''Avan Oru Sarithiram'' () is a 1977 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 film directed by K. S. Prakash Rao and produced by K. S. Kutralingam. The film stars

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram. Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001), better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th centur ...

Manjula Manjula (Sanskrit: मंजुला) is a Hindu and Sanskrit female given name, which means, "melodious". Notable people named Manjula * Manjula (Kannada actress) (1954–1986), Indian actress * Manjula Chellur (born 1955), Indian doctor an ...

and Kanchana. It was released on 14 January 1977.

Plot

Shankar, his brother Muthu, their father Namachivayam, mother Lakshmi, sister Gowri, and betrothed Gomathi, all live in a well-to-do happy family. Shankar becomes a collector to fulfill his father's desire while Muthu becomes a farmer and turns into a revolutionary, seeing the atrocities committed by the corrupt politicians and officials. Gowri falls in love with Ramu, son of Vedhachalam, a businessman who is married for the second time to a young woman and has his father-in-law as his guide. Vedhachalam intends to use his connection to the family to get a few files signed and some properties belonging to the government acquired in his name. The honest upright Shankar insults him causing a rift between the two families. Vedhachalam, having felt insulted, wants to take vengeance by ruining the family. He aims to acquire all the land belonging to Namachivayam to whom his land is as sacred as his own mother. He becomes an M.L.A, uses his influence and gets the land acquired through Shankar in his capacity as collector with the excuse that it is ideal for TB hospital. He later subverts the collector and gets it allotted for his purpose. This causes Namachivayam to die and Shankar to resign. He starts a magazine to expose the corrupt nexus above him with the support of Kalpana, Vedhachalam's foreign-educated doctor daughter who cannot bear to see her father's evil activities. In the end, seeing the influence of Shankar as a journalist grow, he attempts to kill him only to end up killing his own daughter for which he and his cohorts are arrested. Seeing that violence begets violence, Muthu too surrenders.

Cast

Production

Two songs and romantic scenes of Ganesan and Manjula were shot at

Courtallam Courtallam, natively spelt Kutrālam or Kuttālam, is a panchayat town situated at a mean elevation of in the foothills of the Western Ghats in Tenkasi district of Tamil Nadu, India. The Coutrallam Falls on the Chittar River is a major tou ...

Soundtrack

The music was composed by M. S. Viswanathan. The song "En Manadhu Ondrudhaan" is partially based on "

Für Elise Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor (WoO59, Biamonti Catalogue, Bia515) for solo piano, commonly known as "Für Elise" (, ), is one of Ludwig van Beethoven's most significant popular compositions. It was not published during his lifetime, only being disc ...

" by

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

. The song "Ammaanai" is set in

Dharmavati Dharmavati is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the 59th ''Melakarta'' rāgam in the 72 ''melakarta'' rāgam system of Carnatic music. It is called ''Dhaamavati'' in Muthuswami Dikshitar school of ...

raga, and "Vanakkam" is set in

Abhogi Abhogi () is a raga in Carnatic music and has been adapted to Hindustani music. It is a pentatonic scale, an ''audava'' raga. It is a derived scale (''janya'' raga), as it does not have all the seven ''swaras'' (musical notes). ''Ābhōgi'' has ...

Reception

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 ...

'' appreciated the cinematography, but criticised the story.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title 1970s Indian films 1970s Tamil-language films 1977 films Films directed by K. S. Prakash Rao Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Tamil-language Indian films