''Rishi Moolam'' () is a 1980 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 S. P. Muthuraman and written by Mahendran. 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 ...

and

K. R. Vijaya Deivanayaki, better known by her stage name K. R. Vijaya, is an Indian actress who has featured in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films. She started her career in 1963 and has been acting for more than six decades in South Indian cinema. ...

. It is based on Mahendran's play of the same name. The film was released on 26 January 1980.

Plot

SP Santhosh IPS has a past life. He hides that from his wife Gokila. Gokila loves her husband Santhosh and her son Ashok but at the same time she has a policy that she will forgive anything but not the liar. At one point, upon learning that her husband Santhosh was a petty thief, she confronts him and leaves him and their son. She moves into her father's home, who is a Justice and applies for divorce in court but the judgement is given in favor of Santhosh. Though Santhosh wins the case but he still feels guilty and resigns from his SP job. Also he talk to Gokila and tell her that he will give her the divorce and leaves her with his son. He finds a new job as a tea estate supervisor. He meets Thangam and request her to be the caretaker for his son. When he realises that the caretaker fall in love on him, Santhosh talked to her and get her married to a labor in his tea estate. Meanwhile Gokila realises her mistake through her childhood teacher and in search of her husband and her son. Time flies by and his son Ashok grows and become a champion in Tennis. Ashok has another name Amarnath and become a famous Tennis player. While hearing this Gokila and her father feels very happy. Kokila's father goes to meet Amarnath. Gokila too wishes to meet them. But the situations were not allowing her to meet him. In the end, while observing that Amarnath aka Ashok hates her mother, now Santhosh and his friends play a drama and finally the entire family reunited.

Cast

as SP Santhosh IPS *

as Kokila *

Major Sundarrajan Srinivasan Sundarrajan (17 March 1935 – 28 February 2003), popularly known as Major Sundarrajan, was an Indian actor and film director who performed predominantly in Tamil language films and plays. He was well known for his sophisticated ...

Kokila's father and Lawyer *

Suruli Rajan Suruli Rajan (January 14, 1938 - December 5, 1980) was as an Indian actor and comedian who worked primarily in Tamil cinema. Posthumously, he was awarded with the Best Comedian Award by the state Government of Tamil Nadu in 1981. Early and ...

as Neelakandam *

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 ...

Younger brother of Lawyer * Y. G. Mahendran *Chakravarthy as Ashok/Amarnath * Reena in guest appearance * Manorama Neelakandan's wife *Leela * K. Vijayan *

V. S. Raghavan V S Raghavan (18 February 1925 – 24 January 2015) was an Indian actor, who has acted both in Tamil films as well as television. He started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a character actor in films, starting ...

in guest appearance *

Peeli Sivam P.L. Sivanappan known by his stage name credited as Peeli Sivam (5 July 1938 – 25 September 2017) was an Indian actor who featured around 400 Tamil-language films and plays from 1958 to 2017. He has featured in several films such as ''Muhamm ...

a bad police officer *Krishnan *Manavalan *Vairam Krishnamoorthy * Baby Preetha (debut) Baby Ashok

Production

''Rishimoolam'' was based on the stage play of the same name. Mahendran who wrote the script of the play also wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation. The film was originally titled ''Dhisaigal Thirumbum''. It was Muthuraman's third collaboration with Ganesan. The song "Aimbadhilum Aasai Varum" was shot in Kallikottai, Kerala.

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 ...

, 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 "Neramithu" was composed at a hotel in

Mamallapuram Mamallapuram (also known as Mahabalipuram), is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It ...

Reception

P. S. M. 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 ...

'' wrote that, rather than delving deep about the weak plot, the film can be watched for the performances of Ganesan and Vijaya.

References

Bibliography

External links

* 1980 films 1980s Indian films 1980s Tamil-language films Films directed by S. P. Muthuraman Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films with screenplays by Mahendran (filmmaker) Indian films based on plays Tamil-language Indian films {{improve categories, date=January 2024