''Paasam'' () is a 1962 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 T. R. Ramanna. It stars

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

, M. R. Radha and

B. Saroja Devi Bangalore Saroja Devi (born 7 January 1938) is an Indian actress who has acted in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. She acted in around 200 films in over six decades. She is known by the epithets "''Abhinaya Saraswathi''" (Saraswathi of ...

. The film was released on 31 August 1962 and failed commercially.

Plot

Depicts the extraordinary love of a son towards his mother. Gopi is brought up in a juvenile home, as he accidentally commits a murder. After his release he searches for his mother and brother, but is unable to trace them. He lands up in the same village, where his brother Raghu, lives and works as a government officer. He falls in love his friend Kali's sister, Chandra, but Kali refuses the alliance, accusing him of being an orphan. Raghu and Chandra are to be engaged. Angry at being thwarted and little knowing that Raghu is his brother, he joins Swaminathan in trying to trap Raghu in a burglary case. Ironically, both Raghu and Gopi do not know the true identity of Swaminathan. It is he who had thrown away his wife Shanta, their mother, several years ago. Several truths are revealed when Gopi meets his mother face to face. Is he able to set things right?

Cast

as Gopi * M. R. Radha as Swaminathan *

as Manju * T. R. Rajakumari as Shantha *

Sheela Sheela Ravichandran (Born 22 March 1945) is an Indian actress and director who appears predominantly in Malayalam cinema. Paired with Prem Nazir, they hold the Guinness World Record for acting in the largest number of films (130) together as he ...

devi as Chandra *

Kalyan Kumar Kalyan Kumar (7 June 1928 – 1 August 1999) was an Indian actor, and an occasional film director and producer who worked primarily in Kannada cinema, Kannada and Tamil cinema. Making his acting debut in the mythological drama ''Natashekara'' (19 ...

as Raghu * Ashokan as Kali * T. R. Ramachandran as Swaminathan's servant *

S. N. Lakshmi Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...

as Meenakshi * C. K. Saraswathi as Swaminathan's sister *

Lakshmi Rajyam C. Lakshmi Rajyam or shortly Lakshmirajyam (1922–1987) was a South Indian film and drama actress and film producer in 1930s to 1970s.Nata Ratnalu, Mikkilineni Radhakrishna Murthy, Second edition, 2002, pp: 594–96 She is a native of Owk. She ...

as Bakkiyam * 'Kottapuli' Jayaraman as Iyer * Kannaiah as Swaminathan's sidekick * Soundar as Mayandi

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's '' Panam'' to 1965's '' Aayirathil Oruvan''. After their split, Ramamoorthy wo ...

and lyrics were written 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

''Paasam'' was released on 31 August 1962 and distributed by Emgeeyaar Pictures in Madras, delayed from a 24 August release. The film failed commercially because fans of Ramachandran could not digest seeing his character dying and considered it anticlimactic. Ramanna received hundreds of letters from fans condemning him. He said the film's ending not only made him understand the actor's dominance, "but also that one could not say things that are in contradiction with people's sentiments".

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{T. R. Ramanna 1960s Tamil-language films 1962 films Films directed by T. R. Ramanna Films scored by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy