''Keezh Vaanam Sivakkum'' () 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 film, directed by

Muktha Srinivasan Muktha Srinivasan (1929 – 2018) was an Indian film director and producer. Personal life V. Srinivasan was born in Malapuram on 31 October 1929 in a Tamil Brahmin family. His parents were Venkatachariar and Chellamma. His elder brother is M ...

and produced by S. Ravi. The film stars

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 ...

Saritha Saritha is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 150 films and provided voice for many actress for more than 200 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu languages. She was one of the popular and critically acclaimed lead actresses ...

Jaishankar Jaishankar may also refer to: * Jaishankar Prasad (1889 – 1937), Indian writer and playwright * Jaishankar (actor) (1938 – 2000), Indian actor * Jaishankar Menon (born 1956), Indian-American computer scientist * Jaishankar Bhojak (1889 – 1 ...

Sarath Babu Sathyam Babu Dixithulu (31 July 1951 – 22 May 2023), known by his stage name Sarath Babu, was an Indian actor who worked predominantly in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He appeared in more than 300 films, including in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and ...

and

Menaka Menaka ( ) is a prominent figure in Hindu mythology, celebrated as one of the most beautiful apsaras (celestial nymphs) in the court of Indra, the king of the gods. She is frequently sent by the gods to disturb the penance of sages whose growin ...

. It is based on the play of the same name by Kuriakose Ranga. The film was released on 26 October 1981 and become a box-office hit, running for over 100 days in theaters. It was remade in Telugu as '' Gopala Krishnudu'' and in Malayalam as '' Chakravalam Chuvannappol''.

Plot

Dr. Dwarakanath is a renowned ophthalmologist in Coimbatore, devoted to God and with a high moral standing. He shares his happy home with his son Srivathsan, daughter-in-law Manju, a couple of relatives and a faithful servant. Dwarakanath's peaceful life is shattered by a double whammy, first when he discovers that Manju is afflicted with a dreadful disease and has only a few months to live and then a blind man Kumaran who is seeking revenge against an unknown perpetrator responsible for his sister's suicide, shows up at his doors and Dwarakanath realises the culprit is none other than his son Srivathsan. Dwarakanath tries to keep his son's culpability under wraps for Manju's sake considering her impending demise but Manju who is ignorant of her own ailment, misconstrues Dwarakanath's intentions and tries to unmask the culprit's identity and it soon turns out to be an intricate cat and mouse game between them both.

Cast

Production

''Keezh Vaanam Sivakkum'' was an adaptation of the stage play of the same name by Kuriakose Ranga. Visu wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation. Both Visu and Ranga expressed interest to

to adapt the play into a film and wanted

to play the protagonist, he was eventually chosen. Srinivasan initially wanted

Sangili Murugan Sangili Murugan is an Indian actor, screenwriter and producer. During the 1980s and 1990s, he was an actor doing negative and supporting roles in Tamil films. He has also worked as production controller in a number of films. His birth name incl ...

to portray

's character; since he was busy with other commitments, he could not act in the film. The makers also initially wanted to cast

Prabhu ''Prabhu'' means ''master'' or ''prince'' in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. Surname Prabhu is a surname among Gaud saraswat Brahmins, saraswat Brahmins and other Brahmins across the Ko ...

for

's character which they later dropped.

Soundtrack

The music 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 ...

, with lyrics by

Kannadasan Muthiah Sathappan Chettiar better known as Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was a poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important l ...

. The song "Kadavul Ninaithan" became hugely popular.

Release and reception

''Keezh Vaanam Sivakkum'' was released on 26 October 1981,

Diwali Diwali (), also called Deepavali (IAST: ''Dīpāvalī'') or Deepawali (IAST: ''Dīpāwalī''), is the Hindu festival of lights, with variations celebrated in other Indian religions such as Jainism and Sikhism. It symbolises the spiritual v ...

day. Despite facing competition from other Diwali releases such as '' Andha 7 Naatkal'' and '' Tik Tik Tik'', it became a box office success, running for over 100 days in theatres. S. Shivakumar of ''

Mid-Day ''Mid-Day'' (stylised as mid-day) is a morning daily Indian compact newspaper. Editions in various languages including Gujarati and English have been published out of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune so far. In 2011, the Delhi and Bangalore ...

'' appreciated the acting performances of Ganesan and Saritha. Nalini Sastry 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 Saritha for dominating Ganesan with her performance, called Kannadasan's lyrics as meaningful and also praised humour for evoking laughter.

References

External links

* {{Muktha Srinivasan 1980s Indian films 1980s Tamil-language films 1981 films Films directed by Muktha Srinivasan Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films with screenplays by Visu Indian films based on plays Tamil films remade in other languages Tamil-language Indian films