''Kadal Meengal'' () is a 1981 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

masala film Masala films of Indian cinema are those that blend multiple genres into one work. Masala films emerged in the 1970s and are still being created as of the 2020s. Typically these films freely blend action, comedy, romance, and drama, or melod ...

directed by G. N. Rangarajan, starring

Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...

, Sujatha,

Nagesh Nageshwaran Rao (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor and comedian mostly remembered for his comic roles in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in ov ...

and Swapna. It is a remake of the 1980

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

film ''Meen'', and also draws inspiration from the

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

film '' Trishul'' (1978). The film revolves around a man seeking revenge on his father for abandoning the former's mother. It was released on 5 June 1981.

Plot

Selvanayakam, also known as Selvam, is a poor but hard-working fisherman in love with Bhagyam, a woman from the same fishing hamlet. After a dispute with the locals, Selvam relocates to a neighboring village to fish but is feared dead during a cyclone. He eventually returns alive but, unable to find Bhagyam, marries another woman. Meanwhile, Bhagyam gives birth to Selvam's child but lives in isolation, separate from Selvam, who has become a wealthy businessman. Years later, their son Rajan learns about his father and grows to resent him for abandoning his mother. Driven by anger, Rajan aligns with his father's rivals, engaging in a prolonged conflict with Selvam in both business and personal matters.

Cast

Production

The makeup for old look of Kamal Haasan was done by R. Sundaramoorthy who revealed the look is inspired from a character from the 1980 film ''

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

''.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and playback singer popular for his works in Indian cinema, predominately in Tamil cinema, Tamil in addition ...

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 ...

'' praised Kamal Haasan's acting, Viswanathan's cinematography and Ilaiyaraaja's music but felt unit who worked a lot in the idea of taking gold and making jewellery not realising it is just clay and concluded Meen (fish) in Malayalam, Karuvadu (dried fish) in Tamil.

References

External links

* * 1980s Indian films 1980s masala films 1980s Tamil-language films 1981 films Films about father–son relationships Films about fishermen Films directed by G. N. Rangarajan Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films with screenplays by Panchu Arunachalam Tamil remakes of Malayalam films Tamil-language Indian films {{Improve categories, date=April 2024