''Puthiya Vaarpugal'' () is a 1979 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

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

co-written, produced and directed by

Bharathiraja Bharathiraja (born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with ''16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of rural life in his films. ...

. The film stars

K. Bhagyaraj Krishnasaamy Bhagyaraj (born 7 January 1953) is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter, music director, producer and politician active mainly in Tamil films. He has also written and directed Hindi and Telugu films and TV serials. As an actor ...

and

Rati Agnihotri Rati Agnihotri (born 10 December 1960) is an Indian actress, known for acting in Hindi, as well as in Telugu and Tamil language films. Her roles in the cult-tragedy film ''Ek Duuje Ke Liye'' (1981) and the drama film ''Tawaif'' (1985) earned h ...

, with G. Srinivasan,

Goundamani Subramaniyan Karuppaiya (born 25 May 1939), known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Tamil cinema. He is known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. The pair dominated t ...

, K. K. Soundar and

Usharani Usharani (29 May 1958 – 20 June 2020) was an Indian actress who acted mainly in Malayalam films. Personal life Usharani married Malayalam movie director N. Sankaran Nair in 1977. Filmography Tamil * Thirumalai Thenkumari (1970) * Kalam ...

in supporting roles. It revolves around a school teacher who falls in love with a woman in his village, their relationship is threatened by the village head. ''Puthiya Vaarpugal'' is the acting debut of Agnihotri, and also marked the first film for Bhagyaraj as a lead actor. The film was released on 14 April 1979, and won two

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The aw ...

: Second Best Film and Best Dialogue Writer (Bhagyaraj). It was remade in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

as ''

Kotha Jeevithalu ''Kotha Jeevithalu'' () is a 1981 Indian Telugu-language film directed by Bharathiraja. It is a remake of his own Tamil film ''Puthiya Vaarpugal'' (1979) and stars Suhasini. The film was a box office failure. Plot Cast *Hari Prasad *Suha ...

'' (1981) by the same director.

Plot

Shanmugamani comes to a village as a school teacher. Around the same time, another woman comes there as a social activist. Both work hard to establish themselves. They meet occasionally and exchange pleasantries and books as they are educated, and share common interests. Shanmugamani meets Jothi, daughter of the village temple musician and they fall in love with each other. The village chief is a lecherous man. His stooge Amavasai is keen to marry Jothi, but Jothi's father is not interested in the proposal. When the chief sees Jothi, he lusts for her. Knowing about her love for Shanmugamani, he orders her to yield to his lust and threatens to fire Shanmugamani if she refuses. Jothi slaps him and the chief awaits an opportunity to take revenge. Meanwhile, Shanmugamani approaches Jothi's father with his marriage proposal, and he accepts. Enraged with this development, the chief plots revenge. When the social activist visits the chief, he rapes and murders her, framing Shanmugamani. The chief alleges that the two had an illicit relationship; when she became pregnant, Shanmugamani killed her. The other villagers believe this and insult Shanmugamani. Though Jothi does not believe this, Shanmugamani leaves the village, leaving a note to Jothi that he would return to take her with him. When Jothi's father and brother are away, he makes Amavasai enter her house without her knowledge. When she is asleep, he knocks on her door along with other villagers. An unaware Jothi opens and says there is no one in her house until Amavasai emerges; the chief alleges an illicit relationship between Amavasai and Jothi, and orders their wedding as a solution. Though aware of the chief's plan, Jothi helplessly marries Amavasai, and her father dies shortly thereafter. Shanmugamani returns to take Jothi and learns about the wedding. When Amavasai is eager to celebrate his

wedding night In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply ''consummation'', is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage to ...

, the chief orders him to leave as he himself wants Jothi. Amavasai pleads to spare his wife, to no avail. When the chief approaches Jothi, she willingly comes to him and they hug, only for Jothi to stab the chief to death, just as Shanmugamani and Amavasai arrive. Amavasai feels guilty for cheating and marrying her, so he removes the ''

mangala sutra A mangala sutra (), or thaali (ISO: ''tāḷi''), is a necklace that the groom ties around the bride's neck in the Indian subcontinent, in a ceremony called ''Mangalya Dharanam'' (). The necklace serves as a visual marker of status as a ma ...

'' he tied and asks her to live happily with Shanmugamani. Amavasai hides the chief's corpse in a hay meant for torching during a festival and villagers burn it, oblivious to the corpse. Shamugamani and Jothi leave the village.

Cast

as Shanmugamani *

as Jothi * G. Srinivasan as the village chief *

as Amavasai * K. K. Soundar as Jothi's father *

as the social activist *

Manobala Manobala (born 8 December 1953) is an Indian film director, producer, actor and comedian who predominantly plays supporting roles in Tamil-language films. He started his career in Tamil cinema in the early 1970s and with Kamal Haasan's referen ...

as a

Panchayat The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical ment ...

member *

Janagaraj Janagaraj is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 200 films predominantly in Tamil cinema as a comedian or in supporting roles. He also starred in few Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life Janagaraj was born to Vadivelu and Muthu ...

as the landlord's son *

Chandrasekhar Chandrasekhar, Chandrashekhar or Chandra Shekhar is an Indian name and may refer to a number of individuals. The name comes from the name of an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva. In this form he married the goddess Parvati. Etymologically, the nam ...

as the prospective groom *

Master Haja Sheriff ''Master'' Haja Sheriff (born Khaja Sheriff) is an Indian actor, who primarily worked in Tamil cinema (Kollywood). He has worked in popular movies like Uthiripookkal, Suvarilladha Chiththirangal, Andha 7 Naatkal. He debuted in the 1979 film Pu ...

as Doraisamy

Production

The title ''Puthiya Vaarpugal'' was derived from the short story of the same name by

Jayakanthan D. Jayakanthan (24 April 1934 – 8 April 2015), popularly known as JK, was an Indian writer, journalist, orator, filmmaker, critic and activist. Born in Cuddalore, he dropped out of school at the age of 9 and went to Madras, where he join ...

. It is the film debut of the then 16-year-old

;

decided on her as the lead actress after watching her performance in a school play. Agnihotri's father agreed to let her join the film after Bharathiraja promised to complete filming within a month. Bharathiraja said he chose Agnihotri because he wanted a woman who looked like a "sunflower in their midst". It is also the first film for

as lead actor.

Gangai Amaran Gangai Amaran is an Indian music composer, singer, lyricist, writer, film director and actor in Tamil films. Personal life Gangai Amaran was born in Pannaipuram in Theni district, Tamil Nadu in December 1947, as the youngest son of Daniel Ram ...

was originally considered, but Bharathiraja later decided on Bhagyaraj. According to Bharathiraja, he was not cast until the day before filming. K. K. Soundar and G. Srinivasan were initially cast as the village chief and the female lead's father respectively, but switched their roles. The song "Vaan Megangale" was filmed at

Kumbakkarai Falls Kumbakkarai Falls are lesser known falls in the foothills of the Kodaikanal Hills. They are located at in Theni district, from Periyakulam Periyakulam () is a major town and a municipality in Theni district, in the Madurai Region, Sout ...

. Filming was completed in 22 working days. Amaran dubbed Bhagyaraj's voice as he was unavailable for dubbing sessions due to having to attend his mother's funeral.

Soundtrack

The music 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 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 ...

, Gangai Amaran and Muthulingam. The song "Vaan Megangale" is set to 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 ...

Sankarabharanam, "Idhayam Poguthe" is set to

Keeravani Keeravani (pronounced ) is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the 21st ''Melakarta'' rāgam in the 72 ''melakarta'' rāgam system of Carnatic music. The 21st ''melakarta'' rāgam as per Muthuswami D ...

, and "Thamthananam Thana" is set to

Shanmukhapriya Shanmukhapriya is a ragam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the 56th ''melakarta'' rāgam (parent scale) in the 72 ''melakarta'' rāgam system of Carnatic music. It is called Chāmaram in Muthuswami Diksh ...

Release and reception

''Puthiya Vaarpugal'' was released on 14 April 1979, during

Puthandu Puthandu (), also known as Puthuvarudam, and the Tamil New Year, is the first day of year on the Tamil calendar, traditionally celebrated as a festival by Tamil Hindus. The festival date is set with the solar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu cal ...

. ''

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History and profile ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...

'' rated the film 59 out of 100, saying the director presented the film without deviating from the path chosen and with intelligence and fineness. The film was a success, and won two

: Second Best Film, and Best Dialogue Writer (Bhagyaraj).

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{K. Bhagyaraj 1970s Tamil-language films 1979 films 1979 romantic drama films Films directed by Bharathiraja Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian romantic drama films Tamil films remade in other languages