''Vazhkai Vazhvatharke'' () is a 1964 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

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 ...

directed by

Krishnan–Panju R. Krishnan (1909–1997) and S. Panju (1915–1984), collectively referred to as Krishnan–Panju, were Indian film directors. The duo directed more than 50 films in South Indian languages and in Hindi. Early life R. Krishnan was born on 18 ...

from a story by

Kothamangalam Subbu Kothamangalam Subbu (born S. M. Subramanian, 10 November 1910 – 15 February 1974) was an Indian poet, lyricist, author, actor and film director based in Tamil Nadu. He wrote the cult classic Tamil novel ''Thillana Mohanambal'' and was awarded ...

. The film stars

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred as Kaadhal Mannan (King of Romance) for his romantic roles in films. G ...

and

B. Saroja Devi Bangalore Saroja Devi (born 7 January 1938) is an Indian actress who has acted in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films. She acted in around 200 films over seven decades. She is known by the epithets "''Abhinaya Saraswathi''" ( Saraswathi of ...

. It was released on 7 February 1964.

Plot

Cousins Kandan and Valli have been lovers since childhood. As a boy, Kandan leaves the home of Valli after being insulted and ridiculed by her mother as good-for-nothing and as the offspring of mother whose fidelity has been questioned by her husband. Picked up by a race horse owner, Kandan grows up into a jockey and when he becomes rich, he goes to Valli's home to claim her in marriage. He is again rebuffed and, after several moments of anguish, he clears up the stigma attached to his mother and, when all doubts and misunderstandings are cleared, he re-unites with Valli. With the re-union of the family members, his sister also finds a solution to the problem of her marriage with her lover, a

zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

Cast

;Male cast *

as Kandan * K. A. Thangavelu as the robber and the

* S. A. Ashokan *

T. S. Muthaiah T. S. Muthaiah (1923 – 12 February 1992) was a Malayalam and Tamil film actor. He was a popular actor in both film industries who usually played character and supporting roles in 1950s and 1960s. Background T. S. Muthaiah was born in 1923 to ...

;Female cast *

as Valli * M. V. Rajamma * Sundari Bai * G. Sakunthala *

Sarada Sharada or Sarada (Sanskrit for "autumnal") may refer to: * the season spanning the months of Bhadrapada, Ashvin, and Kārtika of the traditional lunar Hindu calendar * Another name for the Hindu goddess Saraswati * Sharada script, abugida writing ...

as Chandra *K. Malathi * Baby Padmini

Production

''Vazhkai Vazhvatharke'' was directed by

(a duo consisting of R. Krishnan and S. Panju) and produced by Kamaludheen under the banner Kamal Brothers. The story was written by

and the dialogue by

Murasoli Maran Murasoli Maran (17 August 1934, Thirukkuvalai – 23 November 2003) was an Indian politician and leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party, which was headed by his maternal uncle and mentor, M. Karunanidhi. A Member of Parliament fo ...

. Cinematography was handled by S. Maruti Rao, and the art direction by A. K. Sekhar. The length of the film was .

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by

Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's '' Panam'' to 1965's '' Aayirathil Oruvan''. After their split, Ramamoorthy w ...

(a duo consisting of

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 ...

and T. K. Ramamoorthy) while the lyrics were written 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 ...

Release and reception

''Vazhkai Vazhvatharke'' was released on 7 February 1964. On the same day, ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' described the story as lacking "life" and the direction as "amateurish", concluding, "The producers, perhaps, want us to believe that this is life and it is worth living." On 21 March 1964, T. M. Ramachandran of ''

Sport and Pastime ''Sport and Pastime'' was a weekly sports magazine published by The Hindu Group from 1947 to 1968. Founded by S. K. Gurunathan, the magazine was eventually stopped in 1968. It was replaced with ''Sportstar'' in 1978. References

1947 establi ...

'' dismissed the film as a

potboiler A potboiler or pot-boiler is a novel, Play (theatre), play, opera, film, or other creative work of dubious literary or artistic merit whose main purpose is to pay for the creator's daily expenses—thus the imagery of "boil the pot", which means " ...

, but praised the performances of Ganesan and Saroja Devi, while describing Thangavelu, in his dual role performance, as "the real life and soul of the picture". Kanthan 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 ...

'' panned the film, criticising virtually every aspect including the story, songs, characters and the confusing screenplay.

References

External links

* {{Krishnan–Panju 1960s Indian films 1960s romance films 1960s Tamil-language films 1964 films Films directed by Krishnan–Panju Films scored by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Indian romance films Tamil-language Indian films