''Kaliyuga Kannan'' () is a 1974 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

comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film 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 ...

. It is based on the play ''Sri Krishna Vijayam'' written by Vaali. The film stars

Sowcar Janaki Sankaramanchi Janaki (born 12 December 1931), widely known as Sowcar Janaki, is an Indian actress known for her works in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. In a career spanning over seven decades, Janaki has appeared in nearly 390 fil ...

, Jaishankar,

Jayachitra Jayachitra (born 5 September 1957) is an Indian actress films who works mostly in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. Early life Her father Mahea was a veterinary doctor, who had earlier worked as a lawyer. Her mother Ammaji (a.k.a. Jayasree) ...

and

Thengai Srinivasan Thengai Srinivasan (21 October 1937 – 9 November 1987) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil-language films and plays from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was given the prefix ''Thengai'' (coconut) after his role as a coconut-seller in th ...

. It was released on 13 November 1974 and emerged a commercial success. The film was later remade in Telugu as '' Devude Digivaste'' (1975), in

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

as '' Devara Duddu'' (1976), and in

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 ...

as '' Yehi Hai Zindagi'' (1977).

Plot

While Sambu Iyer's wife is a devotee of Krishna, Sambu Iyer questions God's partiality and judgement. He happens to spend the money his wife had kept aside for God as an offering on a competition which he wins and uses to become rich. When the lord himself appears and asks for that money, he keeps putting off the return of the money taking credit for his success while blaming the lord for his failures. In the end, he concedes and acknowledges that God is fair, money is the root of all evil and reconciles with God at the time of his death.

Cast

as Sambu Iyer's wife * Jaishankar as Sambu's son *

as Radha * V. K. Ramasamy as Radha's father * Neelakantan as Krishnan *

as Sambu Iyer

Production

''Kaliyuga Kannan'' is the inaugural production of Ajantha Enterprises, and is an adaptation of ''Sri Krishna Vijayam'', a play written by Vaali that featured

as the protagonist. The play, which was written for actor V. Gopalakrishnan's Gopi Theatres, intended to convey the message that "money could not buy peace of mind". When adapting the play as a film, the makers wanted

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 ...

to star. But Ganesan suggested Srinivasan, after being impressed with his performance in the play. Vaali wrote the dialogue for the film adaptation, which was produced by N. Elango. Cinematography was handled by S. Maruti Rao. Besides directing, Panju co-edited the film (alongside Narasimhan) under the pseudonym "Panjabi". The final cut of the film measured .

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by V. Kumar, while the lyrics were written by Vaali. The playback singers were T. M. Soundararajan, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela and Renuka. The songs featured were "Kannaiah", "Kadhal Ponnedu", "Jaichutte" and "Seven O'Clock".

Release and reception

''Kaliyuga Kannan'' was released on 13 November 1974. 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 film for Janaki's performance and Vaali's writing, calling it a good entertainer. The film emerged a commercial success.

Legacy

''Kaliyuga Kannan'' propelled Srinivasan to stardom. CV Aravind of ''

The News Minute ''The News Minute'' is an Indian digital news platform based in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded by Vignesh Vellore who is also the current CEO in 2014. Apart from Karnataka, it also has bureaus in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, ...

'' praised it for the "riveting script by Vaali". Playwright and comedian Crazy Mohan developed a desire to write a play with "God as the fulcrum" after watching the play ''Krishnaya Thubhyam Namaha'', and ''Kaliyuga Kannan'' encouraged him to solidify his plans, resulting in the play ''Chocolate Krishna''.

References

External links

* 1970s Indian films 1970s Tamil-language films 1974 comedy-drama films 1974 films Films directed by Krishnan–Panju Films scored by V. Kumar Hindu devotional films Indian comedy-drama films Indian films based on plays Tamil films remade in other languages Tamil-language comedy-drama films Tamil-language Indian films {{Improve categories, date=April 2024