''Iruvar Ullam'' () is a 1963 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

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

, directed by

L. V. Prasad Akkineni Laxmi Vara Prasada Rao (17 January 1907 – 22 June 1994), known professionally as L. V. Prasad, was an Indian film director, producer, actor, and businessman. He was one of the pioneers of Indian cinema and is the recipient of the Dad ...

and written by M. Karunanidhi. Based on Lakshmi's novel ''Pen Manam'', 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 ...

and

B. Saroja Devi Bangalore Saroja Devi (born 7 January 1938) is an Indian actress who has acted in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. She acted in around 200 films in over six decades. She is known by the epithets "''Abhinaya Saraswathi''" (Saraswathi of ...

, while

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 ...

S. V. Ranga Rao Samarla Venkata Ranga Rao (3 July 1918 – 18 July 1974), popularly known as SVR, was an Indian actor, producer, and director known for his works majorly in Telugu and Tamil films. He is regarded as one of the finest actors in the history of ...

T. R. Ramachandran Thirukampuliyur Ranga Ramachandran (9 January 1917 – 30 November 1990) was an Indian actor and comedian who acted mainly in Tamil films. He was cast mostly in lead or supportive roles, especially in comical parts, from the 1940s to the 1960s. Kn ...

T. P. Muthulakshmi T. P. Muthulakshmi (Native name: தமிழ்: டி. பி. முத்துலட்சுமி) was an Indian actress who was active from the 1950 to 1969. She was a prominent lead comedy actress during the early 1950s in Tamil langu ...

, Sandhya and

Padmini Priyadarshini Padmini Priyadarshini (later Padmini Ramachandran) was an Indian actor, dancer and choreographer. She acted in supporting roles during the 1950s and 1960s in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi films. She established a dancing school in Bangalore named ''Na ...

play supporting roles. The music was composed by

K. V. Mahadevan Krishnankoil Venkadachalam Mahadevan (14 March 1918 – 21 June 2001) was an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician known for his works in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Telugu cinema, Telugu, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam, and Kann ...

, 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 ...

. K. S. Prasad and A. Sanjeevi handled cinematography and editing respectively. The filming was held in places like

Kodaikanal Kodaikanal () is a hill station which is located in Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Its name in the Tamil language means "The Gift of the Forest". Kodaikanal is referred to as the "Princess of Hill stations" and has a long ...

Kanyakumari Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...

and

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 ...

. ''Iruvar Ullam'' was released on 29 March 1963 and became a box office. Clips of the film were used to portray the younger Ganesan and Saroja in the 1997 film '' Once More'', which Saroja Devi considered a sequel to ''Iruvar Ullam''.

Plot

Selvam, the younger son of a prosecutor Neethimanickam, is a medical student studying in Bangalore. Unlike his righteous father, he is a

playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

. Vasanthi, a scheming woman, tries to blackmail Selvam into marriage. On his refusal, she writes to his father. Selvam's uncle Gnanasigamani, another lawyer, arrives in Bangalore and pays 10,000 to Vasanthi to silence her. Selvam stops studying and arrives in Madras. He takes over the responsibility of managing his uncle's company. He eventually sees Shanta, a teacher, on the road and pursues her. Shanta dislikes Selvam's continuing old habits, but he eventually transforms and wants to live prosperously with her, yet she continues disliking him. Shanta is eventually forced by her parents to marry Selvam. When Vasanthi is murdered by her other lover Paramathma, Selvam is wrongfully convicted; this brings the couple closer. Shantha later exposes Paramathma, and Selvam is released.

Cast

as Selvam *

as Shanta *

as Gnanasigamani *

as Neethimanickam *

as Sri Paramathma *

as Kannamma *Sandhya as Nagammal *

as Vasanthi * K. Balaji as Minor Manickam *S. Rama Rao as Gurusamy, Shanta's father * A. Karunanidhi as Soda Subbaiah, Gurusamy's father-in-law *R. Balasubramanian as Nagamma's brother *Lakshmi Rajyam as Gurusamy's second wife *Radha Bai as School Headmistress

Production

''Iruvar Ullam'' was directed by

and produced by A. Anand under Prasad Movies. The film is based on

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 ...

's novel ''Pen Manam'', which was previously adapted into 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 ...

film ''

Bharya Bhartalu ''Bharya Bhartalu'' () is a 1961 Indian Telugu-language drama film, produced by A. V. Subba Rao under the Prasad Art Pictures banner and directed by K. Pratyagatma. It stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Krishna Kumari, with music composed by ...

'' (1961). The screenplay was written by M. Karunanidhi, who received a salary of . Cinematography was handled by K. S. Prasad and the editing by A. Sanjeevi. The filming was held in places like

and

. One scene in the film called for an aggressive performance by

sought to outdo her acting in the scene. While it was being filmed, Prasad stopped filming and told Ganesan that he should not upstage Saroja Devi as the scene required her to dominate, and if Ganesan did so it would ruin the film. Ganesan complied, and at Prasad's request, underplayed his role. ''Iruvar Ullam'' was the final Tamil film directed by Prasad. The final length of the film was 35,441 feet (4,543 m).

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack and background score were composed by

, while the lyrics for the songs were written by

A. L. Raghavan A. L. Raghavan (1933 – 19 June 2020) was an Indian playback singer, who sang many songs in Tamil-language films. Biography Raghavan was born to a Saurashtra Brahmin family in Ayyampettai near Thanjavur to Lakshmana Bhagavathar, Raghavan ...

initially sang the song "Buddhi Sigamani", picturised on

, in a manner that would match Radha's hoarse voice, but Prasad did not accept this and told Raghavan to sing with a melodious voice. When Radha objected to Prasad's decision, Prasad said he would have the song recorded with a melodious voice, and if Radha did not like the final recording, it would be excluded from the film; after listening to the final recording, Radha approved.

Release and reception

''Iruvar Ullam'' was released on 29 March 1963, and distributed by

Sivaji Films Sivaji Productions was an Indian film production and distribution company based in Chennai. Established in 1958, it was involved mainly in Tamil and Hindi-language films until 2010. History Sivaji Productions company is owned by Prabhu and ...

. It was promoted as a "newspaper cutting that featured pencil sketches of two hearts", each displaying the name of the lead actor and actress. On 9 April, ''

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 ...

'' wrote that it "has one significant and rare virtue. Its basic dramatic design is of a lightly pleasant variety, with the sweet underlining of a playful romance". On 21 April, the magazine ''

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, praising Saroja Devi for delivering a very natural performance. The film was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.

Legacy

Film journalist Sujatha Narayanan considers ''Iruvar Ullam'' a trendsetter for "all following films that dealt with post-marriage narratives" in Tamil cinema. Clips of the film were used to portray the younger Ganesan and Saroja Devi in the 1997 film '' Once More'', which Saroja Devi considered a sequel to ''Iruvar Ullam''.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{L. V. Prasad 1960s romance films 1960s Tamil-language films 1963 films Films based on Indian novels Films directed by L. V. Prasad Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan Films with screenplays by M. Karunanidhi Indian black-and-white films Indian romance films