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''Deiva Magan'' (; ) is a 1969 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, na ...
-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 A. C. Tirulokchander. An adaptation of the
Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
novel '' Ulka'' by
Nihar Ranjan Gupta Nihar Ranjan Gupta ( bn, নীহাররঞ্জন গুপ্ত, pen name: ''Banbhatta'' (বানভট্ট); 6 June 1911 – 20 February 1986) was an Indian dermatologist and a popular Bengali novelist. He is the creator of the fic ...
, it stars
Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji G ...
in three roles and
Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...
, with Sundarrajan, M. N. Nambiar,
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 fi ...
, V. Nagayya and
Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...
in supporting roles. The film is about a scarred man who attempts to reconnect with his estranged family. Following the 1957 film ''Ulka'', ''
Thayi Karulu ''Thayi Karulu'' (Kannada: ತಾಯಿ ಕರುಳು) is a 1962 Indian Kannada film, directed and produced by G. V. Iyer. The film stars Kalyan Kumar, Udaykumar and M. V. Rajamma in the lead roles. The film has musical score by G. K. Ven ...
'' (1962), ''
Meri Surat Teri Ankhen ''Meri Surat Teri Ankhen'' () is a 1963 Bollywood drama film directed by R.K. Rakhan, starring Ashok Kumar, Asha Parekh and Pradeep Kumar. It is based on the Bengali novel '' Ulka'' by Nihar Ranjan Gupta. Plot Raj Kumar, a wealthy businessma ...
'' (1963) and ''Thayin Karunai'' (1965), ''Deiva Magan'' is the fifth film adaptation of the novel. Its screenplay was written to be largely different from those of the earlier films, most of which were poorly received. The film was produced by Periyanna of Shanthi Films, photographed by Thambu and edited by B. Kanthasamy, and the dialogues were written by Aaroor Dass. ''Deiva Magan'' was released on 5 September 1969; it received critical acclaim, primarily for Ganesan's performance, and was a commercial success, running for more than 100 days in theatres. It won the
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 ...
for Third Best Film and
Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...
(Ganesan), and was the first Tamil film to be submitted by India in contest for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.


Plot

Shankar is a successful businessman who has an
inferiority complex In psychology, an inferiority complex is an intense personal feeling of inadequacy, often resulting in the belief that one is in some way deficient, or inferior, to others. According to Alfred Adler, a feeling of inferiority may be brought a ...
due to his scarred face. When his wife Parvathi gives birth to a son who is also scarred, Shankar asks the doctor Raju to kill the child to prevent him from experiencing the same pain Shankar has experienced throughout his life. Rather than kill the baby, Raju takes him to an
ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (<
Baba and named Kannan. Shankar and Parvathi are oblivious to Kannan's existence. Kannan receives little affection growing up at the ashram. Meanwhile, his younger twin brother Vijay is raised with much fondness and pampering. Vijay falls in love with a girl named Nirmala, who rejects him. Vijay's friend Ananth regularly extracts money to construct a hotel, which Vijay manages to get for him. When Baba is dying, he tells Kannan he is not an orphan and to meet Raju to learn more about his past. Nirmala is revealed to be Raju's daughter. Kannan meets Raju, who is shocked to see his resemblance to Shankar. At first, Raju refuses to tell Kannan about his parents but consents after Kannan guarantees he will only see his parents without revealing his identity. Kannan enthusiastically goes to see his parents at night but Shankar shoots him, thinking he is a thief. Nirmala later reciprocates Vijay's love. Kannan has a chance meeting with Parvathi at a temple, but she does not recognise him. Parvathi tells Shankar what happened at the temple; Shankar believes it must be his firstborn and meets Raju, who confirms it. Shankar meets Kannan; he offers Kannan a large amount of money so he can live prosperously but does not invite him to live with them. Kannan rejects the money, saying he is content to know his parents. Vijay comes and asks his father for money; Kannan, who is hiding in a cupboard, gestures Shankar to give the rejected money to Vijay. In the meantime, Ananth wants more money from Vijay, so he kidnaps Vijay and demands a large ransom from Shankar. When Shankar is about to leave with the ransom money, Kannan asks to go instead. Shankar refuses so Kannan knocks him out and goes to the planned meeting disguised as Shankar. Kannan rescues Vijay and kills Ananth but is mortally wounded in the process. Shankar, Parvathi and the police arrive at the scene of the shooting. Kannan dies in the arms of his mother, who accepts him as her son.


Cast

*
Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji G ...
as Shankar, Kannan and Vijay *
Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...
as Nirmala * Sundarrajan as Raju * M. N. Nambiar as Ananth *
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 fi ...
as Boopathy * V. Nagayya as the Baba *
Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...
as Parvathi *
Vijayasree Vijayasri was an Indian actress who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema in the 1970s. She acted in many movies opposite Prem Nazir and have also worked in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Biography Her first appearance onscreen ...
as Julie


Production


Development

The
Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
novel '' Ulka'' by
Nihar Ranjan Gupta Nihar Ranjan Gupta ( bn, নীহাররঞ্জন গুপ্ত, pen name: ''Banbhatta'' (বানভট্ট); 6 June 1911 – 20 February 1986) was an Indian dermatologist and a popular Bengali novelist. He is the creator of the fic ...
had been adapted for the screen four times; a 1957 Bengali film by the same name, a
Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
film ''
Thayi Karulu ''Thayi Karulu'' (Kannada: ತಾಯಿ ಕರುಳು) is a 1962 Indian Kannada film, directed and produced by G. V. Iyer. The film stars Kalyan Kumar, Udaykumar and M. V. Rajamma in the lead roles. The film has musical score by G. K. Ven ...
'' (1962), a
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 ...
film ''
Meri Surat Teri Ankhen ''Meri Surat Teri Ankhen'' () is a 1963 Bollywood drama film directed by R.K. Rakhan, starring Ashok Kumar, Asha Parekh and Pradeep Kumar. It is based on the Bengali novel '' Ulka'' by Nihar Ranjan Gupta. Plot Raj Kumar, a wealthy businessma ...
'' (1963), and a Tamil film ''Thayin Karunai'' (1965). Despite the poor commercial performances of ''Ulka'', ''Meri Surat Teri Ankhen'' and ''Thayin Karunai'', director A. C. Tirulokchander was interested in adapting the novel and wrote a screenplay that was largely different from those of the previous films. The film was produced by Periyanna of Shanthi Films, and the dialogues were written by Aaroor Dass. The cinematographer was Thambu, the editor was B. Kanthasamy, and the art director was A. Balu. The film's working title was ''Uyiroviyam'' before it was retitled ''Deiva Magan''.
Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji G ...
portrayed three roles; Shankar and his sons Kannan and Vijay. This was the second time Ganesan has portrayed three roles in one film; the first occasion was '' Bale Pandiya'' (1962). For the characterisation of Kannan, he drew inspiration from Quasimodo, the protagonist of
Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
's novel ''
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story of ...
'' (1831), making Kannan aggressive with "roughness and brute strength", while Vijay's body language was taken from that of
C. V. Sridhar Chitthamoor Vijayaraghavalu Sridhar (22 July 1933 – 20 October 2008) was an Indian screenwriter and film director. He has directed nearly 60 films in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu Languages. Early life Sridhar hailed from Chitthamur, a villa ...
.


Filming

Periyanna initially wanted to the film to be made in colour but it was filmed in black and white at Ganesan's suggestion. The makeup for the scarred characters portrayed by Ganesan was done by R. Rangasamy and his son Jayanth Kumar. Rangasamy gave Ganesan's characters different looks; Shankar's look is sophisticated while Kannan was given a slightly darker skin tone than Vijay's. The original idea was for Kannan to resemble Quasimodo in the 1939 adaptation of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' but Ganesan insisted the filmmakers reduce the character's unattractiveness after trying out prosthetics. He wanted viewers to sympathise with Kannan for his shortcomings without feeling repulsed by the character. Kannan is a
sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...
player but Ganesan did not know how to play the instrument; he pretended to play it instead. There were difficulties in filming the scene in which Kannan is hiding in a cupboard and gestures to Shankar to give a cheque to Vijay; the scene required Ganesan to change his look between takes because the camera could not be moved, meaning he had to stand in one spot, mouth his lines, quickly change his attire and makeup to play the second character, stand in the same place and act. To ease the process, he asked Tirulokchander to stand in for him. Kanthasamy told Tirulokchander this seven-minute-long scene needed trimming but after re-watching it several times, Tirulokchander refused because he could not find what to cut and liked the way Ganesan performed as the three characters. The final cut of the film was initially ; after five cuts by the
Censor Board The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...
, it was brought down to .


Music

The soundtrack to ''Deiva Magan'' was composed by
M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. He was popularly known as ''Mellisai Mannar''. He compose ...
and the lyrics were written 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 ...
. The song "Deivame Deivame Nandri Solven" is Ganesan's homage to politician C. N. Annadurai, which is evident when it is played over a scene where Kannan screams "Anna". Kannadasan wrote the ''
pallavi A pallavi has multiple connotations in carnatic music. It is the first part of any formal composition (Krithi) which has three segments - Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charanam (which can be one or more). Pallavi is usually also an abbreviation of R ...
'' for a song. Tirulokchander and the others liked it, so Kannadasan completed writing the song and had a meeting where they listened to it. When an office boy came to serve them coffee, Kannadasan asked him whether he liked the song. The boy said though the song sounded good, he did not understand the meaning. Immediately, Kannadasan told Viswanathan to compose a different tune so he could write different lyrics. Despite those present objecting, Kannadasan persisted, resulting in the creation of the song "Kettadhum Koduppavane Krishna". The song, like many of Kannadasan's other songs, praises the Hindu god
Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...
as "a simple god that responds to a poor man's prayer". The songs "Kaadhal Malar Kootam" and "Kaathalikka Katrukollungal" also became popular.


Release

''Deiva Magan'' was released on 5 September 1969. Despite being released just four weeks after another Ganesan film, '' Nirai Kudam'', it was a critical and commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres. The release of Ganesan's films ''
Thirudan ''Thirudan'' () is a 1969 Indian Tamil-language action film, directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, K. R. Vijaya, K. Balaji and Vijayalalitha. It is a remake of the Telugu film '' Adrushtavanthulu'' (1969), and was ...
'' and ''
Sivandha Mann ''Sivandha Mann'' () is a 1969 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film written, produced and directed by C. V. Sridhar. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan and Kanchana, with S. V. Ranga Rao, M. N. Nambiar, Muthuraman, Nagesh and Sachu in su ...
'' in the following months also did not affect ''Deiva Magan'' theatrical run.


Reception

According to the Tamil magazine ''
Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History and profile ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...
'', most films in which one actor portraying multiple roles often have problems like impersonation and identity confusion, but the lack of these problems in ''Deiva Magan'' was an achievement for the director. The reviewer praised Ganesan's triple-role performance, mainly that of Vijay, and also appreciated
Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...
's performance but felt
Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...
was under-used. The reviewer concluded the filmmakers had tried to build a hall with only one pillar and that pillar was Ganesan. ''
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 ...
'' reviewer praised Ganesan's performance as Shankar, along with the performances of Pandari Bai and
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 fi ...
, but said the latter had "little to do with the story". The reviewer praised the set designs, Thambu's cinematography, and Viswanathan's music, concluding that Tirulokchander "can relax for having directed a successful commercial melodramatic film". After watching the film, C. V. Sridhar appreciated Ganesan's performance as Vijay, saying only he "could have done it so beautifully".


Accolades

At the
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 ...
, ''Deiva Magan'' won the Third Best Film award and Ganesan won the
Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...
award. The film was selected as India's official entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
nomination for the
42nd Academy Awards The 42nd Academy Awards were presented April 7, 1970, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. For the second year in a row, there was no official host. Awards were presented by seventeen "Friends of Oscar": Bob Hope, Joh ...
; it was the first Tamil film to be submitted by India in the Best International Feature Film category.


Legacy

''
Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali f ...
'' has acknowledged various films as influences on ''
Michael Madana Kama Rajan ''Michael Madana Kama Rajan'' is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao and written by Kamal Haasan, with Crazy Mohan penning the dialogues. The film stars Haasan in four roles alongside Urvasi, Rupini an ...
'' (1990), namely ''Deiva Magan'' along with '' Nadodi Mannan'' (1958) and ''
Yaadon Ki Baaraat ''Yaadon Ki Baaraat'' () is a 1973 Indian Hindi-language masala film, directed by Nasir Hussain and written by Salim–Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar). It featured an ensemble cast, starring Dharmendra, Vijay Arora, Tariq, Zeenat Aman, Ne ...
'' (1973).


See also

*
List of submissions to the 42nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of submissions to the 42nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was created in 1956 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honour non-English-speaking films ...


References


Bibliography

*


External links

* {{Indian submission for Academy Awards 1960s Tamil-language films 1969 drama films 1969 films Films based on Indian novels Films based on works by Nihar Ranjan Gupta Films directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Indian drama films Twins in Indian films