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, nati ...
L. Raja
L. Raja is an Indian director and actor who works in predominantly Tamil language films and television series.
Career
Raja began his career as an assistant to director Rajasekhar. He debuted as a director with '' Shankar Guru'' in 1987, whic ...
and produced by M. Saravanan, M. Balasubramanian and
M. S. Guhan
M. S. Guhan is an Indian film producer. He has been involved in hits such as '' Sivaji: The Boss'', '' Thirupathi'', '' Minsara Kanavu'', '' Leader (2010 film)'', and recently Ayan. He is the son of noted producer M. Saravanan, who owns the AVM ...
. The film was shot simultaneously in
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
S ...
as ''Chinnari Devatha'' with Raja Naidu as director. It stars Arjun,
Seetha
Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...
Baby Shalini
Shalini (born 20 November 1979), also known as Baby Shalini, is a former Indian child artist and actress who predominantly worked in Malayalam and Tamil films. During the 80s, Shalini was the most successful child artist in the Malayalam film i ...
. The film was released on 19 March 1987, and was commercially successful in both languages.
Plot
Sankar Guru, an honest police inspector, fights for the rights of poor people. When Rekha falls in love with him, a few gangsters try to attack her to teach Sankar a lesson.
Seetha
Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...
Baby Shalini
Shalini (born 20 November 1979), also known as Baby Shalini, is a former Indian child artist and actress who predominantly worked in Malayalam and Tamil films. During the 80s, Shalini was the most successful child artist in the Malayalam film i ...
as Devi
*
Sarath Babu
Sathyam Babu Dixithulu (born 31 July 1951), known by his stage name Sarath Babu, is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He has worked in more than 200 films. He has appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada an ...
as Devi's father
*
Senthil
Senthil (born 23 March 1951) is an Indian comedy actor who works in Tamil cinema. He is famous for his comedian roles along with fellow actor Goundamani. The pair dominated the Tamil industry as comedians in the 1980s and 90s.Senthamarai as Kanagaraj
*
Y. G. Mahendran
Y G Mahendran (born 9 January 1950) is an Indian Actor, dramatist, actor, singer, playwright and comedian from the state of Tamil Nadu. He has acted in a number of plays and films. He is the son of Y. G. Parthasarathy, one of the pioneers of mo ...
as Dharmaraj
*V. Gopalakrishnan as a police commissioner
* Jeeva as Ethiraj
* Rallapalli as police constable
*Balaji as Nagaraj
* Manorama as Seetha's mother
*
Rajya Lakshmi
Rajyalakshmi Chandu, better known by her stage name Sankarabharanam Rajyalakshmi (born 18 December 1964) is an Indian actress. She was a prominent lead actress during the 1980s in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films. She was well noted ...
as Devi's mother
*Mohanapriya
*Chitralekha
*Chandrakala
*Chakravarthy as a police inspector
*
Pasi Narayanan
Narayanan, better known as Pasi Narayanan, was an Indian stage and film actor known for performing comedic roles alongside actor Goundamani. Narayanan acted in over 500 Tamil-language films and is known for the catchphrase,
Early life
Naraya ...
as a police constable
*
Oru Viral Krishna Rao
Oru Viral Krishna Rao was an Indian actor and comedian who appeared in Tamil-language films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani award, Rao got the nickname '' Oru Viral'' (one finger) for his first Tamil film in 1965. He acted in ...
as a police constable
*
K. K. Soundar
K.K. Soundar (1925-2003) was a Tamil film actor. He has done character roles in many Tamil movies from the 1950s till the 1990s.
Filmography
''This is a partial filmography. You can expand it.''
1930s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
199 ...
as a school master
*Anumanthu as Seetha's father
*
Idichapuli Selvaraj
Idichapuli Selvaraj ( – 30 January 2012) was a veteran Tamil comedy actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in moder ...
as Kanagaraj's assistant
*
Omakuchi Narasimhan
Narasimhan (c. 1936 - 12 March 2009), popularly known as Omakuchi, was an Indian stage and film actor. He acted in over 1,500 films in 14 Indian languages, predominantly in Tamil.
Early life
Born in Kumbakonam in 1936, Narasimhan made his ...
as Kanagaraj's assistant
*
Visu
Meenakshisundaram Ramasamy Viswanathan (1 July 1945 – 22 March 2020), best known by his stage name Visu, was an Indian writer, director, stage, film and television actor and talk-show host. Visu initially worked as an assistant to director K ...
in a special appearance as a doctor
;Telugu version
* Arjun as Inspector Babu
*
Seetha
Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...
Baby Shalini
Shalini (born 20 November 1979), also known as Baby Shalini, is a former Indian child artist and actress who predominantly worked in Malayalam and Tamil films. During the 80s, Shalini was the most successful child artist in the Malayalam film i ...
as Devi
*
Sarath Babu
Sathyam Babu Dixithulu (born 31 July 1951), known by his stage name Sarath Babu, is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He has worked in more than 200 films. He has appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada an ...
Y. G. Mahendra
Y G Mahendran (born 9 January 1950) is an Indian Actor, dramatist, actor, singer, playwright and comedian from the state of Tamil Nadu. He has acted in a number of plays and films. He is the son of Y. G. Parthasarathy, one of the pioneers of m ...
Rajya Lakshmi
Rajyalakshmi Chandu, better known by her stage name Sankarabharanam Rajyalakshmi (born 18 December 1964) is an Indian actress. She was a prominent lead actress during the 1980s in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films. She was well noted ...
as Devi's mother
*
Mada Venkateswara Rao
Mada Venkateswara Rao (4 June 1935 - 24 October 2015) was an Indian actor from Andhra Pradesh. He acted in more than 600 films. He played notable roles in the films '' Mutyala Muggu'', '' Lambadolla Ramdasu'', and '' Mayadari Malligadu''. He wa ...
*
Potti Prasad
Potti Prasad (born Kavivarapu Prasada Rao) was an Indian actor who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. He was introduced to the films by Jandhyala. His notable roles include Chantabbai and Sagara Sangamam. He made his screen debut with Appu ...
*
Hema Sundar
Hema Sunder is an Indian film, character actor, television actor, thespian, and lead actor known for his works in Telugu cinema, and a few in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, and Bhojpuri. He starred in over 300 feature films. He made his de ...
Production
AVM Productions
AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappan. It is the final oldest survived studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, ...
wanted to remake the Bengali film ''Shatru'' (1984) in Tamil and Telugu. However, the remake rights proved too expensive, so the idea was dropped. Instead, AVM borrowed two scenes from that film and created a new story, titled ''Sankar Guru'' in Tamil and ''Chinnari Devatha'' in Telugu. Both versions were filmed simultaneously.
Soundtrack
The music of ''Sankar Guru'' was composed by Chandrabose, with lyrics by
Vairamuthu
Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he fi ...
. The music of ''Chinnari Devatha'' was composed by
K. Chakravarthy
K. Chakravarthi (born Kommineni Appa Rao; 8 September 1936 – 3 February 2002) was an Indian music director who primarily worked in Telugu cinema. He made his debut with in 1971 with ''Mooga Prema'' and went on compose music for over 949 films ...
, with lyrics by
Veturi
Veturi Sundararama Murthy (29 January 1936 – 22 May 2010), known mononymously by his surname Veturi, was an Indian poet, lyricist and journalist who is popular for writing Telugu songs. His career in the Telugu cinema spanned more than four d ...
.
Release and reception
''Sankar Guru'' was released on 19 March 1987. ''
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 Limited, Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, ...
'' called it "absolutely unpretentious entertainer". Jayamanmadhan of ''Kalki'', despite noting several flaws, appreciated the director for making an entertaining film from beginning to end. The film was commercially successful in both the languages it was made.