''Chattakkari'' () is a 1974 Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

-language film directed by

K. S. Sethumadhavan K. S. Sethumadhavan (15 May 1931 – 24 December 2021) was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He also directed films in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Since the early 1960s, he directed over 60 mov ...

and produced by M. O. Joseph, starring

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

(in her major

debut), Mohan Sharma, Adoor Bhasi and

Sukumari Sukumari Amma (6 October 1940 – 26 March 2013) was an Indian actress best known for her works in Malayalam and Tamil films. In a career spanning more than five decades, She has appeared in more than 2500 films predominantly in Malayalam, Tam ...

. The film was written by

Thoppil Bhasi Thoppil Bhaskara Pillai, known as Thoppil Bhasi (8 April 1924 – 8 December 1992) was an Indian Malayalam-language playwright, screenwriter, and film director. He was associated with the communist movement in Kerala and his play '' Ningalenne ...

based on

Pamman Pamman ( ml, പമ്മന്‍; 28 February 1920 – 3 June 2007; born R. Parmeswara Menon) was a Malayalam novelist from Kollam, Kerala, India. Life He is best known for his novels which grapple with the sensual imagery of the human psy ...

's famous novel of the same name. It was the first Malayalam film of

and also the start of her romance with co-star Mohan Sharma. It won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress and Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam for

. The film won Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor for Adoor Bhasi who played Laxmi's alcoholic father, and the Filmfare Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam. Storywriter

received the

Kerala State Film Award for Best Story The Kerala State Film Award for Best Story is an honour, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Award of India to a writer for the best story in a Malayalam film. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Departme ...

. It has the distinction of being the first Malayalam film to run continuously for 40 weeks in a

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

theatre. All Songs composed by well known music director

G. Devarajan Paravoor Govindan Devarajan (1927–2006), popularly known as G. Devarajan or Devarajan master, was an Indian music composer and Carnatic singer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Indian film music. He sco ...

were instant hits. In 2012, it was remade in the same name, directed by Santosh Sethumadhavan and produced by Suresh Kumar under the banner of Revathy Kalamandir and starring Shamna Kasim in the title roles.

Plot

''Chattakkari'' is the love story of an Anglo-Indian girl (

) and a Hindu boy ( Mohan Sharma) who consummate the relationship. She has a child out-of-wedlock in secret.

Summary

Julie is the eldest daughter of Morris, an Anglo-Indian engine-driver. Usha her close friend is from an orthodox

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Warrier family. At Usha's residence she (Julie) meets her brother Sasi who is studying at a different place. Julie soon falls in love with Sasi, and even Usha is aware of it. The relationship gets more cozy and Julie gets pregnant. Her alcoholic father Morris soon dies. Julie is taken to a remote place where her mother's aunt lives. There she gives birth to a boy. Julie's mother who feels that

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

is their true motherland decided to migrate to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Soon Julie confesses about every thing to Usha. She also meets Sasi who is now ready to accept her. But Sasi's orthodox mother rejects her outright. Sasi's father Mr. Warrier questions him, and Sasi confesses about his role in ruining Julie's life. Mr. Warrier then helps Julie's family in packing up and invites them to his home for a small farewell. Here he introduces his wife and also his daughter Usha. Usha comes out with a small baby in her arms, and Julie recognizes it as her kid. Mr. Warrier then says that he and his family has no hesitations in accepting Julie as their daughter-in-law and encourages the rest of the Morris family to stay back in India.

Cast

as Julie * Mohan Sharma as Sasi * Sujatha as Usha * Adoor Bhasi as Morris * Meena as Mrs. Warrier, Sasi's Mother *

as Margarette * Reena as Ilin *

M. G. Soman M. G. Soman (28 September 1941 – 12 December 1997) was an Indian actor and former Indian Air Force officer who appeared in Malayalam films. He was one among the leading star actors doing hero roles in Malayalam Cinema during the late 1970s an ...

as Richard *

Sankaradi Chandrashekaran Menon, better known by his screen name Sankaradi (14 July 1924 – 8 October 2001), was an Indian actor. He was a veteran Malayalam comedian and character artist, who had over 700 Malayalam films to his credit. He dominated the ...

as Mr. Warrier * Bahadoor * Paravoor Bharathan * Prem Prakash * Master Sathyajith * Vinodini

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

and the lyrics were written by Vayalar Ramavarma and Usha Uthup.

Production

Writing and casting

Pamman's story was published in ''Jay Keralam'' a weekly published in Chennai. Producer M. O. Joseph bought the rights. He signed director

, cinematographer Balu Mahendra and scriptwriter

for the film. The director suggested

as heroine and Mohan who had acted in P. N. Menon's art film as hero.

was Lakshmi's mother in the film.

played an Anglo Indian girl who wore short skirts throughout the film, which made her a sex symbol as well. The sensuous songs and the youthful pair set the box office on fire. The film's ending is different from that of the book. In the book the Hindu boy deserts his Anglo Indian girlfriend who is pregnant and never comes back but in the films, he comes back to accept her. Rahim, an admirer of Julie whom she had rejected, tries to influence her father by giving him booze and due to this the old man vomits blood and dies. In the film Rahim has no role in the death of the old man.

Filming

The film was shot at

Shornur Shornur is a town and a municipality located in the Palakkad district, in the Indian state of Kerala, located on the banks of the Bharathapuzha River. The town covers an area of 32.28 km2. Geography Shornur is located at . It has an ave ...

Junction a famous railway Junction in the Southern Railway especially during the steam era. Shornur had one of the largest steam locomotive workshops.

Remakes

The Hindi remake became very famous in 1975.

repeated her role by playing the title role in ''

Julie Julie may refer to: * Julie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Julie'' (1956 film), an American film noir starring Doris Day * ''Julie'' (1975 film), a Hindi film by K. S. Sethumadhava ...

'' (1975). She received the

Filmfare Best Actress Award The Filmfare Award for Best Actress is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise the female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role. The award was first given in 1954 ...

. The music composed by Rajesh Roshan won him the Filmfare Best Music Director Award, and his songs "Dil Kya Kare" and "My heart is beating" are still evergreen hits.

Nadira Nadira is a given name common in Asian countries. It may refer to Given name * Nadira (actress), an Indian actress of the 1950s and 1960s, best known for her roles as a temptress * Nadira (Pakistani actress), Pakistani actress in Punjabi and Urdu f ...

won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for playing Julie's mother. Future superstar

Sridevi Shree Amma Yanger Ayyappan (13 August 1963 – 24 February 2018), professionally credited with her stage name Sridevi, was an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada language films. Cited as the "First Female ...

played Julie's younger sister. Tamil remake titled ''

Oh Maane Maane ''Oh Maane Maane'' () is a 1984 Indian Tamil-language romance film directed by A. Jagannathan. The film stars Mohan and Urvashi. It is a remake of the 1974 Malayalam film '' Chattakari'', which itself was based on a Malayalam novel of the same ...

'' had

Urvasi Urvashi ( sa, उर्वशी, Urvaśī}) is the most prominent apsara (celestial nymph) in Hindu mythology, considered to be the most beautiful of all the apsaras, and an expert dancer. She is mentioned in both ''Vedic'' and ''Puranic'' scr ...

playing the lead role and Mohan as her lover.

also starred in the

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 ...

remake titled ''Miss Julie Prema Katha'' (1975). Chattakkari also had a Telugu dubbing as ''English Ammoyi'' The

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

remake titled ''

'' (2006) had

Ramya Ramya (Sanskrit: रम्य) is a Sanskrit female given name, which means "pleasant" and "delightful". Notable people * Ramya (born 1982), Indian actress and politician * Ramya Barna (born 1986), Indian actress * Ramya Krishnan (born 1970), ...

in the title role of Julie and Dino Morea as her lover, but the film didn't do well. The movie was remade in

with the same name in 2012. The remake was directed by Santhosh Sethumadhavan, son of

who directed the original version. The remake was produced by Suresh Kumar under Revathy Kalamadhir banner. It was shot in a timespan of 25 days, setting a new record in Malayalam cinema. It was released in September 2012.

References

External links

* {{K. S. Sethumadhavan 1970s Malayalam-language films 1974 romantic drama films Films based on Indian novels Malayalam films remade in other languages Indian romantic drama films Films directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan Teenage pregnancy in film Films with screenplays by Thoppil Bhasi Indian pregnancy films Indian interfaith romance films 1974 films 1970s pregnancy films