''Panchavarna Kili'' () 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

K. Shankar Kannan Shankar (17 March 1926 - 5 March 2006) was an Indian film editor, screenwriter and director. He directed more than 80 films in South Indian languages including Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada as well as in Hindi. Film career Shanka ...

and produced by Saravana Pictures. The film stars

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 ...

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 '' ...

, K. R. Vijaya,

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 fil ...

, Major Sundarrajan and Manorama. It was released on 21 May 1965, and became a commercial success.

Plot

Megala wants to marry Sekar – an army officer, Sokkalingam first son. To her dismay, he is married to Chitra in Delhi and they have a child. Meanwhile, Sokkalingam is looking for marriage alliance to second son Kannan through marriage broker Kalyanam. Kalyanam learns that Sekar brother already has radio singer Vani in mind. Broker fixes marriage with Vani to Kannan. In a twist, Sekar look alike Balu – Vani niece morphs a photo with him and Vani. The morphed photo is sent to Sekar house to stop the marriage. Ashamed of the bad name, Vani mother dies and Vani absconds to Delhi. Vani picks her sister kid and returns to Sekar house to hand over the kid. In some twist, Vani is mistaken as Sekar wife and kept in house. Later Balu enters Sokkalingam house as Sekar using look alike appearance. Also, by lying and bribing to broker, he sets up Kannan to marry another women as Vani by proxying through a setup. Vani learns about her niece's malpractice. In a scramble, she suffers injury and lies in bed. In another twist, Sekar appears before his parents as he escaped Chinese captivity during war and did not die. With Sekar look alike, creating confusion, police arrive with broker to Sekar house. Broker reveals about the bribing incident. In this, Kannan clears the confusion by claiming that Sekar kid is dead. Look alike not panicking in that situation, is found to be the culprit. The police arrest him. Finally, Vani marries Sekar's brother, and Megala marries Sekar.

Cast

as Sekar / Balu * Muthuraman as Kannan * K. R. Vijaya as Vani * Revathi as Megala * Major Sundarrajan as Chokkalingam *

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 * L. Vijayalakshmi as Dancer *

as Kalyanam * Manorama as Meena *

Karikol Raju Karikol Raju was a Tamil film veteran actor who appeared in Tamil-language films. He acted in more than 500 films in a career spanning over five decades. He had started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a charac ...

as Vadivelu *

A. Veerappan A. Veerappan (21 June 1933 2005) was an Indian comedian, screenwriter, and film director. While having worked in more than 100 films. He is notable for his comedian roles along with fellow actor Nagesh in the 1960s. He wrote comedy tracks ...

as Nagappan * Shoba as Fake Vani

Production

''Panchavarna Kili'' was inspired from the 1950 film '' No Man of Her Own'', and shot at AVM Studios. The story was, however, credited to

Valampuri Somanathan Valampuri Somanathan (c. 1928 – 21 June 2010) was a Tamil scholar and poet. He worked as a screenwriter in the Tamil film industry. In addition to screenwriting, he produced and directed a few films in Tamil. He was elected as president of Fil ...

. Ra. Sankaran worked as associate director.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by the duo

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 ...

, while the lyrics were written by

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 ...

and Vaali. The song "Azhagan Muruganidam Aasai Vaithen" is set in

Tilang Tilang is a raga in Indian classical music, that belongs to the Khamaj Thaat. Scale * Arohana (ascending scale): * Avarohana (descending scale): This raga has a Ni flat (ni komal) in the descent. Its defining characteristics are: PS' ...

raga. The song "Tamizhukkum Amudhendru Per" extols the sweetness of the Tamil language, noting it means "that which is sweet" as it is derived from the world "Tam" (meaning self) and "-izh" (an archaic word for honey).

Reception

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 ...

'' lauded Thambu's cinematography and Shankar's direction, saying the latter helped a confusing story look clear. The critic also appreciated Nagesh and Manorama's comedy.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{K. Shankar 1960s Tamil-language films 1965 films Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police Films directed by K. Shankar Films scored by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Indian Army in films