''Priyanka'' is a 1994 Indian Tamil-language

legal drama A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...

film produced and directed by Neelakanta in his debut. A remake of the 1993

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 ...

film ''

Damini ''Damini'' () is a 1993 Indian Hindi-language crime drama film directed and co-written by Rajkumar Santoshi. It stars Meenakshi Seshadri in the titular role with Sunny Deol, Rishi Kapoor and Amrish Puri. Aamir Khan makes a special appearance. T ...

'', it stars

Prabhu ''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...

Jayaram Jayaram Subramaniam, (born 10 December 1965) known mononymously as Jayaram, is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam,Tamil films, along with a few Telugu films. He is also a chenda percussionist, mimicry artist, and occasiona ...

and

Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil & Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu, Hindi & Kannada films. She has won several ...

. The film was released on 27 May 1994, and Revathi won numerous awards for her performance, including the

Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil The Filmfare Best Actress Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil ( Kollywood) films. The awards were extended to "Best Actress" in 1972. Film world, p 43 The year indicates the year o ...

Plot

Priyanka is a straightforward person and daughter of Krishnan, a postmaster. Her father looks for a groom for her elder sister and her. Later, her sister elopes with another man. Shekar, a rich businessman, falls in love with Priyanka at first sight. Shekar's father, Sriram, is business partners with Gokulnath and they make a decision: to arrange the marriage between Shekar and Gokulnath's daughter, Kamini. Shekar reveals his love to his family and they accept it. Then, Shekar marries Priyanka. Gokulnath feels betrayed and decides to take revenge on Shekar's family. Priyanka moves into his bungalow. One day, Priyanka and Shekhar witness, Shekhar's younger brother Vinoth and his friends, raping the young maid-servant Ganga. Afterwards, Ganga, in a serious condition, files a complaint against Vinoth. Ravi, a police officer, compels Priyanka to become the principal witness. To save Vinoth from this odd affair, Shekar's family including Priyanka try to smother it. Thereafter, Priyanka decides to become the witness after seeing Ganga in hospital. Ravi is, in fact, Shekar's man and arrests Vinoth. Susila, Shekar's mother, orders Priyanka to leave the bungalow while Shekar is abroad. Priyanka decides to live with her sister. The matter is taken up in court and Sriram appoints Rudrayya, a criminal lawyer who has never lost a case. In return, Shekar asks Priyanka to forget everything and to come back home but she refuses. At the court, Priyanka is portrayed as a mentally unstable person by Rudrayya, Shekar's family and surprisingly by her father Krishnan. Priyanka is subsequently sent to a mental hospital by a judicial order and Vinoth orders to kill her. Unable to bear the mental torture in the hospital, she escapes and runs into Arjun, an alcoholic lawyer. Arjun re-opens the rape case. Ganga dies in hospital with a suicide note written by Ravi, but Ganga was illiterate. What transpires later forms the crux of the story.

Cast

as Arjun *

as Shekar *

as Priyanka *

Jaishankar Jaishankar (12 July 1938 – 3 June 2000) was an Indian actor known for his work in Tamil cinema. He was a very popular lead actor in the 1960s and 70s. He was credited onscreen with title of ''Makkal Kalaingnar'' (people's artiste) or '' ...

as Sriram *

Nassar Nassar ( ar, نصار, lit=helper, protector, supporter, victory-maker), is a given name and surname, commonly found in the Arabic language. Alternative spellings of this name, possibly due to transliteration include Naser, Nasser, Nasir, Naseer ...

as Rudrayya *

Nizhalgal Ravi Ravichandran Samanna (born 16 April 1956), known professionally as Nizhalgal Ravi, is an Indian film, television and voice actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has performed in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films and television series. He st ...

as Ravi *

Captain Raju Raju Daniel (27 June 1950 – 17 September 2018), better known by his stage name Captain Raju, was an Indian army officer and Indian actor. He acted in more than 600 films in various languages, including Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannad ...

as Gokulnath *

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 Susila's brother *

Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Natak ...

as Krishnan *

Manjula Manjula (Sanskrit: मंजुला) is a Hindu and Sanskrit female given name, which means, "melodious". Notable people named Manjula * Manjula (Kannada actress) (1954–1986), Indian actress * Manjula Chellur (born 1955), Indian doctor and ...

as Susila *

Sachu Saraswathi Sundaresan Iyer, professionally known as Kumari Sachu (born 7 January 1948) is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 films in five different languages and a few television serials. She is a character actress/comedienne who ...

's Susila's sister-in-law *Sudha as Priyanka's sister

Production

''Priyanka'', a remake of the 1993

film ''

'', is the directorial debut of Neelakanta.

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 ...

, with lyrics written by Vaali,

Pulamaipithan Pulavar Pulamaipithan (6 October 1935 – 8 September 2021) was an Indian scholar, poet and lyricist who got recognition through the song "Naan yaar nee yaar" which was featured in the Tamil film ''Kudiyirundha Koyil'' in 1968. He briefly serve ...

and

Mu. Metha Muhammed Metha (born 5 September 1945) is a Tamil poet and songwriter. He was born in Theni in 1945. He popularised modern poetry (''Pudukavithai'') in the 1970s and has written more than 30 books, including novels, short stories and essays. ...

. The song "Durga Durga" 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 ...

Revati Revati (रेवती) is a goddess featured in Hindu scriptures. She is the daughter of King Kakudmi and the consort of Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna, and one of the Dashavatara. Her account is given within a number of Hindu texts su ...

, "Nyabagam Illaiyo" is set in

Simhendramadhyamam Simhendramadhyamam is a ragam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the 57th ''melakarta'' rāgam in the 72 ''melakarta'' rāgam system of Carnatic music. It is called Sumadyuti in Muthuswami Dikshitar school ...

, and "Vanakkuyile Kuyil" is set in Lalitha.

Release and reception

''Priyanka'' was released on 27 May 1994. ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' praised Neelakanta's direction, saying that he "displays a lot of confidence in handling the script .and the essence of the film is not list" and also praised artistes for "giving very credible and satisfying performances". ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' wrote, "The portrayal of rabhuwill be the talking point for some time to come". K. Vijiyin of ''

New Straits Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as ''The Straits Times'' on 15 July 1845. It was relaunched as the ' ...

'' wrote, "''Priyanka'' is saved by good performances by Revathi, ayaram Prabhu and

assar Assar is a tehsil and Subdivision (India), sub division in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir In 2022, Assar became the part of Doda West Assembly constituency. References

{{reflist Villages in Doda ...

and the drama in the court scenes". T. K. Balaji wrote for ''Indolink'', "Revathi carries off her role with onsummateease, as does Prabhu and

{{reflist Villages in Doda ...

Its ayaram who disappoints, as her husband, with a strong Mallu accent. A good screenplay, pleasing score by laiyaraaja well scripted and directed by Neelakanta all make for leasantviewing", and praised the absence of a comedy subplot and "over done melodrama". Thulasi of ''Kalki'' praised the film's concept and performances of star cast. Independent critics Jaisankar and Sudhakar wrote, "''Priyanka'' is a very serious, but, good movie."

Accolades

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{G. Neelakanta Reddy 1990s Tamil-language films 1994 directorial debut films 1994 films Films about rape in India Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian courtroom films Indian legal drama films Tamil remakes of Hindi films