''Meendum Vazhven'' () is 1971 Tamil-language

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

, directed by

T. N. Balu T. N. Balu (died 1981) was an Indian writer, director and producer who worked in Tamil cinema. He was active in the second half of the 1900s, and shared a close association with the former chief ministers of Tamil Nadu Karunanidhi. Film caree ...

and produced by V. C. Jain and G. C. Lal Vani. The film's script was written by T. N. Balu. Music was 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. He was popularly known as ''Mellisai Mannar''. He compose ...

. The film stars Ravichandran, Bharathi,

Nagesh Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor, mostly remembered for his roles as a comedian in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 Cine ...

, R. S. Manohar and

Vijaya Lalitha Vijayalalitha or Vijaya Lalitha was an Indian actress who appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films in the 1960s and 1970s. She is best known for her appearances in '' Rani Mera Naam'' (1972), ''Baazigar'' (1972) and '' Saaks ...

playing lead, with

Major Sundararajan Srinivasan Sundarrajan (17 March 1925 – 28 February 2003), popularly known as Major Sundarrajan, was an Indian actor and director who performed predominantly in Tamil language films and plays. He was well known for his sophisticated and ...

, S. Varalakshmi,

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 t ...

and Master Sekhar playing supporting roles.

Plot

Jagatheesh ( R. S. Manohar) wants to grab the properties of his businessman paternal uncle, Rajamanickam Pillai, by killing him and his young son Babu, ( Master Sekhar) who is studying in a distant boarding school. Knowing his evil intention, the paternal uncle keeps his son's whereabouts a secret which is known only to his loyal personal secretary Shanthi ( Bharathi). One night after a bitter argument over the properties, Jagatheesh kills his uncle and abducts his secretary Shanthi to find out about his young son Babu. Meanwhile, Raju ( Ravichandran, son of a rich man Chinna Durai (

) is thrown out of his house by his stepmother Shantha Lakshmi ( S. Varalakshmi) and lands in the city as a taxi driver. The secretary Shanthi gets abducted in his taxi, the news is in the newspapers and the police start looking for the taxi. Raju then goes after Jagathesh and finds Shanthi locked up in a cell on a remote island. Jagatheesh finds out the whereabouts of the boy but is unable to identify him, so he abducts a busload of boys from that school and forces Shanthi to identify the boy so that he could kill him. Raju, with help of a small-time magician Chithambaram (

), rescues Shanthi and the boys after a series of fights with the gangsters. Raju and Shanthi get married.

Cast

* Ravichandran as Raju * Bharathi as Shanthi *

as Chithambaram, Raju's friend/Magician * R. S. Manohar as Jagadesh, Babu's Paternal Father *

as Lalitha, Jagatheesh's lover *

as Chella Durai, Raju and Rathnam's father * S. Varalakshmi as Shantha Lakshmi, Rathnam's mother *

as Black Cat, Jagatheesh's Hitman * V. Gopalakrishnan as Rathnam, Raju's half brother * Master Sekhar as Babu * Samikkannu as Constable Irudhaya Raj * MCT. Muthaiah * Singapore Sundaram * K. S. Angamuthu *

Jayakumari Jayakumari is an Indian actress in South Indian films. She was born in 1952 and was a prominent lead actress during the 1960s and 1970s in Tamil and Malayalam films. She was noted for her glamorous roles. She has acted around 50 Malayalam movi ...

as dumb woman dancer * Yasotha * Malathi * Surekha * Syamala * Jai Vijaya

Soundtrack

Music was composed by

, with lyrics by

Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...

. The playback singers consists of

Jikki Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni (3 November 1935 – 16 August 2004), more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, and Sinhalese langua ...

L. R. Eswari A. L. Raghavan S. P. Balasubrahmanyam L. R. Anjali and Pushpalatha.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 3426046 1971 films 1970s Tamil-language films 1970s spy thriller films 1970s thriller drama films Films set in 1971 1970s crime thriller films Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Indian crime thriller films Indian spy thriller films Indian thriller drama films Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police 1971 drama films