''Engal Thangam'' () is a 1970 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

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Krishnan–Panju R. Krishnan (1909–1997) and S. Panju (1915–1984), collectively referred to as Krishnan–Panju, were Indian film directors. The duo directed more than 50 films in South Indian languages and in Hindi. Early life R. Krishnan was born on 18 ...

. The film stars

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known by his initialism M.G.R. and as Makkal Thilagam/Puratchi Thalaivar, was an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of ...

and

Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016), popularly known as Amma, was an Indian actress, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years between 1991 and 2016. She ...

. It was released on 9 October 1970 and became a success, besides winning three

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Cinema of Tamil Nadu, Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Governmen ...

Plot

Thangam, a truck driver comes to the rescue of Sumathi, his blind younger sister, by putting on (by assuming) the offences of Moorthy, her husband. Moorthy is a childhood friend of Thangam. Today, Moorthy fell to the hands of a mysterious group of burglars, because he is the best professional safe-cracker in the city. Thangam wants at all costs to save him from this gang and to stop them. Thangam will be helped in his quest by Kaladevi, his lover.

Cast

Production

On learning that M. Karunanidhi and

Murasoli Maran Murasoli Maran (17 August 1934, Thirukkuvalai – 23 November 2003) was an Indian politician and leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party, which was headed by his maternal uncle and mentor, M. Karunanidhi. A Member of Parliament fo ...

were bankrupt,

along with J. Jayalalithaa acted in ''Engal Thangam'' without taking any remuneration.

Themes

The colours of the

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; ; DMK) is an Indian political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu, where it is currently the ruling party, and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry, where it is currently the main ...

(DMK) flag – red and black – are featured in the attire Ramachandran frequently wears in the film as his character. The song "Naan Sethu Pulachavanda", where he sings that he has risen from the dead, is a reference to Ramachandran having survived a gunshot wound inflicted on his throat by M. R. Radha in 1967.

Soundtrack

Music is composed by M. S. Viswanathan, with lyrics by Vaali. The song "Don't Touch Mr X" includes English lyrics. "Thangapadhakkathin Mele" was remixed in '' Vetrivel Sakthivel'' (2005).

Release and reception

''Engal Thangam'' was released on 9 October 1970, and distributed by Venus Movies. ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' criticised the film for not offering anything new, but lauded Ramachandran's performance of the

harikatha ''Harikatha'' (Kannada: ಹರಿಕಥೆ : ''Harikathe''; Telugu: హరికథ : ''Harikatha;'' Marathi: हरीपाठ '': Haripatha'', ), also known as ''Harikatha Kaalakshepam'' in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam(), is a form of Hindu ...

and concluded, "One is tired of this kind of movie with a huge bag of morals". The film ran for over 100 days in theatres. It won the

Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film is given by the Government of Tamil Nadu as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil ( Kollywood) films. It includes prizes for three top places. Key List of winners Referenc ...

– Second Prize, Vaali won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Lyricist, and Pushpalatha won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Character Artiste (Female).

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{Krishnan–Panju 1970 action films 1970 films 1970s Indian films 1970s Tamil-language films Films directed by Krishnan–Panju Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Indian action films Tamil-language Indian films