''Keladi Kannmanii'' (; also spelt ''Keladi Kanmani'') is a 1990 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

romantic drama 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), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

that marked the directorial debut of

Vasanth Vasanth is an Indian director well known in Tamil language films for directing films such as ''Keladi Kanmani'' (1990), ''Aasai'' (1995), ''Nerrukku Ner'' (1997), ''Rhythm'' (2000) and ''Satham Podathey'' (2007). Career Vasanth began his car ...

. The film stars

S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wi ...

Raadhika Raadhika Sarathkumar is an Indian actress, entrepreneur, producer and politician who works predominantly in Tamil cinema along with Telugu cinema as well as a few Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films. She is the founder and CP of the Radaan Media ...

Ramesh Aravind Ramesh Aravind is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and television presenter who predominantly works in Kannada films and television. In a career of over 34 years, Aravind has been appeared in over 140 films including several Tamil and T ...

and Anju. It revolves around a terminally ill woman who seeks to make amends for a past mistake before she dies. Producer A. Sundaram approached Vasanth to make a film for his production company, Vivek Chithra Productions, but Vasanth did not have a story. Ananthu created the story of ''Keladi Kannmanii'', which Vasanth developed into a screenplay. Cinematography was handled by R. Raghunatha Reddy, editing was by the duo Ganesh–Kumar, and Maghi made his debut as art director. ''Keladi Kannmanii'' was released on 27 July 1990 and became a commercial success, running for over 285 days at theatres. It won three

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The aw ...

(including Second Best Film) and Raadhika won the

Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil The Filmfare Best Actress Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil ( Kollywood) films. The awards were extended to "Best Actress" in 1972. Film world, p 43 The year indicates the year of ...

Plot

Anu is a college student; her fellow student Sasi desperately tries to win her affection. Sasi and Anu play various pranks on each other. Anu eventually admits her affection for Sasi and they begin a courtship. All seems to be well, but Anu is strangely sad from time to time; she repeats to Sasi that she senses an imminent danger to their relationship, but she is unable to pinpoint what the threat is or describe why it may materialise soon. Anu begins to get frequent sharp headaches. Her father, A. R. Rangaraj (ARR), a widower, tries to help her, but is not able to get to the bottom of the matter. ARR is a gentle old man who has devoted most of his life to his daughter. On her 18th birthday, Anu visits her doctor who determines that she has bilateral

renal artery stenosis Renal artery stenosis (RAS) is the narrowing of one or both of the renal arteries, most often caused by atherosclerosis or fibromuscular dysplasia. This narrowing of the renal artery can impede blood flow to the target kidney, resulting in renova ...

and is almost certain to succumb within a year. She may require an operation within that time, but the likelihood of her coming through it alive is minimal. Anu asks the doctor to keep her illness a secret between them. Unknown to Anu, her father accidentally discovers it when the local pharmacist sends some prescription drugs through him. When Anu discusses the matter with Sasi, he expresses his support despite his grave sadness out of his love for her. Anu reveals a thread from her past that may explain her melancholic mood. The film flashes back to several years before, when ARR had a happy family. Anu, then five or six, attended school; ARR worked and his wife managed the home. When ARR lost his wife to an illness, Anu took this particularly hard. ARR tried to help her cope with it and move on. Later, ARR met Sarada at a wedding. When ARR sought a tutor for Anu, Sarada took the position. The friendship evolved into a courtship, and ARR was about to propose marriage. As time went on, Sarada realised her own responsibilities. Both her parents were

deaf-mute Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was either deaf and used sign language or both deaf and could not speak. The term continues to be used to refer to deaf people who cannot speak an oral language or have som ...

, and she was the only way they could communicate with others; this left her torn between her filial duty and her personal aspirations. Things worsened when Anu missed her mother and was unable to accept Sarada (or anyone else) as a replacement. Sarada was bewildered and ultimately frustrated by all this. Despite ARR's assurances that they could work it out, she refused his proposal and decided to move to another city; her parents committed suicide as they felt they were a hindrance to their daughter. Since then, Anu has been plagued by guilt for her part in the breakup. The doctors schedule the surgery. Anu takes this with stoic grief, and asks Sasi for one last thing: to find Sarada and attempt to reunite her with ARR. They find an old picture of Sarada, and Sasi recognises her as a woman he had met in

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 ...

a few weeks ago. He sets off on a frantic hunt for Sarada. On the day of the operation, Sarada happens to be in Chennai ''en route'' to a training event in the United States. After a series of near-misses, Sasi locates her in the nick of time and brings her to Anu and ARR moments before Anu gets anaesthetised. Anu later goes for one last ride with Sasi on his motorbike and, right before they leave, she says that she has gained faith in surviving the surgery.

Cast

as A. R. Rangaraj (ARR) *

as Sarada *

as Sasi * Anju as Anu *

Janagaraj Janagaraj is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 200 films predominantly in Tamil cinema as a comedian or in supporting roles. He also starred in few Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life Janagaraj was born to Vadivelu and Muthul ...

as Adaikkalam *

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 Sarada's father *

Srividya Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), also known as Sreevidya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, ...

as Sarada's mother * Baby Neena as young Anu *

Charle Velmurugan Thangasamy Manohar (born 6 March 1960), professionally credited as Charle, is an Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema. He has acted in more than 800 Tamil films as a comedian and supporting actor. He was named after the English co ...

as Sasi's friend *

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 ...

as Adaikkalam's friend *

Vivek Vivek (or Bibek/Bivek in some regions) (विवेक in Devanagari script) is a masculine given name that is popular in South Asia, particularly in India and Nepal. It is of Sanskrit origin and means "wisdom" and/or "conscience". Vivek may refe ...

as Adaikkalam's friend * Krishnan as Mahadevan * Geetha as Charulatha (ARR's wife)

Production

Development

When film producer A. Sundaram approached

, an assistant to

K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...

, to make a film for his production company, Vivek Chithra Productions, Vasanth was sceptical; he recalled, "Maybe he thought that just like how he was making 'Pudhea_Paadhai''.html"_;"title="Pudhea_Paadhai.html"_;"title="'Pudhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''">Pudhea_Paadhai.html"_;"title="'Pudhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''with_

'Pudhea_Paadhai''.html"_;"title="Pudhea_Paadhai.html"_;"title="'Pudhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''">Pudhea_Paadhai.html"_;"title="'Pudhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''with_ Bhagyaraj's_assistant_R._Parthiban.html"__"title="K._Bhagyaraj.html"_;"title="udhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''.html"_;"title="Pudhea_Paadhai.html"_;"title="'Pudhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''">Pudhea_Paadhai.html"_;"title="'Pudhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''with_K._Bhagyaraj">Bhagyaraj's_assistant_R._Parthiban">Parthiban_ R._Parthiban_(born_14_October_1958)_is_an_Indian_actor_and_filmmaker_who_works_mainly_in_Tamil_cinema._He_has_directed_15_films,_produced_13_films_and_acted_in_more_than_70_films._He_started_his_career_as_assistant_director_for_K._Bhagyaraj_in_...

_at_that_time,_he_should_make_one_with_KB_sir's_assistant._I_said_I'd_get_back_to_him."_Vasanth's_family_scolded_him_that_he_"should_be_thankful_that_I’m_getting_a_producer_without_me_getting_a_story_ready_and_approaching_many_producers_to_produce_it"._Sundaram_told_him_to_return_once_he_had_a_story_ready. Vasanth_wanted_to_make_films_like_his_mentor_Balachander,_Mahendran_(filmmaker).html" ;"title="K._Bhagyaraj">Bhagyaraj's_assistant_R._Parthiban.html" "title="K._Bhagyaraj.html" ;"title="udhea_Paadhai">'Pudhea_Paadhai''.html" ;"title="Pudhea_Paadhai.html" ;"title="'Pudhea Paadhai">'Pudhea Paadhai''">Pudhea_Paadhai.html" ;"title="'Pudhea Paadhai">'Pudhea Paadhai''with K. Bhagyaraj">Bhagyaraj's assistant R. Parthiban">Parthiban R. Parthiban (born 14 October 1958) is an Indian actor and filmmaker who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has directed 15 films, produced 13 films and acted in more than 70 films. He started his career as assistant director for K. Bhagyaraj in ...

Plot

Cast

Production

Development

Casting

Filming

Music

Release

Critical reception

Accolades

References

Bibliography

External links