''Gauravam'' () is a 1973 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

legal drama A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...

film written and directed by

Vietnam Veedu Sundaram Vietnam Veedu Sundaram was an Indian playwright, screenwriter and film director. He wrote films such as Gauravam, Vietnam Veedu, Gnana Oli, Satyam, Grihapravesam, Justice Gopinath, Annan Oru Koyil, Naan Yen Pirandhen and Naalai Namadhe. He a ...

. The film stars

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...

in a dual role as a barrister and his nephew (an amateur lawyer) fighting the same case. It is an adaptation of Sundaram's play ''Kannan Vanthaan''. The film was released on 25 October 1973 and became a commercial success, with Ganesan winning the

Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil The Filmfare Best Actor Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil people, Tamil film lead actors. The Filmfare Awards South Awards were extended to "Best Actor" in 1972.#Film world, Film world, p 43 Th ...

Plot

Madras High Court barrister Rajinikanth is a ''tour de force'' criminal defence lawyer who has never lost a case. He is a

self-made man "Self-made man" is a classic phrase coined on February 2, 1842 by Henry Clay in the United States Senate, to describe individuals whose success lay within the individuals themselves, not with outside conditions. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Foun ...

with a

rags to riches Rags to riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype in literature and popul ...

story. He is well respected by other lawyers and is a terror to his opponents in the court. His only unfulfilled ambition is the prestigious position of judgeship and has all the qualifications of being a judge, with an exaggerated ego being his only character flaw. Kannan is Rajinikanth's nephew who is brought up like a son by the childless Rajinikanth and his wife Chellamma. Rajinikanth tutors Kannan in law and wants his ward to be as successful as he is. Kannan is an antithesis of Rajinikanth; he is a loving, loyal, god-fearing man, who occasionally appears in pro bono cases as a public defender. One day, Rajinikanth is shocked to learn that an undeserving lawyer Rangabashyam has been made the high court judge, instead of him. Meanwhile, a man named Mohandas murders his wife and beseeches lawyers to appear on his behalf and save him. Rajinikanth feels that the bar council has insulted his prowess in jurisprudence and decides to seek his revenge by gaming the system and getting Mohandas acquitted, despite the latter's clear guilt. Mohandas is acquitted by the court, thanks to Rajinikanth's expertise in law. This deeply hurts Kannan, who does not say anything at that time out of respect for his uncle. Later, Mohandas's fiancé dies in her bathtub by accident. Mohandas is arrested under suspicion that he has repeated his crime. Rajinikanth appears on Mohandas's behalf again. But this time around, Kannan protests and walks out of the house to become the prosecution lawyer facing Rajinikanth, convinced that the loyalty to his profession supersedes the loyalty to his adopted father. In the climactic court battle, Kannan defeats Rajinikanth due to his meticulous preparation as well as Mohandas neglecting to mention a critical surprise witness. Rajinikanth is particularly infuriated when Kannan taunts him asking if he would like an adjournment to prepare to cross examine that witness. Rajinikanth's ego does not allow him to seek adjournment, handing Kannan the victory. His first loss proves too much to handle and an anguished Rajinikanth succumbs to death, just before Kannan brings him the news of his appointment as a judge.

Cast

as Barrister Rajinikanth and Advocate Kannan *

Ushanandini Ushanandini (Malayalam: ഉഷാ നന്ദിനി) is an Indian actress in South Indian movies. She was a prominent lead actress during the 1970s in Malayalam film, Malayalam films. She had acted in Tamil film, Tamil films as well. Biogr ...

as Radha *

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...

as Chellamma * Major Sundarrajan as Mohandas * V. K. Ramasamy as Kanagambaram *

Nagesh Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor, mostly remembered for his roles as a comedian in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 fil ...

as Gopal Iyer *

Senthamarai Senthamarai may refer to: * Senthamarai (actor) Senthamarai was an Indian actor who acted in Tamil cinema and theatre. Career Senthamarai was born on 13 April 1935 at Kancheepuram. His family included his father Thiruvenkadam, his mother Vedamm ...

as Inspector Karunakaran *

Rama Prabha Rama Prabha is an Indian actress who performs in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. She has acted in more than 1,400 films and is credited as a character artist who shared screen space with superstars across all generation of South Indian Cinem ...

as Kathambari *

Jayakumari Jayakumari is an Indian actress in South Indian films. She was born in 1952 and was a prominent lead actress during the 1960s and 1970s in Tamil and Malayalam films. She was noted for her glamorous roles. She has acted around 50 Malayalam movies ...

as Kalpana * Y. G. Mahendran as Kannan's driver *

Neelu R. Neelakantan (20 July 1936 – 10 May 2018), best known by his stage name Neelu, was an Indian actor known for his comedy and supporting role performances in Tamil cinema, television and theatre. He has acted in over 7,000 plays and 160 fil ...

as Neelakandan/Neelakundu *

K. Vijayan K. Vijayan was an Indian film director. He predominantly worked in Tamil cinema. He mainly worked with Sivaji Ganesan. He directed many Malayalam films as well. Career K. Vijayan was an employee of the Golden Rock Railway Workshop in Tiruchi ...

as Dr. Balakrishnan *

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 Judge in climax * Veeraraghavan as Judge * I. S. Ramachandran as Kalyanam * Comedy Shanmugam as Pithambaram

Production

''Kannan Vandhaan'' was a stage play. Sundaram, who wrote the play, returned to direct the film adaptation, titled ''Gauravam''. The title of the film, which translates to prestige, was taken from the play and film versions of Sundaram's ''

Vietnam Veedu ''Vietnam Veedu'' () is a 1970 Indian Tamil-language drama film, directed by P. Madhavan and written by Sundaram. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini, with Nagesh, K. A. Thangavelu, Srikanth, M. Bhanumathi and Rama Prabha in suppo ...

'' where there is a character named Prestige Padmanabhan. Sivaji Ganesan's style of smoking a pipe in the film was inspired by that of an industrialist T. S. Krishnan, and his hairstyle was inspired by T. S. Narayanaswami, an industrialist then associated with

India Cements The India Cements Limited is a cement manufacturing company based in Chennai. It is the 9th largest listed cement company in India by revenue. The company is headed by former International Cricket Council chairman and Board of Control for Cricket ...

. ''Gauravam'' was the first film where Ganesan and Y. G. Mahendran acted together. Ganesan's home, Annai Illam, also features in the film.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by M. S. Viswanathan, with lyrics 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 song "Palooti Valarthakili" was initially recorded with a different singer; Viswanathan found his voice did not match with Ganesan's acting, so he recorded the song again in

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 ...

's voice.

Release and reception

''Gauravam'' was released on 25 October 1973, Diwali day. Kanthan 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 ...

'' positively reviewed the film, particularly for Ganesan's performance as Rajinikanth. The film became a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres. Ganesan won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil.

Legacy

Ganesan reprised the role of Rajinikanth in the Doordarshan television series ''Meendum Gowravam''. Dialogues from this film were used for the teaser of the 2022 film ''

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam ''Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam'' (), officially titled in English as ''Like An Afternoon Dream'', is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-Tamil bilingual drama film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by S. Hareesh from a story by Pellissery. It was pr ...

.''

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0369447 1970s legal drama films 1970s Tamil-language films 1973 films Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Indian courtroom films Indian films about revenge Indian films based on plays Indian legal drama films