''Panneer Pushpangal'' () 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

teen Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human Developmental biology, physical and psychological Human development (biology), development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age o ...

romance film Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

jointly directed by

Santhana Bharathi Santhana Bharathi is an Indian film director and actor who has primarily worked in Tamil cinema. He directed '' Gunaa'' (1991), which won third prize for the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film. He also directed '' Mahanadhi'' (1994), ...

and

P. Vasu Vasudevan Peethambaram (born 15 September 1955), known professionally as P. Vasu, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor who works predominantly in Tamil and Kannada films, apart from a few Telugu, Hindi, and Malayalam language fi ...

in their directorial debut. The film stars Pratap,

Vennira Aadai Moorthy Vennira Aadai Moorthy (born 25 July 1936) is an Indian actor and comedian in Tamil cinema. He has starred in many Tamil films and television serials as a comedian and also played supporting roles. He is a lawyer by education, and holds a B.L. ...

and newcomers Suresh Kumar and

Shanthi Krishna Shanthi Krishna is an Indian actress known for her leading roles in Malayalam and Tamil films. As a star in the 1980s and 1990s, she won many accolades including the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress for her performance as Sharadammini i ...

. It was released on 3 July 1981. It was dubbed into

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

as ''Madhura Geetham'' and released on 20 March 1982.

Plot

''Panneer Pushpangal'' is a love story between Aravind Prabhu and Uma supported by their teacher Prem.

Cast

* Pratap as Prem *

as the hostel warden * Suresh as Aravind Prabhu *

as Uma *Jr. Manohar as Babu *Archana as Uma's mother

Production

Development

During an impromptu discussion, K. Somasundareswaran had narrated the story of two convent students coming of age to

Gangai Amaran Gangai Amaran (born Amar Singh) is an Indian composer, playback singer, lyricist, actor, film director and a screenwriter in Tamil films. Personal life Gangai Amaran was born in Pannaipuram in Theni district, Tamil Nadu in December 1947, as ...

. Moved by the tale, Amaran gave the directorial opportunity to

and

at the helm. Vasu, son of make-up man Peethambaram and Santhana Bharathi, son of producer M. R. Santhanam, both earlier assisting

Sridhar Sridhar is a given name that is also sometimes used as a surname. Notable people with this name include: *Sridhar (actor), Indian actor in the Kannada film industry *Anup Sridhar, badminton player *C. V. Sridhar, screenwriter and film director *Sri ...

made their directorial debuts with this film. According to Amaran, "The idea of the story came out of friendly banter".

Casting and filming

A photographer friend of Suresh Kumar's father opined that Suresh could make it as a lead actor and with a portfolio, Suresh approached director

C. V. Sridhar Chithamur Vijayaraghavalu Sridhar (22 July 1933 – 20 October 2008) was an Indian screenwriter and film director. He has directed nearly 60 films in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu languages. Career Entry In 1951, 18-year-old Sridhar went to A ...

to feature in his films, but his effort went in vain. He then met Bharathi and Vasu who decided to cast him in ''Panneer Pushpangal'', while simultaneously he was cast in the lead role in

Bharathiraja Bharathiraja ( born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with ''16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of ...

's ''

Alaigal Oivathillai ''Alaigal Oivathillai'' () is a 1981 Indian Tamil-language teen romantic drama film written and directed by Bharathiraja, from a story by Manivannan. The film stars Karthik and Radha, in their acting debuts. Thiagarajan, Silk Smitha and Kama ...

'' presenting him with a dilemma of which film to choose; he chose the former. The film also marked the Tamil debut of Shanthi Krishna, and was shot at the Laidlaw Memorial School of St. George's Homes, Ketti, in the Nilgiris.

Themes

''Panneer Pushpangal'' deals with adolescent love, a theme that was not frequently explored in 1980s Tamil cinema.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack 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 ...

, with lyrics by Gangai Amaran. For the dubbed Telugu version ''Madhura Geetham'', all songs were written by Rajasri. The song "Ananda Raagam" is set in

Simhendramadhyamam Simhendramadhyamam is a ragam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the 57th ''melakarta'' rāgam in the 72 ''melakarta'' rāgam system of Carnatic music. It is called Sumadyuti in Muthuswami Dikshitar school ...

raga, and "Vengaya Sambarum" is set in

Shanmukhapriya Shanmukhapriya is a ragam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the 56th ''melakarta'' rāgam (parent scale) in the 72 ''melakarta'' rāgam system of Carnatic music. It is called Chāmaram in Muthuswami Diksh ...

. Ilaiyaraaja later reused "Ananda Ragam" as "Saara Yeh Aalam" in ''

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

'' (2006).

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 ...

'' criticised the cinematography as out of focus and also panned lyricist for using same kind of words in songs but praised Ilaiyaraaja's music and added the acting of Suresh and Shanthi looked good with enough acting and concluded the director and writer team should get successful in their next film.

References

Bibliography

External links

* 1980s Indian films 1980s Tamil-language films 1980s teen romance films 1981 directorial debut films 1981 films Films directed by P. Vasu Films directed by Santhana Bharathi Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian teen romance films Tamil-language Indian films {{Improve categories, date=April 2024