remarried in the film.

Cast

as Kumar * Jaya Prada as Vaishali * Anne Patricia as Lucy *

Rama Prabha Rama Prabha is an Indian actress who performs in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. She has acted in more than 1,400 films and is credited as a character artist who shared screen space with superstars across all generation of South Indian Cinem ...

* Jayasri * Prameela * Varalakshmi *

Sarath Babu Sathyam Babu Dixithulu (born 31 July 1951), known by his stage name Sarath Babu, is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He has worked in more than 200 films. He has appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada a ...

as Shankar * Nazeem * Chakrapani * Ramana Murthi * G. P. Ramanath *

as herself (uncredited)

Production

''47 Natkal'' is based on Sivasankari's novel of the same name which was serialised in the magazine ''Idayam Pesukirathu''. Sivasankari is also credited for the film's dialogues. The film marked Telugu actor

's Tamil debut, and was simultaneously filmed in Telugu as ''47 Rojulu''.

Soundtrack

The film's original soundtrack was composed by M. S. Viswanathan, while the Tamil lyrics were penned 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 ...

. For the Telugu version, the lyrics were penned by Aatreya.

Release and reception

''47 Natkal'' was released on 17 July 1981, and ''47 Rojulu'' on 3 September 1981. Sindhu and Jeeva 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 ...

'' negatively reviewed ''47 Natkal'', saying it was not as entertaining or exciting as the novel.

References

External links

* {{K. Balachander 1981 multilingual films 1980s Tamil-language films 1981 films Films based on Indian novels Films directed by K. Balachander Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films set in Paris Films shot in Paris Films with screenplays by K. Balachander Indian multilingual films 1980s Telugu-language films