''Ore Iravu'' () is a 1951 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. Neelakantan Palaniyaandi Neelakantan (2 October 1916 – 3 September 1992) was a Tamil film director, who was active for nearly four decades. Life He was born at Villupuram, Tamil Nadu. He graduated to movies from stage play. His play '' Naam Iruvar'' ...

and co-written by him and

C. N. Annadurai Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 1909 – 3 February 1969), popularly known as Anna also known as Arignar Anna or Perarignar Anna (''Anna, the scholar'' or ''Elder Brother''), was an Indian Tamil politician who served as the fo ...

. Produced by

AVM Productions AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappan. It is the final oldest survived studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, ...

, it is based on Annadurai's play of the same name. The film stars K. R. Ramasamy, reprising his role from the play. It was released on 11 April 1951 and received well by critics, but failed commercially.

Plot

A thief breaks into a rich man's house without knowing that the man is his own father who had abandoned him and his mother long ago.

Cast

;Male cast * K. R. Ramasamy as Rathnam *

T. K. Shanmugam T. K. Shanmugam (1912–1973; also known as "Avvai" T. K. Shanmugam) was a Tamil theatre and film artist. He acquired the prefix "Avvai" after portraying saint-poet Avvaiyar in a play. Early life T.K. Shanmugam was born on 26 April 1912 to Tamil ...

as Karunakarathevar *

T. S. Balaiah Thirunelveli Subramaniyan Balaiah (23 August 1914 – 22 July 1972) was an Indian actor. He is best known for playing supporting roles in Tamil films. Born in Sundankottai, near Udankudi in Thoothukudi, Balaiah was introduced to the cine fiel ...

as Jagaveeran *

A. Nageswara Rao Akkineni Nageswara Rao (20 September 1923 – 22 January 2014), widely known as ANR, was an Indian actor and producer, known for his works majorly in Telugu cinema. He starred in many landmark films in his seventy five-year career, and became on ...

as Dr. Sekhar *

T. S. Durairaj T. S. Durairaj (31 December 1910 – 2 June 1986) was a Tamil film comedian, drama artist, producer and director in the early stages of the Tamil film industry (Kollywood). He received a Kalaimamani award from the Tamil Nadu Government in ...

as Compounder 'Eman' *'Friend' Ramasami as Agarathi *S. Venkatraman as Rioter *N. S. Narayana Pillai as Kanaka Pillai *Duraisami as Thatha *T. S. Dakshinamurthy as Public Prosecutor ;Female cast * Lalitha as Susheela *

B. S. Saroja B. S. Saroja (born 18 November 1929) is an Indian actress in Malayalam and Tamil films. She is the daughter of Johnson, who acted in the first Malayalam film, Vigathakumaran. She acted with MGR and Sivaji in their only movie together, Koondukk ...

as Swarnam *

Muthulakshmi Muthulakshmi is the widow of Veerappan, sandalwood smuggler who was killed by Special Task Force police in 2004. She lived in Salem, Tamil Nadu, India. She was born in Neruppore village, Dharmapuri District to a farming family. Wife of Veerappan ...

as Bhavani *Angamuthu as Maid *Sukumari (debut film) ;Dance * Lalitha- Padmini *

Kumari Kamala Kumari Kamala (born 16 June 1934) is an Indian dancer and actress (also known as Kamala Lakshman). Initially featured as a child dancer, Kamala appeared in almost 100 Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films throughout her career. In the 1970s, she ...

*Lakshmikantham ;Choreographers *

Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai (1910–1991) was an Indian Bharatanatyam dance teacher and choreographer. Early life Vazhuvoor Bagyathammal Ramaiah Pillai was born in 1910 to Parthiban and Bagyathammal in Vazhuvoor. He learned the arts of Nattuva ...

*B. Hiralal

Production

''Or Iravu'' was a stage play written by

. It was originally written for K. R. Ramasamy's Krishnan memorial drama company by Annadurai. A. V. Meiyappan of

decided to make a film based on the play. Annadurai was paid 10,000 for writing the screenplay. Annadurai went to AVM studios and wrote the entire script and dialogues totalling 300 pages in a single night. The screenplay was later modified by the director and the producer of the film. This was the third film to be made based on Annadurai's plays after '' Velaikari'' (1949) and '' Nallathambi'' (1949).

, who had begun working for AVM in the 1947 film '' Naam Iruvar'' as assistant director, made his directorial debut with this film. Per Annadurai's recommendation, Ramasamy was hired to play the hero, reprising his role from the play. The play depicted events that happen in a single night, and older incidents were depicted using flashbacks, but in the film version, flashbacks were replaced with a linear narration. The completed film was 14,980 feet in length.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by R. Sudarsanam. Lyrics were by Mahakavi Bharathiyar,

Bharathidasan Bharathidasan Birth name: K. Subburathinam, the person's given name: Subburathinam, father's given name: Kanagasabai. (K. Subburathinam by the prevalent patronymic initials as prefix naming system in Tamil Nadu and it is Subburathinam Kanag ...

, K. P. Kamatchi Sundharam & Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam. The song "Ayya Saami Aaoji Saami" is based on "Chico Chico from Puerto Rico" from the 1945 American film ''

Doll Face ''Doll Face'' is a 1945 American film released by 20th Century Fox and directed by Lewis Seiler starring Vivian Blaine as "Doll Face" Carroll. It also stars actor Dennis O'Keefe and singers Carmen Miranda and Perry Como. The film is based on th ...

''. Songs list

Release and reception

''Or Iravu'' was released on 11 April 1951. The film was a box office failure, but was received well by critics and contemporary writers of Annadurai. Meiyappan theorised that the film failed either due to the modifications made to the original script or the changes the director did to adapt it for the big screen.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{AVM Productions 1950s Tamil-language films Films scored by R. Sudarsanam 1951 directorial debut films 1951 films AVM Productions films Films directed by P. Neelakantan Indian drama films Indian films based on plays