''Sankarlal'' 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

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

, written, directed and produced by T. N. Balu. It stars

Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...

in dual lead roles as father and son. Balu died half-way during production, and the film was eventually completed with N. K. Viswanathan as director. The film was simultaneously shot in

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 ...

-language as ''Andagaadu'' () with Allu Rama Lingaiah and Rao Gopal Rao.

Plot

The film begins with an ordinary man Dharmalingam vacationing in Ooty with his family where he is framed for murder by a criminal named Chelladurai. Dharmalingam is jailed while his wife, son Mohan and daughter Seetha all end up separated from each other. After several years, the vengeful Dharmalingam returns to confront Chelladurai as the secretive Sankarlal and also desperately is on the lookout for his lost family. Chelladurai has meanwhile kidnapped a girl named Hema for ransom and Mohan is deputed by Hema's father to rescue her. This results in Dharmalingam and Mohan locking horns in their fight against their common enemy Chelladurai.

Cast

Tamil version

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 Kanthasamy Pillai * S. A. Ashokan as Natarajan (Guest appearance) * V. Gopalakrishnan as Maari, Natarajan's servant *

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. ...

as Hotel server (Guest appearance)

Production

Balu died half-way during production, and the film was eventually completed with Viswanathan as director.

Sripriya Sripriya is an Indian former actress, film director and politician from Tamil Nadu. She has acted in over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi languages. She has also directed films in Tamil, Kannada and Telugu languages, ...

was considered for the leading female role, before Sridevi was finalised.

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 ...

(only Elankiliyae) and

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 ...

. ;Tamil version

Reception

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 the acting of Sridevi and Seema, Viswanathan's cinematography but felt the film lacks pace and Ilaiyaraaja and Gangai Amaran's music offers nothing new and concluded Kamal who is stepping up in recent times has taken rest in this film.

References

External links

* * 1981 films 1981 action films 1981 multilingual films 1980s Indian films 1980s Tamil-language films 1980s Telugu-language films Films directed by N. K. Viswanathan Films directed by T. N. Balu Films scored by Gangai Amaran Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian action films Indian multilingual films Tamil-language Indian films {{Improve categories, date=April 2024