''Vilaiyattu Pillai'' () 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, na ...

-language film, directed by

A. P. Nagarajan Akkamappettai Paramasivan Nagarajan (24 February 1928 – 5 April 1977) was an Indian film director, producer, actor and writer who set a trend in film making in Tamil cinema from 1965 to 1977. Film career Nagarajan started his own drama c ...

and produced by

Gemini Studios Gemini Studios was an Indian film studio based in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was launched when S. S. Vasan, a businessman of many ventures (including the ownership of Ananda Vikatan) bought Motion Picture Producers' Combines from Krishnaswamy Sub ...

. It is based on

Kothamangalam Subbu Kothamangalam Subbu (born S. M. Subramanian, 10 November 1910 – 15 February 1974) was an Indian poet, lyricist, author, actor and film director based in Tamil Nadu. He wrote the cult classic Tamil novel '' Thillana Mohanambal'' and was awarded ...

's novel ''Rao Bahadur Singaram'', which was serialised in the 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 ...

''. The film 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 ...

, Padmini and Kanchana. It deals with the romance between a woman who raises a bull and a man who sets out to tame it. ''Vilaiyattu Pillai'' was released on 20 February 1970. The film was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.

Plot

Muthiah, a farmer, manages to tame Neelamani, a bull owned by Maragatham, the daughter of a wealthy man. After Muthiah's victory, Maragatham challenges him to participate in a Rekla race. Muthiah participates and emerges victorious, and Maragatham falls in love with him. Muthiah's mother, while happy about the accolades her son has won, believes he is too playful and advises him to marry and live more responsibly. Muthiah's uncle agrees to talk to Maragatham's father and fix Muthiah's marriage with Maragatham, but has plans of his own. Instead of Muthiah, he finalises Maragatham's marriage with his spoilt son Velu. On the day Maragatham is supposed to marry Velu, she and Muthiah elope and marry, and eventually have a son, Manickam. Maragatham inherits her father's wealth following his death. One day an elephant goes out of control, but Muthiah manages to overpower it, saving princess Indu in the process. She develops a liking for Muthiah and invites him and his family to the palace. Velu is jealous of Muthiah and, seeking to tarnish Muthiah's image, he spreads rumours about him and the princess. Eventually, Muthiah is forced to overpower a bull whose horns are laced with poison. Despite that, he succeeds and continues to live prosperously with his family.

Cast

as Muthaiah * Padmini as Maragatham * Kanchana as Indu * Manorama as Velu's wife *

Kumari Rukmini Kumari Rukmani (19 April 1929 – 4 September 2007), also known as Kumari Rukmini, was an Indian actress and dancer. She has acted in about 100 films in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages. Childhood She is the daughter of Nungambakkam Janaki, a ...

as Maragatham's mother *

S. N. Lakshmi Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...

as Muthaiah's mother * G. Sakunthala as Queen *Seethalakshmi * Baby Rojaramani *

T. S. Balaiah Thirunelveli Subramaniyan Balaiah (23 August 1914 – 22 July 1972) was an Indian actor. He is best known for playing supporting roles in Tamil films. Born in Sundankottai, near Udankudi in Thoothukudi, Balaiah was introduced to the cine fie ...

as Muthaiah's uncle * Cho as Velu *

Sivakumar Palaniswamy, better known by his stage name Sivakumar (born 27 October 1941), is an Indian visual artist and former actor who has portrayed a wide range of leading and supporting roles onscreen in Tamil cinema and television. He made his acti ...

as Manickam *

V. S. Raghavan V S Raghavan (18 February 1925 – 24 January 2015) was an Indian actor, who has acted both in Tamil films as well as television. He started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a character actor in films, starting ...

as Maragatham's father *

T. R. Ramachandran Thirukampuliyur Ranga Ramachandran (9 January 1917 – 30 November 1990) was an Indian actor and comedian who acted mainly in Tamil films. He was cast mostly in lead or supportive roles, especially in comical parts, from the 1940s to the 1960s. Kn ...

as Muthaiah's friend *

S. V. Ramadas S. V. Ramadas (1921-2004) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil-language films, most often as a villain. He acted in more than 700 films in a career spanning over four decades. Film career Among popular movies, he acted in Aayirathil Or ...

as Indu's father *

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 ...

Master Prabhakar Master Prabhakar, (born Prabhakar vaishyan) is an Indian actor, who primarily worked in Tamil cinema, and few Telugu films and acted in about 60 programmes for Doordarshan, between 1977 and 1987 and as a technician he has worked for few Bolly ...

an as young Manickam

Production

''Rao Bahadur Singaram'' was a novel written by

and serialised in the magazine ''

''. The novel dealt with the romance between a woman who raises a bull and a man who sets out to tame it.

decided to adapt Subbu's story as a feature film titled ''Vilaiyattu Pillai'', with

directing and writing the dialogues. The screenplay was written by S. S. Vasan, the owner of Gemini Studios where the film was shot. Cinematography was handled by K. S. Prasad, and the editing by M. Umanath. Filming took place prominently in Mysore. Film historian

Randor Guy Madabhushi Rangadorai (born 8 November 1937), better known by his pen name Randor Guy, is an Indian lawyer, columnist and film and legal historian associated with the English language newspaper ''The Hindu''. He is also the official editor of the ...

believes this was the first Tamil film to have a race of the Tamil Nadu sport Rekla as its theme. Vasan died in 1969, when the film was still in production, and the film was dedicated to his memory.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

K. V. Mahadevan Krishnankoil Venkadachalam Mahadevan (14 March 1918 – 21 June 2001) was an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films. He is best known for his contributi ...

, 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

''Vilaiyattu Pillai'' was released on 20 February 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 ...

'' panned the film, saying it lacked the warmth of the novel and criticised its length, but praised the scenes of the taming of the elephant and the bull fight. The reviewer praised the performances of only Balaiah, Padmini and Sivakumar, while adding that Kanchana's role was "undefined", concluding that the film was a "waste of talent". Despite this, the film was a major commercial success, running for 100 days in theatres.

References

External links

* {{Gemini Studios 1970 drama films 1970 films 1970s Tamil-language films Films based on Indian novels Films directed by A. P. Nagarajan Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan Gemini Studios films Indian drama films