''Kai Kodukkum Kai'' () is a 1984 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 film directed by Mahendran, starring

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

and

Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil & Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu, Hindi & Kannada films. She has won several ...

. It is an extended version of ''Munithayi'' written by Eeswarachandra – the third segment of the 1976

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 ...

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...

'' Katha Sangama''. Rajnikanth, who played the antagonist role in ''Munithayi'', played the lead role in this film. The film was produced by Vijayakumar and R. Vijayachandran.

Plot

Kaalimuthu marries Seetha, the girl he loves after much denial from his elder brother. Seetha is blind and is raped a man Pannaiyar who has a weakness for women and addiction to sex. Pannaiyar even though married lusts after looking at Seetha and rapes her in the absence of Kaalimuthu, her husband. The climax is interesting twist as to what happens when Kaalimuthu decides to forgive Pannaiyar for his crime.

Cast

as Kaalimuthu *

as Seetha Kaalimuthu *

Rajyalakshmi Rajyalakshmi Chandu, better known by her stage name Sankarabharanam Rajyalakshmi (born 18 December 1964) is an Indian actress. She was a prominent lead actress during the 1980s in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films. She was well noted fo ...

as Mangamma * Ranganath as Periyapannai *

V. S. Raghavan V S Raghavan (18 February 1925 – 24 January 2015) was an Indian actor, who has acted both in Tamil films as well as television. He started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a character actor in films, starting ...

as Kaalimuthu's brother *

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, Telug ...

as Kaalimuthu's sister-in-law * Y. G. Mahendran *

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 ...

Thengai Srinivasan Thengai Srinivasan (21 October 1937 – 9 November 1987) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil language, Tamil-language films and plays from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was given the prefix ''Thengai'' (coconut) after his role as a coco ...

Chinni Jayanth Chinni Jayanth (born Krishnamurthy Narayanan on 26 July 1960) is an Indian film director, producer, comedian, actor and mimicry artist who has appeared in many main, character and supporting roles in Tamil films. He is also a popular televisio ...

Kumarimuthu Kumarimuthu (20 December 1940 – 28 February 2016) was a Tamil film character actor, comedian and politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He was known for his unique comical laugh. Career Kumarimuthu starred in 728 films in his car ...

Production

Actor Vijayakumar decided to produce a film with

as the lead actor. Rajinikanth suggested Mahendran be the director. The film was an extended version of ''Munithayi'', the third segment of the 1975

'' Katha Sangama'' by

Puttanna Kanagal Shubraveshti Ramaswamiah Seetharama Sharma (1 December 1933 – 5 June 1985), known popularly as S. R. Puttanna Kanagal, was an Indian filmmaker known for his work in Kannada cinema. He is often considered one of Kannada cinema's most influent ...

. Rajinikanth who played the antagonist role in the original played the lead in the remake. Mahendran wrote the screenplay with slight changes in the script. When

was approached by Mahendran to portray the blind girl Seetha, she accepted after being impressed by the script. In preparation for portraying the character, she walked around her house blindfolded. Revathi refused to expose her skin for the scene where Seetha is raped; respecting her wishes, Mahendran shot the scene "with care", prioritising Revathi's comfort. Vijayakumar was not satisfied with the climax, as he felt fans would not accept Seetha getting raped. However, Mahendran refused to change the climax that the original film had. A duet sequence had to be included in the film due to pressure from others.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack and background score were composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

while lyrics were written by Vaali,

Pulamaipithan Pulavar Pulamaipithan (6 October 1935 – 8 September 2021) was an Indian scholar, poet and lyricist who got recognition through the song "Naan yaar nee yaar" which was featured in the Tamil film ''Kudiyirundha Koyil'' in 1968. He briefly serve ...

, Na. Kamarasan and

Gangai Amaran Gangai Amaran is an Indian music composer, singer, lyricist, writer, film director and actor in Tamil films. Personal life Gangai Amaran was born in Pannaipuram in Theni district, Tamil Nadu in December 1947, as the youngest son of Daniel Ram ...

Release and reception

''Kai Kodukkum Kai'' was released on 15 June 1984. ''

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History and profile ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...

'' said the film "teetered between Rajini-ism and Mahendran-ism". Similar comments were made by ''

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 ...

''. The film ran for over 100 days in theatres.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{J. Mahendran 1980s Tamil-language films 1984 films Films about rape in India Films directed by Mahendran (filmmaker) Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films with screenplays by Mahendran (filmmaker) Tamil remakes of Kannada films