''Nandu'' () is a 1981 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, nati ...

-language film written and directed by Mahendran. The film stars Suresh and Ashwini. It is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by

Sivasankari Sivasankari (born 14 October 1942) is an Indian author and activist who writes in Tamil. She is one of the four Tamil writers asked by the United States Library of Congress to record their voice as part of the South Asian article on Sivashanka ...

. The film was released on 17 April 1981 and failed commercially.

Plot

Ramkumar Sharma is a sickly engineer living in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

in a large family. He suffers from asthma and does not like the behaviour of his autocratic father, but is deeply attached to his loving mother. Unable to get along with his father who compels him to marry a girl of his choice, Sharma leaves for

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. He finds a job there and meets Seetha. Once settled, he goes around looking for a house with the help of house broker. Incidentally, he finds Seetha residing as a tenant in a portion under the very same house. He likes the portion and agrees to start living there. The lives of the girls who live in portions of the large house are brightened by the appearance of the engineer from Lucknow. Of them, two of them try to impress Sharma. One of them is the house owner's daughter, while the other is Seetha. Eventually, he ends up marrying Seetha.

Cast

* Suresh as Ramkumar Sharma * Ashwini as Seetha *

Vennira Aadai Moorthy Vennira Aadai Moorthy (born 25 July 1936) is an Indian actor and comedian in Tamil cinema. He has starred in many Tamil films and television serials as a comedian and also played supporting roles. He is a lawyer by education, and holds a B.L. ...

as Singa Muth *

Vanitha Krishnachandran Vanitha Krishnachandran is an Indian film and television actress. She acted during the 1980s in nearly 170 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu films along with several Malayalam and Tamil Television serials. Personal life Vanitha was ...

as Uma *

Kutty Padmini Kutty Padmini is an Indian actress who mainly works in Tamil cinema. She was a child star in her debut movie ''Ambala Anjulam'' (1959). She has also acted in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi movies. She made her debut in Tamil cinema at t ...

as Lakshmi *

Senthamarai Senthamarai may refer to: * Senthamarai (actor) Senthamarai was an Indian actor who acted in Tamil cinema and theatre. Career Senthamarai was born on 13 April 1935 at Kancheepuram. His family included his father Thiruvenkadam, his mother Vedamm ...

Samikannu Samikannu (15 April 1923 – 3 June 2017) was an Indian actor who had acted in over 400 Tamil-language films in supporting and comedy roles. He is capable of doing whatever role is best. He is notable movie acted Character as 'Payapulla' in Mullu ...

as Arunachalam *

S. N. Parvathy S. N. Parvathy is an Indian actress who appears in supporting roles in Tamil films and serials. She often plays roles of a mother in films. She has worked in popular movies like ''Anubavi Raja Anubavi'', ''Pasi'', '' Palaivana Solai'', ''Agaya ...

as Uma's mother *

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 ...

as the house broker

Production

''Nandu'' is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by

Suhasini Suhasini Maniratnam (born 15 August 1961) known mononymously as Suhasini, is an Indian actress, director, producer and writer in the Tamil film industry. She has worked as an actress in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her ...

, who previously appeared in Mahendran's ''

Nenjathai Killathe ''Nenjathai Killathe'' () is a 1980 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Mahendran. The film stars Suhasini, Sarath Babu, Pratap and Mohan. It focuses on a girl who is torn between the man she loved, and the ma ...

'' (1980), worked as an assistant cinematographer under

Ashok Kumar Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He ...

. The film took liberties with the novel; while the protagonist in the novel is a cancer patient, the disease was changed to asthma for the film.

Themes

Writing for ''

Frontline Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...

'', Venkatesh Chakravarthy believes the title ''Nandu'' is a metaphor used as a "double-edged weapon in the film".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was 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 ...

. The songs "Kaise Kahoon" and "Hum Hai Akele" are entirely in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

. The song "Manjal Veyil" is set in the

Carnatic raga Carnatic raga refers to ''ragas'' used in Carnatic music. A Carnatic raga has several components - primordial sound (''nāda''), tonal system (''swara''), pitch (''śruti''), scale, ornaments ('' gamaka'') and important tones. Origins and histo ...

Kalyani.

Release and reception

''Nandu'' was released on 17 April 1981. The posters were designed with a crab's shadow looming over the protagonist to indicate his eventual death. ''

Kumudam ''Kumudam'' is a Tamil weekly magazine published in Chennai, India. It was founded in 1948 by S.A.P. Annamalai, and his close friend and confidante P.V. Parthasarathy. Now the magazine is published under the Kumudam Group, which also publishes ...

'' noted the film's abundance of Hindi dialogues, and caustically commented that any more dialogues in Hindi would result in

K. Balaji Krishnamachari Balaji (24 June 19342 May 2009) was an Indian film producer and actor. He was a prominent actor in the 1960s and 70s, playing lead, supporting and antagonist roles. He appeared in many Sivaji Ganesan films. Early life Balaji was ...

(a film producer known mainly for remaking Hindi films in Tamil) remaking the film in Tamil. Jeeva 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 ...

'' appreciated the comedy by Mahendran's usual team of Kumarimuthu, Vennira Aadai Moorthy and Samikannu, the cinematography by Ashok Kumar, Ilaiyaraaja's music, and concluded that the film was a must watch for Mahendran's filmmaking prowess. The film failed commercially, with ''

Maalai Malar ''Maalai Malar'' is a daily evening Tamil newspaper. It is owned by Daily Thanti group. It was founded by S. P. Adithanar in 1977 at Coimbatore. Maalai Malar has twelve editions published from Chennai, Vellore, Dindigul, Thanjavur, Tirunelve ...

'' attributing it to the audience's inability to understand the many Hindi dialogues.

References

External links

* {{Mahendran (filmmaker) 1980s Tamil-language films 1981 films Films based on Indian novels Films directed by Mahendran (filmmaker) Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films set in Uttar Pradesh Films with screenplays by Mahendran (filmmaker)