''Naan Avanillai'' () is a 1974 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 starring

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

. Produced by Ganesan himself, it was directed by

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 ...

. It was adapted from the 1962

Marathi language Marathi (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and additional official language in the state o ...

play ''

To Mee Navhech ''To Mee Navhech'' () is a classic Marathi language, Marathi-language Play (theatre), play written by Prahlad Keshav Atre, Acharya Atre based on the court case of Madhav Kazi, who was an active criminal during the years between 1955 and 1960. Thou ...

'', written by

Pralhad Keshav Atre Prahlad Keshav Atre () (13 August 1898 – 13 June 1969), popularly known as Āchārya Atre, was a prominent Marathi writer, poet, educationist, founder–editor of ''Maratha'' (a Marathi language newspaper), and above all, a noted orator. Bio ...

. The film deals with a man who woos and marries several women while he takes on as many different identities. ''Naan Avanillai'' was released on 7 June 1974. The film was commercially successful and received critical acclaim. Ganesan's won the

Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil The Filmfare Best Actor Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil film lead actors. The Filmfare Awards South Awards were extended to "Best Actor" in 1972. Film world, p 43 The year indicates the year ...

. It was later remade into a 2007 Tamil film with the same title and a 2008

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 ...

film titled '' Buddhivantha''.

Plot

portrays a modern-day

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni (Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra'' ...

who woos and marries several women while he takes on as many different identities. He is ultimately taken to court, but no-one is able to deduce his true identity as he speaks several languages with great facility. In the jail, the police inspector slaps him, believing he would utter something in his mother tongue when taken by surprise and this Indian exclaims in Chinese! In the final scene a man who maintains that the hero or villain is his brother Fernandez stabs him. Our Don Juan makes a sign of the cross before he dies.

Cast

Production

''Naan Avanillai'' was adapted from the 1962

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

play ''

'', written by

directed the film adaptation with

as the male lead. Ganesan also produced the film under his then newly inaugurated Shri Narayani Films, this being his only production.

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 ...

worked dance assistant in this film.

Soundtrack

The music 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 ...

. The song "Radha Kaadhal" was recreated in the film's 2007 remake.

Release and reception

''Naan Avanillai'' was released on 7 June 1974. The film was dubbed

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 ...

-language as ''Srungara Leela'' and released on 17 December 1976. ''Naan Avanillai'' was commercially successful. The film and Ganesan's performance received critical acclaim. For his performance, Ganesan won the

Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, an ...

. Kanthan of ''

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 ...

'' praised the cast performances and cinematography. Ganesan's daughter

Rekha Bhanurekha Ganesan (born 10 October 1954), better known by her stage name Rekha, is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Hindi films. Acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in Indian cinema, she has starred in more than 180 fil ...

, despite her strained relationship with her father, praised his performance, saying, "You've acted well, daddy."

Legacy

''Naan Avanillai'' attained cult status in Tamil cinema for its witty dialogues, the screenplay and the "complete change of image" for Ganesan. Writing for ''

Business Standard ''Business Standard'' is an Indian English-language daily edition newspaper published by Business Standard Private Limited, also available in Hindi. Founded in 1975, the newspaper covers the Indian economy, infrastructure, international busine ...

'' in 2011, Suveen K. Sinha called ''Naan Avanillai'' "arguably the most memorable film of his career". On Ganesan's centenary in 2020, ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' rated his performance in ''Naan Avanillai'' as one of his best.

Remakes

''Naan Avanillai'' was remade in the same language under same title in 2007. A

remake, '' Buddhivantha'', was released in 2008.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{To Mee Navhech 1970s Tamil-language films 1974 films Films about fraud Films directed by K. Balachander Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films with screenplays by K. Balachander Indian black-and-white films Indian films based on plays Tamil films remade in other languages