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''Keladi Kannmanii'' (; also spelt ''Keladi Kanmani'') is a 1990 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
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, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...
that marked the directorial debut of
Vasanth Vasanth is an Indian director well known in Tamil language films for directing films such as ''Keladi Kanmani'' (1990), '' Aasai'' (1995), '' Nerrukku Ner'' (1997), ''Rhythm'' (2000) and '' Satham Podathey'' (2007). Career Vasanth began his ...
. The film stars
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wi ...
,
Raadhika Raadhika Sarathkumar is an Indian actress, entrepreneur, producer and politician who works predominantly in Tamil cinema along with Telugu cinema as well as a few Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films. She is the founder and CP of the Radaan Me ...
,
Ramesh Aravind Ramesh Aravind is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and television presenter who predominantly works in Kannada films and television. In a career of over 34 years, Aravind has been appeared in over 140 films including several Tamil and T ...
and Anju. It revolves around a terminally ill woman who seeks to make amends for a past mistake before she dies. Producer A. Sundaram approached Vasanth to make a film for his production company, Vivek Chithra Productions, but Vasanth did not have a story. Ananthu created the story of ''Keladi Kannmanii'', which Vasanth developed into a screenplay. Cinematography was handled by R. Raghunatha Reddy, editing was by the duo Ganesh–Kumar, and Maghi made his debut as art director. ''Keladi Kannmanii'' was released on 27 July 1990 and became a commercial success, running for over 285 days at theatres. It won three
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 ...
(including Second Best Film) and Raadhika won the
Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil The Filmfare Best Actress Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil ( Kollywood) films. The awards were extended to "Best Actress" in 1972. Film world, p 43 The year indicates the year of ...
.


Plot

Anu is a college student; her fellow student Sasi desperately tries to win her affection. Sasi and Anu play various pranks on each other. Anu eventually admits her affection for Sasi and they begin a courtship. All seems to be well, but Anu is strangely sad from time to time; she repeats to Sasi that she senses an imminent danger to their relationship, but she is unable to pinpoint what the threat is or describe why it may materialise soon. Anu begins to get frequent sharp headaches. Her father, A. R. Rangaraj (ARR), a widower, tries to help her, but is not able to get to the bottom of the matter. ARR is a gentle old man who has devoted most of his life to his daughter. On her 18th birthday, Anu visits her doctor who determines that she has bilateral
renal artery stenosis Renal artery stenosis (RAS) is the narrowing of one or both of the renal arteries, most often caused by atherosclerosis or fibromuscular dysplasia. This narrowing of the renal artery can impede blood flow to the target kidney, resulting in renov ...
and is almost certain to succumb within a year. She may require an operation within that time, but the likelihood of her coming through it alive is minimal. Anu asks the doctor to keep her illness a secret between them. Unknown to Anu, her father accidentally discovers it when the local pharmacist sends some prescription drugs through him. When Anu discusses the matter with Sasi, he expresses his support despite his grave sadness out of his love for her. Anu reveals a thread from her past that may explain her melancholic mood. The film flashes back to several years before, when ARR had a happy family. Anu, then five or six, attended school; ARR worked and his wife managed the home. When ARR lost his wife to an illness, Anu took this particularly hard. ARR tried to help her cope with it and move on. Later, ARR met Sarada at a wedding. When ARR sought a tutor for Anu, Sarada took the position. The friendship evolved into a courtship, and ARR was about to propose marriage. As time went on, Sarada realised her own responsibilities. Both her parents were
deaf-mute Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was either deaf and used sign language or both deaf and could not speak. The term continues to be used to refer to deaf people who cannot speak an oral language or have som ...
, and she was the only way they could communicate with others; this left her torn between her filial duty and her personal aspirations. Things worsened when Anu missed her mother and was unable to accept Sarada (or anyone else) as a replacement. Sarada was bewildered and ultimately frustrated by all this. Despite ARR's assurances that they could work it out, she refused his proposal and decided to move to another city; her parents committed suicide as they felt they were a hindrance to their daughter. Since then, Anu has been plagued by guilt for her part in the breakup. The doctors schedule the surgery. Anu takes this with stoic grief, and asks Sasi for one last thing: to find Sarada and attempt to reunite her with ARR. They find an old picture of Sarada, and Sasi recognises her as a woman he had met in
Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
a few weeks ago. He sets off on a frantic hunt for Sarada. On the day of the operation, Sarada happens to be in Chennai ''en route'' to a training event in the United States. After a series of near-misses, Sasi locates her in the nick of time and brings her to Anu and ARR moments before Anu gets anaesthetised. Anu later goes for one last ride with Sasi on his motorbike and, right before they leave, she says that she has gained faith in surviving the surgery.


Cast

*
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wi ...
as A. R. Rangaraj (ARR) *
Raadhika Raadhika Sarathkumar is an Indian actress, entrepreneur, producer and politician who works predominantly in Tamil cinema along with Telugu cinema as well as a few Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films. She is the founder and CP of the Radaan Me ...
as Sarada *
Ramesh Aravind Ramesh Aravind is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and television presenter who predominantly works in Kannada films and television. In a career of over 34 years, Aravind has been appeared in over 140 films including several Tamil and T ...
as Sasi * Anju as Anu *
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 Muthu ...
as Adaikkalam *
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 Sarada's father *
Srividya Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), also known as Sreevidya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, ...
as Sarada's mother * Baby Neena as young Anu *
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 Sasi's friend *
Chinni Jayanth Chinni Jayanth (born Krishnamurthy Narayanan on 26 July 1960) is an Indian film director, producer, comedian, actor and mimicry artist who has appeared in many main, character and supporting roles in Tamil films. He is also a popular television ...
as Adaikkalam's friend *
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 Adaikkalam's friend * Krishnan as Mahadevan * Geetha as Charulatha (ARR's wife)


Production


Development

When film producer A. Sundaram approached
Vasanth Vasanth is an Indian director well known in Tamil language films for directing films such as ''Keladi Kanmani'' (1990), '' Aasai'' (1995), '' Nerrukku Ner'' (1997), ''Rhythm'' (2000) and '' Satham Podathey'' (2007). Career Vasanth began his ...
, an assistant to K. Balachander, to make a film for his production company, Vivek Chithra Productions, Vasanth was sceptical; he recalled, "Maybe he thought that just like how he was making 'Pudhea_Paadhai''.html"_;"title="Pudhea_Paadhai.html"_;"title="'Pudhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''">Pudhea_Paadhai.html"_;"title="'Pudhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''with_
'Pudhea_Paadhai''.html"_;"title="Pudhea_Paadhai.html"_;"title="'Pudhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''">Pudhea_Paadhai.html"_;"title="'Pudhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''with_ Bhagyaraj's_assistant_R._Parthiban.html"__"title="K._Bhagyaraj.html"_;"title="udhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''.html"_;"title="Pudhea_Paadhai.html"_;"title="'Pudhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''">Pudhea_Paadhai.html"_;"title="'Pudhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''with_K._Bhagyaraj">Bhagyaraj's_assistant_R._Parthiban">Parthiban_ R._Parthiban_(born_14_October_1958)_is_an_Indian_actor_and_filmmaker_who_works_mainly_in_Tamil_cinema._He_has_directed_15_films,_produced_13_films_and_acted_in_more_than_70_films._He_started_his_career_as_assistant_director_for_K._Bhagyaraj_in_...
_at_that_time,_he_should_make_one_with_KB_sir's_assistant._I_said_I'd_get_back_to_him."_Vasanth's_family_scolded_him_that_he_"should_be_thankful_that_I’m_getting_a_producer_without_me_getting_a_story_ready_and_approaching_many_producers_to_produce_it"._Sundaram_told_him_to_return_once_he_had_a_story_ready. Vasanth_wanted_to_make_films_like_his_mentor_Balachander,_Mahendran_(filmmaker).html" ;"title="K._Bhagyaraj">Bhagyaraj's_assistant_R._Parthiban.html" "title="K._Bhagyaraj.html" ;"title="udhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''.html" ;"title="Pudhea_Paadhai.html" ;"title="'Pudhea Paadhai">'Pudhea Paadhai''">Pudhea_Paadhai.html" ;"title="'Pudhea Paadhai">'Pudhea Paadhai''with K. Bhagyaraj">Bhagyaraj's assistant R. Parthiban">Parthiban R. Parthiban (born 14 October 1958) is an Indian actor and filmmaker who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has directed 15 films, produced 13 films and acted in more than 70 films. He started his career as assistant director for K. Bhagyaraj in ...
at that time, he should make one with KB sir's assistant. I said I'd get back to him." Vasanth's family scolded him that he "should be thankful that I’m getting a producer without me getting a story ready and approaching many producers to produce it". Sundaram told him to return once he had a story ready. Vasanth wanted to make films like his mentor Balachander, Mahendran (filmmaker)">Mahendran and Balu Mahendra, so he decided to make one "that was mature for my age. So, a romance between two mature people was the starting point." The story was created by Ananthu, another assistant to Balachander, and Vasanth developed it into a screenplay. ''Keladi Kannmanii'' was Vasanth's directorial debut, and was named after the song of the same name from Balachander's ''
Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal ''Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal'' () is a 1989 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film, written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Rahman (credited as Raghu) and Geetha, with Sowcar Janaki, Jayachitra, Janagaraj and Sithara in support ...
'' (1989). Cinematography was handled by R. Raghunatha Reddy, editing by the duo Ganesh–Kumar, and Maghi made his debut as art director.


Casting

Vasanth approached
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wi ...
to portray A. R. Rangaraj (ARR). The pair had earlier worked on ''
Manathil Urudhi Vendum ''Manathil Urudhi Vendum'' () is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Suhasini, with Sridhar and Chandrakanth in supporting roles. It was released on 21 October 1987. Plot Nandini ...
'' (1987), for which Vasanth was an assistant director. Vasanth was impressed with his realistic acting style and felt a "strong impression of him as a good actor, so we roped him in as an acting coup". Balasubrahmanyam was initially hesitant to accept the offer as he did not want Vasanth to take a risk by making a film with him as the lead actor. Vasanth remained firm with his selection because he wanted ARR "to be a character, which would not be possible with a popular face".
Suhasini Suhasini Maniratnam (born 15 August 1961) known mononymously as Suhasini, is an Indian actress, director, producer and writer in the Tamil film industry. She has worked as an actress in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her ...
was Vasanth's first choice for the role of Sarada, but she could not accept the offer due to her busy schedule;
Raadhika Raadhika Sarathkumar is an Indian actress, entrepreneur, producer and politician who works predominantly in Tamil cinema along with Telugu cinema as well as a few Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films. She is the founder and CP of the Radaan Me ...
was chosen instead.
Ramesh Aravind Ramesh Aravind is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and television presenter who predominantly works in Kannada films and television. In a career of over 34 years, Aravind has been appeared in over 140 films including several Tamil and T ...
was cast as Sasi because Vasanth worked with him in the
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 ''
Sundara Swapnagalu ''Sundara Swapnagalu'' ( kn, ಸುಂದರ ಸ್ವಪ್ನಗಳು) is a 1986 Kannada melodrama film directed by K. Balachander and written by Maniyan. The film featured Sridhar in the main role, along with Ramesh Aravind, making his on-s ...
'' (1986). According to Aravind, Vasanth approached him because the actor who was his original choice for the role could not accept.
Sukanya Sukanya ( sa, सुकन्या, lit=wonderful virgin, translit=Sukanyā) is a princess In Hindu mythology. She is the daughter of Sharyati, the son of Vaivasvata Manu, and the wife of the sage Chyavana. Legend Marriage According to ...
and
Ramya Krishnan Ramya Krishnan (born 15 September 1970), also credited as Ramya Krishna (in the Telugu and Kannada film industries) is an Indian actress. She has appeared in over 260 films in five languages: Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi. Ram ...
were initial choices for the role of Anu, but could not accept due to other commitments; Anju was finally chosen by Vasanth, despite the scepticism of the crew since she was a relative newcomer. Neena played the character as a child after Vasanth saw her in ''Idhayathai Thirudathe'', the Tamil-dubbed version of the
Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...
film '' Geethanjali'' (1989).


Filming

While scouting for filming locations, Vasanth came across an old house which was available for filming only for two days; he decided this would be the original house of Sarada. The first shot Vasanth directed was the scene where Sarada cries over the death of her parents. Before filming the scene, Raadhika asked for some time to prepare; she came much later and finished filming the scene in one take. Arvind's first scenes to be filmed were those with Raadhika; he had only three days to film those scenes as Raadhika was due to leave for London soon after. His other scenes, including those with Anju, were filmed after he worked on his call-sheet dates. Due to Balasubrahmanyam's playback singing commitments, he could only shoot for two hours each day. The scooter that Balasubrahmanyam drove as ARR was a
Bajaj Chetak The Bajaj Chetak is an Indian-made motor scooter produced by the Bajaj Auto company from 1972 to 2006. The Chetak is named after Chetak, the legendary horse of the Great Indian Warrior Maharana Pratap. History Originally based on Italian Ves ...
. The song "Mannil Indha Kaadhal" was filmed at a beach off
East Coast Road East Coast Road (ECR), combination of SH-49, NH-332A, NH-32, officially known as Mutthamizh Arignar Kalaignar Road, is a two-lane highway (now being partially upgraded to four-lane way from Chennai to Mamallapuram) in Tamil Nadu, India, bu ...
,
Mahabalipuram Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It ...
.


Music

The music was composed by
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 o ...
, and the soundtrack album was released by Echo Records. Ilaiyaraaja was Vasanth's only choice for composing the music; despite his busy schedule, he accepted the offer. The song "Nee Pathi Naan Pathi" is set in Chakravakam, a
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 hi ...
, and "Mannil Indha Kaadhal" is set in Keeravani. The song "Varanam Aayiram" is a
ragamalika Ragamalika, literally a garland of ragas, is a popular form of composition in Carnatic music where different segments of the composition are set to different ragas. It is also known as ''Raga Kadambakam,'' and forms parallel to the composition form ...
, a song set in multiple ragas; one stanza is set in Nayaki. "Mannil Indha Kaadhal" was not originally planned to appear in the film. Vasanth wanted to showcase Balasubrahmanyam's singing prowess in a scene, but did not know how to do it. The idea of "breathless singing" eventually struck Vasanth; and Balasubrahmanyam agreed. The song has Balasubrahmanyam singing two stanzas seemingly without taking a single breath in between the lines. Vasanth initially proposed that the entire song be sung in one breath, but Ilaiyaraaja said to restrict that to specific stanzas. Balasubrahmanyam took 40 seconds to sing the second breathless stanza; he sang breathlessly for the first 25 seconds, and the last 15 seconds after briefly inhaling. It was then edited to look like he sang the entire stanza without taking breath. When Ilaiyaraaja asked if the song "Karpoora Bommai Ondru" could be played in bits throughout the film, rather than all at once, Vasanth agreed because "it would be like something that haunts the characters, and make audiences expect for the moment when we would play it in its entirety". The entire soundtrack (except for "Mannil Indha Kaadhal") was completed in 45 minutes. Ilaiyaraaja took three days to compose the background music for the two reels forming the climax. For the Telugu-dubbed version ''O Papa Lali'', all lyrics were written by
Rajasri Rajasree (Rajasree Thota Panchajanyam, Kusuma Kumari, born 31 August 1945), also known as Rajasri or Rajashri, is an Indian actress active from 1956 to 1979. She is particularly famous for her portrayal as a princess in several folklore Telug ...
.


Release

''Keladi Kannmanii'' was released on 27 July 1990. The film was a commercial success, running for over 285 days in theatres, becoming a silver jubilee film. The success of the film enabled Ramesh Aravind to obtain roles in other Tamil films.


Critical reception

N. Krishnaswamy of ''
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 ...
'' wrote, "Class photography by Raghunatha Reddy, brilliant decors created by debutant art director Maghi along with choice of new-look locales, rich music by laiyaraajaand excellent staging of action by director Vasanth – even in his first film, this protégé of K. Balachander shows a great deal of competence – put Vivek Chitra's 'Keladi Kannmanii''in the top bracket." ''
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 ...
'' said that Vasanth had taken a weighty script in his first attempt and told it very clearly without any confusion for the audience, that he demonstrated self-confidence by choosing Balasubrahmanyam for the male lead and Anju for the role of his daughter, and that he made his
guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan- Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...
(Balachander) proud with the film, rating it 55 out of 100.


Accolades


References


Bibliography

* *


External links

* {{TamilNaduStateFilmAwardBestFilm 1990 directorial debut films 1990 films 1990 romantic drama films 1990s Tamil-language films Films directed by Vasanth Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian romantic drama films