''Arunagirinathar'' () is a 1964 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, nati ...

-language

devotional film This is a list of genres of literature and entertainment ( film, television, music, and video games), excluding genres in the visual arts. ''Genre'' is the term for any category of creative work, which includes literature and other forms of a ...

, directed by

T. R. Ramanna Thanjavur Radhakrishnan Ramachandran (T.R.Ramanna) (1923–1997) was an Indian film director and producer. Film career Ramanna started his life as a sound recordist in a city studio and then made his way to film direction. He started the prod ...

and written by Sakthi T. K. Krishnasamy. Based on the poet of the same name, the film stars

T. M. Soundararajan Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan (24 March 1923 – 25 May 2013), popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 fi ...

, supported by

M. R. Radha Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan (14 April 1907 – 17 September 1979) was an Indian actor and politician active in Tamil plays and films. He was given the title "Nadigavel" (spearhead of acting) by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. He mostly play ...

, B. S. Saroja, Sharatha,

C. Lakshmi Rajyam C. Lakshmi Rajyam or shortly Lakshmirajyam (1922–1987) was a South Indian film and drama actress and film producer in 1930s to 1970s.Nata Ratnalu, Mikkilineni Radhakrishna Murthy, Second edition, 2002, pp: 594–96 She is a native of Owk. She ...

and Master Raghunath. It was released on 7 August 1964.

Plot

Arunagirinathar was born in the town of

Tiruvannamalai Tiruvannamalai (Tamil: ''Tiruvaṇṇāmalai'' IPA: , otherwise spelt ''Thiruvannamalai''; ''Trinomali'' or ''Trinomalee'' on British records) is a city, a spiritual, cultural, economic hub and also the administrative headquarters of Tiruvanna ...

in Tamil Nadu. Arunagiri is portrayed as attracted to the pleasures of the flesh and spent his youth pursuing a life of debauchery. He frequently visited the devadasi Maragatham. His sister, Aadhilakshmi, wants to reform her brother, so she arranges his marriage with Gnanavalli. However, he is unhappy with his life, neglects his wife and continues his bad ways. He persuades his sister to sell all their property and their house to get money for his dissipation. Despite his sister giving him the money she earns, he reduces himself, his wife, and his sister to dire poverty. He contracts

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

, and people avoid him. Eventually Aadhilakshmi is unable to meet his demands for money to support his depraved life. Arunagiri says he will end his life because of this. To prevent Arunagiri from killing himself, his sister says that he should sell her in order to have money for prostitutes. However, as Arunagiri has leprosy, prostitutes avoid him. Aadhilakshmi offers herself to him in order to stop Arunagiri from committing suicide. This deeply shocks Arunagiri, and he realises the consequences his actions have had on his family. Arunagiri feels guilty and attempts suicide by jumping off a temple tower, but

Murugan Kartikeya ( sa, कार्त्तिकेय, Kārttikeya), also known as Skanda, Subrahmanya, Shanmukha (), and Murugan ( ta, முருகன்), is the Hindu god of war. He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, the brother of Ganesha ...

himself, disguised as a pious young man, saves him. Murugan cures his leprosy, shows him a path of religious devotion, and initiates his composition of the

Thiruppugal Thiruppugal (Tamil: , ', IPA/Tamil: , meaning 'Holy Praise' or 'Divine Glory'), sometimes spelled Thiruppugazh, is a 15th-century anthology of Tamil religious songs dedicated to Lord Murugan, the son of Lord Shiva, written by the poet-saint ...

, an anthology of songs dedicated to Murugan.

Cast

Arunagirinathar Arunagirinaadhar (Aruna-giri-naadhar, ', ) was a Tamil Saiva saint-poet who lived during the 15th century in Tamil Nadu, India. In his treatise ''A History of Indian Literature'' (1974), Czech Indologist Kamil Zvelebil places Arunagirinathar's ...

Master Sridhar Sridhar was an Indian actor in the Tamil film industry. He has acted about 150 films and he was introduced to Tamil cinema as a child artist. He was famous for his child performance in many movies and so called as Master Sridhar. Personal life ...

as young Arunagirinathar * Sharadha as Gnanavalli * B. S. Saroja as Aadhilakshmi *

as Samanthandam *

as Maragatham * R. Manohar as Tamil Pandit *

C. R. Parthiban C. R. Parthiban (1 July 1931 – 25 January 2021) was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema and theatre. He was best known for his performance as Jackson Durai in ''Veerapandiya Kattabomman'' (1959). Biography Parthiban was born ...

as Vedan Lord Murugan (@Viralimalai) * Master Raghunath as Lord Murugan * Angamuthu as Maragatham's mother * N. S. Kolappan as Annamalai

Production

''Arunagirinathar'' is based on the life of the poet of the same name who created Thirupugazh. This is the third film to be produced on this theme. B. S. Moorthy produced the film for Baba Art Productions. The script was written by Sakthi T. K. Krishnasamy.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

G. Ramanathan Gopalan Iyer Ramanathan was an Indian music composer for Tamil movies. He is also known as ''Isai Methai'' (Genius of Music) or ''Sangeetha Chakravarthy'' (Emperor of Music) and is considered to be one of the influential Tamil music composers ...

and T. R. Pappa. The lyrics were by T. K. Krishnasamy. During production, Pappa completed the score after Ramanathan fell ill. The tune "Muthai Tharu" was composed by Pappa; before the recording, he called the religious preacher

Kirupanandha Variyar Thirumuruga Kirupanandha Variyar (1906–1993) was a Shaivite spiritual teacher from India. He was a Murugan devotee who helped rebuild and complete the works on many of the temples across the state. He is known for his discourses on various ...

, who explained its meaning. T. M. Soundararajan rehearsed for an entire day before he recorded it. The song is based on Shanmukhapriya raga.

Release and reception

''Arunagirinathar'' was released on 7 August 1964. The film was distributed by Sarathy Pictures in Madras. ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' positively reviewed it for Soundararajan's performance and the music.

References

External links

* {{T. R. Ramanna 1960s biographical films 1960s Tamil-language films 1960s Indian films 1964 films 1964 musical films Films about Hinduism Films directed by T. R. Ramanna Films scored by T. R. Pappa Films scored by G. Ramanathan Hindu devotional films Indian biographical films Indian black-and-white films Indian epic films Indian films based on actual events Indian musical films Religious epic films