''Iru Kodugal'' () is a 1969 Indian Tamil-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by K. Balachander. 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 to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

Sowcar Janaki Sankaramanchi Janaki (born T. Janaki; 12 December 1931), popularly known as Sowcar Janaki (Tamil) or Shavukaru Janaki (Telugu) or Sahukar Janaki (Kannada), is an Indian actress who has appeared in over 300, films, predominantly in Tamil, Telu ...

, Jayanthi,

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 Cine ...

, V. S. Raghavan, S. N. Lakshmi and others. The story revolves around one man who was married to two women. ''Iru Kodugal'' won the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil The Indian Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several aw ...

, the first film by Balachander to win the award. The film, which was based on a stage play of same name, was remade in

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 ...

as ''

Eradu Rekhegalu ''Eradu Rekhegalu'' is a 1984 Indian Kannada-language drama film, directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Saritha, Srinath and Geetha. Produced by Chandulal Jain, the film is a remake of 1969 Tamil hit ''Iru Kodugal''. The music was compose ...

'', 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 ''Collector Janaki'' and in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

as '' Sanjog''.

Plot

Gopinath (Gemini Ganesan) falls in love with Janaki (Sowcar Janaki) and they get married in Kasi. The marriage is not accepted by Gopinath's mother and the couple gets separated. Janaki is pregnant and her father (V. S. Raghavan), realising that no man will marry Janaki a second time, decides to make her a collector. Gopinath meanwhile had moved to South India, where he later married Jaya (Jayanthi) by hiding his previous marriage. They live a happy life with their three children and Jaya's father. Gopinath works as a clerk in the collector's office. A new collector arrives at the office, and it turns out to be Janaki. They tend to work together, until one of the employees in Janaki's office, Babu (Nagesh), spreads a rumour stating that there is an affair between Janaki and Gopinath. This rumour reaches Jaya and she is completely disturbed. Jaya discovers the secret of Gopinath's affair with Janaki. Meanwhile, the sons of both Janaki and Jaya, Ramu and Prabhakar drowned in water and have been admitted to Hospital. Somehow Jaya manages the disturbance of the secret and accepts Janaki as her sister. But Ramu dies in hospital while Prabhakar survives. Jaya gives Janaki her son as a gift. Janaki and Prabhakar leave for abroad as Janaki received her duty abroad.

Cast

as Gopinath *

as Janaki * Jayanthi as Jaya *

as Babu * V. S. Raghavan as Janaki's father * S. V. Sahasranamam as Jaya's father * Harikrishnan as Harikrishnan * S. Ramarao as Ramarao * Gokulnath as Gnanaprakasham * S. N. Lakshmi as Janaki's aunt *

Sachu Saraswathi Sundaresan Iyer, professionally known as Kumari Sachu (born 7 January 1948) is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 films in five different languages and a few television serials. She is a character actress/comedienne who ...

* Gemini Mahalingam * Seshadri as Gopinath's father *

C. K. Saraswathi C. K. Saraswathi (died 1998) was an Indian actress who featured mainly in Tamil films. She was active in the field from 1945 till 1998. During the early days she featured in character roles and in comedy tracks. Later she became famous for her a ...

as Gopinath's mother * Shoba as Shoba * Sumathi as Sumathi * Master Prabhakar as Prabhakar * Master Adhinarayan as Ramu

Production

''Iru Kodugal'' was based on the stage play of same name written by Joseph Anandan. It is the first collaboration between Balachander and Ganesan. Though uncharacteristic of Janaki to ask for roles, she asked Balachander for a role and got it. In a scene in the film Janaki's character meets the Chief Minister. Balachander wanted to bring in former Chief Minister C. N. Annadurai (he died 1969) for the scene but did not want to use a

body double In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes FOR another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...

in his place. The Chief Minister is not seen in the scene, only a voice sounding like Annadurai's is heard and a pair of glasses on the table and a pen in the foreground are seen.

Soundtrack

The music was scored by V. Kumar, and Vaali wrote the lyrics.

Release and reception

''Iru Kodugal'' was released on 2 October 1969. ''The Indian Express'' praised Balachander for adapting the play very well: "No doubt they are very good dramatic moments but there is tendency to overdo the symbolism" and went on to praise the performances of the lead actors. Malathi Rangarajan appreciated Janaki's performance "stomped the screen and stole our hearts .came up with a stellar performance". The film was a commercial success, and won the

– President's silver medal in 1970, while Janaki won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress.

Legacy

''Iru Kodugal'' It was remade in

as ''

'', in

as ''Collector Janaki'' and in

as '' Sanjog''. Clips from the film were screened along with clips from other films such as ''

Server Sundaram ''Server Sundaram'' is a 1964 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Krishnan–Panju and produced by A. V. Meiyappan. The film stars Nagesh as the title character. Muthuraman and K. R. Vijaya play the other lead roles while ...

'' (1964), '' Arangetram'' (1973), '' Aval Oru Thodar Kathai'' (1974), '' Avargal'' (1977) and '' Azhagan'' (1991) at a function held in Balachander's honour at

Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bei ...

in January 2015, a month after his death. Balachander later used the song "Punnagai Mannan" as the title for his 1986 film of the same name.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{TamilNaduStateFilmAwardBestActress, state=collapsed 1960s Tamil-language films 1969 films Best Tamil Feature Film National Film Award winners Films directed by K. Balachander Films scored by V. Kumar Films with screenplays by K. Balachander Indian drama films Indian films based on plays Polygamy in fiction Tamil films remade in other languages 1969 drama films