''Neela Vaanam'' () is a 1965 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 P. Madhavan and produced by Varathan. The film stars

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...

Devika Devika Devadoss (born Prameela Devi) (25 April 1943 – 2 May 2002) was an Indian actress who worked in Tamil, Telugu with few Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi film industry. She was a popular lead actress in the 1960s. Devika is the grand daughter ...

and

Rajasree Rajasree (Rajasree Thota Panchajanyam, Kusuma Kumari, born 31 August 1945), also known as Rajasri or Rajashri, is an Indian actress active from 1956 to 1979. She is particularly famous for her portrayal as a princess in several folklore Telug ...

. It was released on 10 December 1965.

Plot

Babu and Vimala are lovers. However, under a circumstance Babu is forced to marry the dying Gowri without the acknowledgement of Vimala. Vimala and Gowri are friends. Shocked by her lover's marriage to Gowri, Vimala and Babu tried to keep their past as a secret from Gowri. What will happen to Gowri forms the rest of the story.

Cast

as Babu *

as Gowri *

Rajasri Rajasree (Rajasree Thota Panchajanyam, Kusuma Kumari, born 31 August 1945), also known as Rajasri or Rajashri, is an Indian actress active from 1956 to 1979. She is particularly famous for her portrayal as a princess in several folklore Telug ...

as Vimala *

S. V. Sahasranamam Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Sahasranamam (29 November 1913 – 19 February 1988), also known as S. V. S., was an Indian actor and director. Primarily a theatre actor, he also worked in over 200 films, mainly in Tamil cinema. Early lif ...

as Somanathan * V. K. Ramasamy as Varatharajan *

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 ...

as Prakash *Seethalakshmi as Kamala *

Kumari Padmini Kumari Padmini (Tamil: குமாரி பத்மினி), born as Padmini (died 1980), was an actress who was active in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam industry during the 1960s and 70s. Bio Kumari Padmini acted mainly in Tamil films. She ...

as Thilagam *I. S. R as Thilagam's husband *Harikrishnan as Sharma *Comedy Shanmugam as Babu's friend *

Pakoda Kadhar Pakoda Kadhar was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil films (Kollywood) in comedic and supportive roles. He acted in over 200 films in the Tamil language during the decades 1960s, 1970s, 1980s. He is notable for his comedian roles along with ...

Production

''Neela Vaanam'' was directed by P. Madhavan and produced by Varadan under Pattu Films. The screenplay was written 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 ...

. Cinematography was handled by Karnan, and the editing by R. Devarajan. The final length of the film was .

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 ...

and the lyrics were penned by

Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...

Release and reception

''Neela Vaanam'' was released on 10 December 1965, and distributed by Sivaji Films. T. M. Ramachandran of ''

Sport and Pastime ''Sport and Pastime'' was a weekly sports magazine published by The Hindu Group from 1947 to 1968. Founded by S. K. Gurunathan, the magazine was eventually stopped in 1968. It was replaced with ''Sportstar ''Sportstar'' is an Indian monthly ...

'' called it a "poor film" and criticised Madhavan's direction as "naive". He also noted "There is nothing much to write home about K. Balachander's screenplay and dialogue" but called Viswanathan's music "pleasing".

References

External links

* {{K. Balachander 1960s Tamil-language films 1965 films Films directed by P. Madhavan Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films with screenplays by K. Balachander