''Meenava Nanban'' () is a 1977 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 action drama film written and directed by Sridhar. The film stars

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

and Latha, with M. N. Nambiar,

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 film ...

among others enacting supporting roles. It was released on 14 August 1977.

Plot

Kumaran, an adventurer comes to defend the fishermen exploited by Nagaraj, the notable of the place. Kamali, his daughter, falls in love with Kumaran. Together, they continue the fight against injustice.

Cast

as Kumaran * Latha as Kamali *

Vennira Aadai Nirmala Vennira Aadai Nirmala (born as A. B. Shanthi in Kumbakonam) is an Indian actress who has appeared in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. She was a prominent lead actress from 1960s and 70s. She is credited as Ushakumari in Malayalam film indust ...

as Shanti *

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 ...

as Muthamma * V. K. Ramasamy as Nagaraj * M. N. Nambiar as Arun *

P. S. Veerappa P. S. Veerappa (10 September 191111 September 1998) was an Indian actor and a producer of Tamil cinema. Early life Born in 1911, Veerappa belonged to Kangeyam, then part of Coimbatore District in Madras Presidency. But he grew up in his gra ...

as Selvaraj *

as Ratnam *

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 ...

as Manickam *K. Kannan as Mahi * K. K. Soundar as In charge of Coolie *Karikol Raju as Fisherman * T. K. S. Natarajan as Varadhan *

Loose Mohan Arumugam Mohanasundaram (8 February 1928 – 16 September 2012), popularly known as Loose Mohan and Raja Gopalakrishnan, was an Indian actor who had acted as a comedian in over 1000 Tamil films. He is credited with popularizing Madras Bash ...

as Fisherman

Production

After the success of ''

Urimaikural ''Urimaikural'' () is a 1974 Indian Tamil-language action drama film, written and directed by C. V. Sridhar. The film stars M. G. Ramachandran, Latha, Anjali Devi and V. S. Raghavan. It was released on 7 November 1974, and became a silver j ...

'' (1974), Sridhar decided to make another film with

titled ''Naanum Oru Thozhilali'' (); however it got dropped after Sridhar felt it lacked a strong plot. Sadayappa Chettiar approached Sridhar expressing interest to produce a film with Ramachandran as lead actor and Sridhar directing. Sridhar named the film as ''Latchiya Kanavu'' () while simultaneously making another film with Ramachandran titled ''

Anna Nee En Deivam ''Anna Nee En Deivam'' () is a shelved Indian Tamil-language film directed by C. V. Sridhar and produced by Jayaar Movies. The film stars M. G. Ramachandran, Latha, Sangeeta, M. N. Nambiar and V. S. Raghavan. Cast *M. G. Ramachandran as ...

''. Sridhar later changed the title from ''Latchiya Kanavu'' to ''Meenava Nanban'' as per Ramachandran's suggestion. ''Meenava Nanban'' was the second and final collaboration of Ramachandran with Sridhar, after ''Urimaikural''.

Santhana Bharathi Santhana Bharathi is an Indian film director and actor who has primarily worked in Tamil cinema. Career Santhana Bharathi originally wanted to be a director but didn't get the right opportunity, even after working for a well known director ...

, who worked as assistant director, recalled that another famous director

P. Vasu Vasudevan Peethambharan, known professionally as P Vasu, is an Indian director, writer and actor who works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam language films. In a career spanning three decades, Vasu has directed over 64 films.

joined as assistant in the film's unit. Ramachandran performed his own stunt in a scene by jumping from a building, but sustained no injuries. A few scenes of ''Meenava Nanban'' were shot at Manipal. The filming was stopped for a few months because Sridhar met with an accident, damaging his left eye. After the operation, Sridhar restarted both films - ''Meenava Nanban'' and ''Anna Nee En Deivam'' - at the same time. During that time, Ramachandran won the 1977 elections and became the

chief minister of Tamil Nadu The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with th ...

, due to which ''Anna Nee En Deivam'' was shelved after canning few scenes but Sridhar completed ''Meenava Nanban'' with climax was shot in a set of a boat resembling flood in studio. Ramachandran wore a wig to portray his character, and ensured it remained consistent throughout the course of production to preserve continuity.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. He was popularly known as ''Mellisai Mannar''. He compose ...

and lyrics written by Muthulingam, Vaali and

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 ...

. Muthulingam recalled that Ramachandran discovered that he did not write any song, he insisted him to write the song "Thangathil Mugam Eduthu". The song "Pongum Kadalosai" is based on Valaji raga.

References

External links

* {{C. V. Sridhar 1970s action drama films 1970s Tamil-language films 1977 films Films directed by C. V. Sridhar Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films with screenplays by C. V. Sridhar Indian action drama films