HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Adutha Veettu Penn'' () is a 1960 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
romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...
film directed by
Vedantam Raghavayya Vedantam Raghavayya (8 June 1919 –19,October 1971) was an Indian film director, dance choreographer, and actor known for his work in Telugu and Tamil cinema. An accomplished Kuchipudi dancer, he was honoured with the title "Bharata Kala Prapur ...
and written by Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass. The film stars
Anjali Devi Anjali Devi (; 24 August 1927 – 13 January 2014) was an Indian actress, model and producer in Telugu and Tamil films. She was well known for her role as the Devi Sita in '' Lava Kusa'' as well as for the title roles in movies like Chenchu ...
(who co-produced the film with her husband, composer P. Adinarayana Rao), T. R. Ramachandran and K. A. Thangavelu. It is a remake 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 ...
film '' Pasher Bari'' (1952), itself based on the namesake short story by Arun Chowdhury. In ''Adutha Veettu Penn'', a simple man wants to impress a woman he loves by singing, but since he cannot, his friend, a singer, sings in secret while the simple man merely
lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...
s, and wins the woman's love. The film was released on 11 February 1960, and became a success.


Plot

Mannaru, a simple man, falls in love with his wealthy neighbour Leela, who sings and dances well. He wants to impress her by singing, but he cannot sing. So he seeks the help of his friend, a singer who agrees. While the friend sings in secret, Mannaru merely
lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...
s. Leela is charmed by what she thinks is Mannaru singing and falls in love with him. Soon the truth comes out, and the rest of the film deals with how the tangle between the lovers is solved.


Cast

Adapted from the film's songbook and opening credits: ;Male cast ;Female cast


Production

''Adutha Veettu Penn'' is a remake 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 ...
film '' Pasher Bari'' (1952), itself based on the namesake short story by Arun Chowdhury. The film was produced by
Anjali Devi Anjali Devi (; 24 August 1927 – 13 January 2014) was an Indian actress, model and producer in Telugu and Tamil films. She was well known for her role as the Devi Sita in '' Lava Kusa'' as well as for the title roles in movies like Chenchu ...
(who also starred as the female lead) and her husband P. Adinarayana Rao, who also composed the music. Anjali Devi reprised her role from ''Pasher Bari''s
Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...
adaptation '' Pakka Inti Ammayi'' (1953). The film's animated opening credits were created by Dayabhai Patel. The screenplay was written by Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass, cinematography was handled by C. Nageswara Rao, and the editing by N. S. Prakasam. While primarily in black and white, the film was partly coloured using
Gevacolor Gevacolor is a color motion picture process. It was introduced in 1947 by Gevaert in Belgium, and an affiliate of Agfacolor. The process and company flourished in the 1950s as it was suitable for on location shooting. Both the companies merged i ...
. Its final length was .


Influences

Although the opening credits of ''Adutha Veettu Penn'' acknowledge the source film ''Pasher Bari'', Saritha Rao Rayachoti (writing for Scroll.in) opines that it has some similarities with
Edmond Rostand Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with th ...
's play ''
Cyrano de Bergerac Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist. A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th ce ...
'', in which the male lead Cyrano loves his cousin Roxane but feels he is not worthy of her due to his large nose; so he romances her by proxy, i.e. he writes her love letters for which another man, Christian de Neuvillette, claims credit at Cyrano's request. According to Rayachoti, the film eschewed the play's
tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...
elements in favour of
romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...
overtones.


Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was composed by P. Adinarayana Rao, with lyrics were by Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass. The song "Vanitha Maniye" is set in the
Hamsadhvani Hamsadhvani (meaning "the cry of the swan"), is a rāga in Carnatic music (musical scale of Carnatic tradition of Indian classical music). It is an ''audava'' rāgam (or ''owdava'' rāga, meaning pentatonic scale). It is a ''janya'' rāga of the ...
raga, while "Kannale Pesi Pesi Kolladhe" is set in
Keeravani Keeravani (pronounced ) is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the 21st ''Melakarta'' rāgam in the 72 ''melakarta'' rāgam system of Carnatic music. The 21st ''melakarta'' rāgam as per Muthuswami ...
, and "Kangalum Kavi Paaduthe" is set in
Hindolam Hindōḷaṃ is a ragam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is an ''audava'' rāgam (5 notes in arohana and avarohana) as it does not have all the seven ''swaras'' (musical notes). Hindolam is not the same a ...
. The album was a major breakthrough for
P. B. Sreenivas Prathivadhi Bhayankara Sreenivas (22 September 1930 – 14 April 2013) widely known as P. B. S. was an Indian playback singer, composer, harmonium player, Lyricist and poet known for his works in South cinema, and Bollywood. His major chunk of ...
, who sang five of the film's songs. According to ''
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
''s B. Kolappan, the film "proved beyond doubt that Sreenivas was going to secure an established place in Tamil film music."


Release and reception

''Adutha Veettu Penn'' was released on 11 February 1960. A review from the magazine ''
Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not publishe ...
'', dated 27 March 1960, called the film a must-watch for the comedy and dance sequences which were in colour. Kanthan of ''
Kalki Kalki (), also called Kalkin, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu. According to Vaishnavism, Vaishnava cosmology, Kalki is destined to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga, the last of the four ages i ...
'' said no one could have done the role of Mannaru better than Ramachandran. According to historian
Randor Guy Madabhushi Rangadorai (; 8 November 1937 – 23 April 2023), better known by his pen name Randor Guy (), was an Indian lawyer, columnist and film and legal historian associated with the English language newspaper ''The Hindu''. He was also the of ...
, it was a major commercial success primarily because of its full-length situational comedy, then a rarity in Indian cinema and more so in Tamil.


References


Bibliography

*


External links

* * {{Vedantam Raghavayya 1960 films 1960 romantic comedy films 1960s Indian films 1960s Tamil-language films Films about fraud Films based on adaptations Films directed by Vedantam Raghavayya Films partially in color Films scored by P. Adinarayana Rao Indian black-and-white films Indian romantic comedy films Tamil remakes of Bengali films Tamil-language Indian films Tamil-language romantic comedy films