''Shanti Nilayam'' () is a 1969 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, nati ...

-language film, produced and directed by G. S. Mani. It stars

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

and Kanchana, with

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 film ...

Vijaya Lalitha Vijayalalitha or Vijaya Lalitha was an Indian actress who appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films in the 1960s and 1970s. She is best known for her appearances in '' Rani Mera Naam'' (1972), ''Baazigar'' (1972) and '' Saaks ...

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...

K. Balaji Krishnamachari Balaji (24 June 19342 May 2009) was an Indian film producer and actor. He was a prominent actor in the 1960s and 70s, playing lead, supporting and antagonist roles. He appeared in many Sivaji Ganesan films. Early life Balaji was ...

and

V. S. Raghavan V S Raghavan (18 February 1925 – 24 January 2015) was an Indian actor, who has acted both in Tamil films as well as television. He started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a character actor in films, starting ...

in supporting roles. The film won the

National Film Award for Best Cinematography The National Film Award for Best Cinematography is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards p ...

for

Marcus Bartley Marcus Bartley (22 April 1917 14 March 1993) was an Anglo-Indian cinematographer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema along with a few Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil films. He was the cinematographer of all time classics like ''Shavu ...

. It is a remake of the 1968

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

film ''

Bedi Bandavalu ''Bedi Bandavalu'' is a 1968 Indian Kannada-language film, directed by C. Srinivasan and produced by T. N. Srinivasan. The film stars Kalyan Kumar and Chandrakala in the lead roles. The film has musical score by R. Sudarshanam. The film is in ...

'' which was inspired by the 1847 novel ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...

'' by

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. She enlisted i ...

Plot

Malathi, after losing her parents, lives with her aunt who tortures and treats her like a servant. One day she is dumped in a waste materials facility and she falls sick. Doctor Vijayan, who comes to treat her, sympathises and admits her in a private school-cum-hostel for orphans. Malathi grows up into a young lady and becomes a teacher in the same school. Baskar, a rich estate owner, lives in Shanthi Nilayam with his older brother Sekar's children (four daughters and a son) and is finding it difficult to bring them up as they are very naughty and the hired governess runs away every time. His cousin Ramu and his mother live in the estate too. Baskar conveys his need to Dr. Vijayan who convinces Malathi to accept the governess job. Initially, the children do not accept Malathi, but her understanding and matured nature soon wins them over. Baskar appreciates her work. Strange things happen in the house: Pappamma, the servant maid laughs and walks at midnight with a candle, Balu visits Baskar regularly for money. Malathi suspects something wrong in the house. She learns that one of the children, Geetha, an innocent loves Ramu. One night Baskar's coat catches fire and Malathi douses it. She demands to know why Baskar looks like he has lost something, but he does not reply. Balu comes again and Baskar gives him money and tells him that he will not give him any more. Baskar's family friend, Parvatham arrives with her husband and daughter Sheela. Parvatham suggests the marriage of Baskar and Sheela and Malathi is upset hearing this. Malathi's aunt, with her daughters Saradha and Sumathi, arrives there after having fallen in their lives. Ramu's mother accepts them and they stay with Malathi. Sheela and her mother treat Malathi and her relatives badly. They spread rumours about Malathi, and Baskar shouts at Malathi to behave properly like an educated person. Malathi feels that even Baskar is treating her like a servant and decides to leave the house. However, Ramu stops her and states the children's needs and she stays back. Baskar understands Malathi's commitment to the family and expresses his love for her. Sheela overhears this and shouts at Malathi for snatching away Baskar. Baskar asks Sheela and her family to leave. The children are happy about Malathi and Baskar uniting. Baskar schedules their wedding for the following Friday. One day, Malathi sees Balu with bloodstains and demands an explanation from Baskar who promises to reveal everything soon. During the marriage proceeding, Balu arrives and states that Baskar has already married his sister. Baskar accepts and reveals that he indeed married Janaki, a mad woman and explains the circumstances of the marriage. Baskar's father in an altercation, hit Singaram, Balu's father, leading to his death. Balu blackmails Baskar's father to marry his sister to Bhaskar and give a part of the wealth to her. Baskar's father refuses, but Baskar, to save the family's prestige, agrees and marries Janaki, but finds her totally mad. He gives her the best medical treatment, but there is no improvement in Janaki. Pappamma cares for her. Baskar's brother Sekar was killed in a fire lit by Janaki. Ramu's mother confirms the facts and Malathi is shocked and leaves home. The children cry for her to stay and Kavitha, one of them, follows her. Kavitha falls down unconscious and Malathi stops and returns home along with Dr. Vijayan, who arrives there. Meanwhile, Balu demands Baskar to transfer the wealth belonging to Janaki to him and threatens to kill him otherwise. Baskar takes him on and beats him. At the same time, Janaki comes out of her room and puts the house on fire. Balu, Janaki and Pappamma die in the fire. Malathi, Ramu and Dr. Vijayan arrive and save everybody. Baskar and Malathi marry.

Cast

as Bhaskar * Kanchana as Malathi *

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 h ...

as Ramu *

as Balu *

as Ramu's mother *

as Bhaskar's father *

Vijaya Chandrika Vijaya may refer to: Places * Vijaya (Champa), a city-state and former capital of the historic Champa in what is now Vietnam * Vijayawada, a city in Andhra Pradesh, India People * Prince Vijaya of Sri Lanka (fl. 543–505 BC), earliest recorde ...

as Janaki *Leela as Paapamma *

Rama Prabha Rama Prabha is an Indian actress who performs in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. She has acted in more than 1,400 films and is credited as a character artist who shared screen space with superstars across all generation of South Indian Cinema ...

as Geetha *

Manjula Vijayakumar Manjula Vijayakumar (4 July 195423 July 2013) was an Indian actress. She acted in more than 100 films in South Indian languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Personal life She and actor Vijayakumar got married in 1976. The couple ...

as Bhaskar's niece

Production

''Shanthi Nilayam'' was a remake of the Kannada film ''

'' (1968).

S. S. Vasan Subramaniam Srinivasan (4 January 1904 – 26 August 1969), popularly known by his screen name S. S. Vasan, was an Indian journalist, writer, advertiser, film producer, director and business tycoon. He is the founder of the Tamil-language maga ...

saw the Kannada film and bought the remake rights for it. He assigned Chitralaya Gopu to write the screenplay and dialogues for the Tamil version. Although Vasan liked the screenplay, he felt that the film would not cater to the rural audience. Gopu, in turn, felt that Vasan's doubts would be overcome with Nagesh's comic potential. Vasan's words however proved to be true as the film ran well only in cities and not so much in smaller towns. Gopu's recommendation of Kanchana for the lead role was agreed to by the film's director Mani. The film was entirely shot at Ooty and art director Mohana Kumari was in charge of erecting the special sets required to shoot the film's scenes. The flying helium balloon in the song "Bhoomiyil Iruppadhu" was one of the highlights. Camera techniques were used in the song to show that the balloon was flying, while in reality it was not.

Influences

According to film historian

Randor Guy Madabhushi Rangadorai (born 8 November 1937), better known by his pen name Randor Guy, is an Indian lawyer, columnist and film and legal historian associated with the English language newspaper ''The Hindu''. He is also the official editor of the ...

, ''Shanti Nilayam'', though widely believed to have been adapted from ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...

'', was actually based on

's novel ''

''.

Songs

The soundtrack was composed by

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. He was popularly known as ''Mellisai Mannar''. He compose ...

S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wi ...

made his debut in Tamil cinema with this film by singing the song "Iyarkai Ennum", even though ''

Adimai Penn ''Adimai Penn'' () is a 1969 Indian Tamil-language action adventure film directed by K. Shankar and produced by M. G. Ramachandran and R. M. Veerappan. The film stars Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa, with Ashokan, Pandari Bai, Rajasree, Manohar, ...

'' (which he signed after ''Shanti Nilayam'') was released first. Balasubrahmanyam's remuneration for the song was .

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Jane Eyre 1960s Tamil-language films 1969 films Films based on Jane Eyre Films based on works by Charlotte Brontë Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography National Film Award Films with screenplays by Chitralaya Gopu Tamil remakes of Kannada films