''Erattai Manithan'' () is a 1982 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. Shankar Kannan Shankar (17 March 1926 - 5 March 2006) was an Indian film editor, screenwriter and director. He directed more than 80 films in South Indian languages including Tamil language, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu language, Telugu and Kannada as well ...

. The film stars

S. S. Rajendran Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, also known by his initials SSR (January 1928 – 24 October 2014), was an Indian actor, film director, film producer and politician who worked in Tamil theatre and cinema. He often referred as Latchiya ...

(who is also credited for film's script),

Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh (1946 – 12 February 2001) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil plays and films. He had supporting roles in the films '' Aval Oru Thodar Kathai'' and '' Aattukara Alamelu'', among others. His most popular roles have been as a ...

, Latha, Sumithra and

Bhavani Bhavānī (also known as Bhāvya, Tulajā, Turajā, Tvarita, Aṃbā, Jagadambā and Aṃbē) is an epithet associated with Durga. Bhavani translates to "giver of life," meaning the power of nature or the source of creative energy. She is cons ...

. It was released on 14 January 1982, after over two years of delay.

Plot

Durai is honest, straightforward and lives by a strict moral code. His only family is his younger sister Vani and he works as a manager for Thangavelu's company. Thangavelu's wife Mangalam and daughter Kannamma constantly clash with Durai's stodgy attitude but Thangavelu appreciates him. Thangavelu's family watches a play and see Durai as an actor in it. Mangalam and Kannamma point out Durai's hypocrisy and duplicity in pursuing acting when he has such strict expectations of everyone else. When Thangavelu confronts him, Durai lies and invents a younger twin brother, Raja, that is an actor and singer. Thangavelu and his family fall for his act and hire Raja to be Kannamma's music teacher. In the meantime, Vani falls in love with Chandran, Durai's co-star in his plays and also Thangavelu's nephew. Unknown to Vani, he's a cad that uses the ruse of producing films to get closer to various women. Kannamma falls in love with Raja who also loves her but is reticent due to his lies and her continuing dislike of Durai. Matters are further complicated when another of Durai's co-stars, Bhavani, learns the truth and blackmails him. Durai confesses all to Thangavelu's family and is forgiven but now has to face the ire of Chandran and Bhavani.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. Popularly known by the sobriquet "Mellisai Mannar" (), he ...

Critical reception

Sindhu-Jeeva 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 ...

'' compared the film's plot to the Hindi film ''

Gol Maal ''Gol Maal'' () is a 1979 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and written by Rahi Masoom Raza and Sachin Bhowmick. It was produced by N. C. Sippy, with music by R. D. Burman. The film won several awards and was pr ...

'' and added there were lot of political references in every frame and concluded looking at songs, background music, dialogues, comedy, etc. would have been appreciated if this film had come out twenty years ago.

References

External links

* {{K. Shankar 1980s Indian films 1980s Tamil-language films 1982 films Films directed by K. Shankar Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Tamil-language Indian films