''Nathayil Muthu'' () is a 1973 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, produced and written by

K. S. Gopalakrishnan K. S. Gopalakrishnan was an Indian screenwriter, director, producer, and lyricist, who worked in Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films. Since the early 1960s, he directed 70 films. He spent most of his career directing and producing movies with soc ...

. The film stars K. R. Vijaya and

R. Muthuraman Muthuraman Radhakrishnan (4 July 1929 – 16 October 1981) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil language films. He was a leading actor during the 1960s and 1970s and was fondly called as ''Navarasa Thilagam''. He had paired w ...

, the former's 100th film as an actress. It was released on 25 October 1973.

Plot

Madhu, the foreign-educated son of a

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...

lawyer Varadhachari and his wife, falls in love with Chelakannu, an impoverished woman who looks after their cows. While bathing, Chelakannu's sari is washed away and Madhu lends her his clothes. The slum dwellers misconstrue the situation and force Madhu to marry Chelakannu right away, which he willingly does, going to live with her in the slums. However, Chelakannu realises the unfairness of inflicting such discomfort on her husband while his mother schemes to break up the marriage by suggesting Chelakannu is unfaithful to him. Events culminate in a

Panchayat The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical men ...

which judges in Chelakannu's favour, but when the Panchayat leaders try to abuse Madhu's sister, Chelakannu saves her and this act of generosity persuades Madhu's family that their son's wife is a worthy member of the group.

Cast

* K. R. Vijaya as Chelakannu *

as Madhu *

V. S. Raghavan V S Raghavan (18 February 1925 – 24 January 2015) was an Indian actor, who has acted both in Tamil films as well as television. He started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a character actor in films, starting ...

as Varadhachari *

S. Varalakshmi Saridey Varalakshmi (13 August 1925 – 22 September 2009) was an Indian actress and singer who worked in Telugu and Tamil-language films. She was popular for her roles and songs in Telugu films like ''Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam'' (1960) and '' ...

as Varadhachari's wife * M. R. R. Vasu * S. V. Subbiah as Ammasi *

Typist Gopu Gopalarathnam, known by his stage name Typist Gopu, was an Indian actor known for comedy and supporting roles. He acted in over 600 stage plays and 400 films. Career A native of Manakkal, Lalgudi in Trichy district, Gopalarathnam was active ...

* Chandrakantha * S. Rama Rao *

Kuladeivam Rajagopal V. R. Rajagopal, known professionally as Kuladeivam Rajagopal, was an Indian actor and comedian who worked predominantly in Tamil films and plays. He was a popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Rajagopal made his film debut in ''Kaveri'' (1955). He ...

* Indira * S. R. Janaki

Production

''Nathayil Muthu'' was directed by

, who also produced and wrote it under the banner Chitra Productions. It was K. R. Vijaya's 100th film as an actress, and cinematography was handled by P. Ramaswamy.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Shankar–Ganesh Shankar–Ganesh is an Indian music director duo who has worked on Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada movies for around 50 years. Career They started as assistants to Tamil music composers M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy in 1964 an ...

, while the lyrics were written by Vaali.

Release and reception

''Nathayil Muthu'' was released on 25 October 1973. Playing on the title, 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 ...

'' said the film had the "nathai" (snail) but no "muthu" (pearl).

References

External links

* {{K. S. Gopalakrishnan 1970s Tamil-language films 1973 films Films directed by K. S. Gopalakrishnan Films scored by Shankar–Ganesh Films with screenplays by K. S. Gopalakrishnan