''Manitharil Ithanai Nirangala!'' () is a 1978 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 R. C. Sakthi and starring

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

Sridevi Shree Amma Yanger Ayyappan (13 August 1963 – 24 February 2018), professionally credited with her stage name Sridevi, was an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada language films. Cited as the "First Female ...

and

Murali Mohan Maganti Murali Mohan (born 24 June 1940) is an Indian actor, producer, politician, and business executive from Telugu cinema. In 1973, Murali Mohan debuted in ''Jagame Maya'', produced by Atluri Poornachandra Rao. He gained recognition with the ...

The film was released on

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...

1978, coinciding with

Sigappu Rojakkal ''Sigappu Rojakkal'' () is a 1978 Indian Tamil-language psychological thriller film co-written and directed by Bharathirajaa. The film starring Kamal Haasan and Sridevi, with Goundamani, Bhagyaraj and Vadivukkarasi in supporting roles. It revol ...

on the same day too (also starring

). Despite the film's clash, this particular picture did well above average business. This movie marked the Tamil debut for

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 ...

actor,

and Shyam's musical score features a couple of hit songs – "Ponne Boomiyadi" and "Mazhai tharumo En megam".

Plot

Santha is an orphaned young woman who tries to find a job in Madras to survive. She is exploited by a crook and is mistakenly dubbed by the police as a sex worker. She returns to her native village and starts living with her old friend Devaki. Devaki's husband is the belligerent but soft-hearted Velu who runs a cycle-repair shop. Santha relishes her life in the village with Devaki and Velu but things take a turn when the village station-master Mohan falls in love with her. Santha is reluctant to reciprocate due to her past which also returns to haunt her in the form of the inspector who had once arrested her in Madras and is now transferred to her village and also through Mohan's father who had once encountered her in a dubious situation. Whether Santha is able to transcend her unpleasant past and restore normalcy in her life forms the rest of the story.

Cast

as Velu *

as Santha *

as Mohan *

Major Sundarrajan Srinivasan Sundarrajan (17 March 1925 – 28 February 2003), popularly known as Major Sundarrajan, was an Indian actor and director who performed predominantly in Tamil language films and plays. He was well known for his sophisticated and ...

as Mohan's father *

Sathyapriya Sathyapriya is an Indian actress. She has acted in over 350 films, and played the heroine in a few of them. She made her debut in ''Manjal Mugame Varuga'' opposite Vijayakumar in Tamil. Her notable films include ''Besuge'', ''Dharmasere'', ''H ...

as Devaki *

P. R. Varalakshmi P. R. Varalakshmi is an Indian actress. She was active in movies during the 1970s and 1980s. She was a prominent lead actress during the 1980s in Malayalam film, Malayalam, Tamil film, Tamil, Kannada film, Kannada, and Telugu film, Telugu films. ...

* K. A. Thangavelu *

Suruli Rajan Suruli Rajan was a Tamil film comedian/character artiste. He was a recipient of Tamil Nadu State Government's Best Comedian Award for the year 1981–82. Biography Suruli Rajan was born in 1938 in Periyakulam, near Theni. His father ''Ponnai ...

* Manorama *Sudhakar

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Shyam Shyam is a name of Krishna and an Indian masculine given name and surname. Notable people with this name include: ;Shyam *Shyam (actor), Indian Hindi film actor *Shyam (composer), an Indian music composer from Kerala * Shyam Benegal, Indian film di ...

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0187264 1970s Tamil-language films 1978 films Films directed by R. C. Sakthi Films scored by Shyam (composer)