''Achchani'' (; ) is a 1978 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Karaikudi Narayanan, starring Muthuraman,

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, , ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity, beauty, fertility, sovereignty, and abundance. She along with Parvat ...

and Ashokan. It is based on Narayanan's play of the same name. The film was released on 4 February 1978 and became a success.

Plot

Cast

Production

''Achchani'' is based on the play of the same name. The play was previously filmed in Malayalam under the same name. Karaikudi Narayanan who wrote the play also directed the film adaptation making his directorial debut. Shobha made her debut with this film. Narayanan revealed despite wanting Jaishankar as the lead actor, he chose Muthuraman as per the producer's suggestion. The producer faced financial struggles during the shoot as he could not afford enough film rolls and money which led to the filming being stopped and getting restarted after six months. It was Meenakshi Sundaram who owned Ganesh Theatre at Melur and helped providing finance to complete the film.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and playback singer popular for his works in Indian cinema, predominately in Tamil cinema, Tamil in addition ...

. The song "Thaalaattu" is set in the

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

known as

Madhyamavati Madhyamavati (madhyamāvati) is a raga in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is an ''audava'' rāga (or ''owdava'' rāga, meaning pentatonic scale), as it does not have all the seven musical notes (''swaras''). ...

. The song "Maatha Un Kovilil" was re-used in ''

Naan Kadavul ''Naan Kadavul'' () is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed by Bala and produced by K. S. Sreenivasan under Vasan Visual Ventures. The film is based on the Tamil novel ''Yezhaam Ulagam'' by Jeyamohan, who also penned the fi ...

'' (2009).

Gangai Amaran Gangai Amaran (born Amar Singh) is an Indian composer, playback singer, lyricist, actor, film director and a screenwriter in Tamil films. Personal life Gangai Amaran was born in Pannaipuram in Theni district, Tamil Nadu in December 1947, as ...

who was assisting Ilayaraja at that time mentioned in an interview that it was inspired by "Awargi", a

ghazal ''Ghazal'' is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and t ...

composed by Ghulam Ali. Ilaiyaraaja composed "Matha Un Kovilil" and "Thalatta Pillaiyundu" within three hours.

Release and reception

''Achchani'' was released on 4 February 1978, and was commercially successful.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title 1970s Indian films 1970s Tamil-language films 1978 drama films 1978 films Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian drama films Indian films based on plays Tamil-language Indian films