''Ninaithale Inikkum'' () is a 1979 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...

starring

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

Jaya Prada Jaya Prada Nahata (born Lalitha Rani; 3 April 1962) is an Indian actress and politician. She is hailed as one of the most iconic and influential actresses in both Telugu and Hindi film industries in late '70s, '80s and early '90s. Jayaprada i ...

and Geetha. The story was written by Sujatha. The film was also simultaneously shot in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

as ''Andamaina Anubhavam'' (). A large part of the film was shot in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. The film was later dubbed in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

as ''Pyara Tarana''.

Plot

The film follows Chandru, a singer and his band on a tour to Singapore. Over there Chandru meets his love interest Sona, only to find that she is terminally ill.

Cast

as Chandru *

as Deepak *

as Sona *

Jayasudha Jayasudha Kapoor (born Sujatha Nidudavolu) is an Indian actress and politician known for her works predominantly in Telugu cinema. She has also worked in few Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films. Known as natural actress, she received fiv ...

as Kamini * Geetha as Meena * S. K. Misro as Kamalakar Rao/Mama *

Sarath Babu Sathyam Babu Dixithulu (born 31 July 1951), known by his stage name Sarath Babu, is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He has worked in more than 200 films. He has appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and ...

(Guest appearance) * Narayana Rao (Guest appearance) * S. Ve. Shekher as radio operator (Guest appearance) *

Poornam Viswanathan Poornam Viswanathan (15 November 1921 – 1 October 2008) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil films. He started performing on stage at age 18. He worked as a reader for All India Radio and went on to act in films such as ''C ...

as Sona's father

Production

Many of

's students like

, Geetha and Narayana Rao appear in cameo for their mentor. This was the debut film for actor S. Ve. Shekher.

's sister

Subhashini Subhashini (born 2 August 1965) is a South Indian films and television actress. Her sister is famous actress Jayasudha. Both of them are nieces of famous actress and director Vijaya Nirmala. She worked with Rajini's Johnny movie's songAasaiya K ...

also appears. The band in the film and the music were inspired by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

. A large portion of the film was shot in Singapore, while additional scenes were shot at the AVM Garden Villa, Chennai. The scene where Deepak (Rajinikanth) is challenged to flip his cigarette 10 times or lose a finger is based on

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

's ''

Man from the South "Man from the South" is a short story by Roald Dahl originally published in '' Collier's'' in 1948. It has been adapted several times for television and film, including a 1960 version that aired as an episode of '' Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', a ...

''.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed 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 ...

while the lyrics were written 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

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

song "Engeyum Eppothum" was remixed by

Yogi B Poetic Ammo (previously known as PMO or Poetic Ammunition) was a Malaysian rap/hip-hop group. It consisted of Yogeswaran Veerasingam (aka Yogi B), Chandrakumar Balakrishnan (aka Land Slyde), Nicholas Ong (aka Point Blanc), and Sashi Kumar Balakr ...

in '' Pollathavan'' (2007). The song "Sambo Siva Sambo" was remixed by

Vijay Antony Vijay Antony (born 24 July 1975) is an Indian music composer, playback singer, actor, film editor, lyricist, audio engineer, and filmmaker working predominantly in Tamil cinema. He made his debut as music composer in 2005. He is the first India ...

as "Avala Nambithan" for ''

Salim Salim, Saleem or Selim may refer to: People *Salim (name), or Saleem or Salem or Selim, a name of Arabic origin * Salim (poet) (1800–1866) * Saleem (playwright) (fl. 1996) *Selim I, Selim II and Selim III, Ottoman Sultans * Selim people, an e ...

'' (2014).

Sudha Ragunathan Sudha Ragunathan is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer and composer. She was conferred the Kalaimamani award by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1994, Padma Shri (2004) and Padma Bhushan (2015) by the Government of India, and Sangeetha Kalanidh ...

noted that "''Ninaithale Inikkum'' just rocked the scene with MSV Sir bringing out his innovative streaks."

Release and reception

''Ninaithale Inikkum'' was released on 14 April 1979, and ''Andamaina Anubhavam'' on 19 April. Piousji of ''Sunday'' wrote, "despite heroic efforts by Kamalahasan to save the film, it disintegrates fast." P. S. M. of ''

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...

'' appreciated Lokanath's cinematography and Balachander's direction. Lokanath won Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Cinematographer.

Legacy

The 2011 film ''

Engaeyum Eppothum ''Engaeyum Eppothum'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language romantic film, romantic comedy drama Road movie, road film written and directed by M. Saravanan (film director), M. Saravanan in his Tamil debut, he had earlier directed th ...

'' (2011) was named after the film's song. In 2009, another film called '' Ninaithale Inikkum'' was released. Director G. N. R. Kumaravelan stated that the title was "right for my film on students and the college scenario". The line "Jagame Thandhiram" in the song "Sambo Siva Sambo" inspired a 2021 film of the same name. Abaswaram Ramji conducted a stage show called ''Ninaithale Inikkum'' in 2006. A play called ''Shiva Sambho'' named after the song "Sambho Siva Sambho" was conducted by Theatre of Maham. M. S. Viswanathan composed the background music for the play.

Re-release

A digitally restored version of the film was released on 4 October 2013, but received a lukewarm response at the box office.

References

Bibliography

External links

* * {{Sujatha 1979 multilingual films 1970s musical comedy films 1979 romantic comedy films 1970s Tamil-language films 1970s Telugu-language films 1979 films Films directed by K. Balachander Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films shot in Singapore Films with screenplays by K. Balachander Indian multilingual films Indian musical comedy films Indian romantic comedy films