''Vaira Nenjam'' () is a 1975 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
action thriller film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
written, directed and produced by
C. V. Sridhar
Chitthamoor Vijayaraghavalu Sridhar (22 July 1933 – 20 October 2008) was an Indian screenwriter and film director. He has directed nearly 60 films in Tamil language, Tamil, Hindi language, Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu Languages.
Ea ...
. The film stars
Sivaji Ganesan
Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...
,
Padmapriya
Padmapriya (born Padmalochani; died 16 November 1997) was an Indian actress who worked in Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films.
Her first movie was in Telugu, ''Adapillala Tandri'' (1974). In Kannada, she debuted with ''Bangarada Gudi'' ...
,
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 ...
and
K. Balaji. It is a remake of Sridhar's own 1973
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 ''
Gehri Chaal
''Gehri Chaal'' () is a 1973 Indian Hindi-language action-thriller film, produced and directed by C. V. Sridhar under the Chithrakala Pictures banner. It stars Jeetendra, Hema Malini, Amitabh Bachchan and music composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal ...
''. The film was released on 2 November 1975.
Plot
Cast
*
Sivaji Ganesan
Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...
as Ananth
*
Padmapriya
Padmapriya (born Padmalochani; died 16 November 1997) was an Indian actress who worked in Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films.
Her first movie was in Telugu, ''Adapillala Tandri'' (1974). In Kannada, she debuted with ''Bangarada Gudi'' ...
as Geetha
*
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 ...
as Shankar
*
K. Balaji as Madhan
*
Dhulipala
Dhulipala Sitarama Sastry (24 September 1921 – 13 April 2007), known mononymously by the surname Dhulipala, was an Indian actor and thespian, known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema.
He was noted for playing mythological roles, ...
as Dharmalingam
*
C. I. D. Sakunthala as Shoba
*
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 ...
as Shanthi
*Haalam as a dancer
Production
After the failure of his previous directorial ''
Alaigal'' (1973), Sridhar decided to make an "action film" with Ganesan in lead role after Sridhar felt audiences were being more receptive to action films than classic films.
The film was titled ''Hero 72'', with Sridhar opting to make it a Tamil-Hindi bilingual, with
Jeetendra
Ravi Kapoor ( ; born 7 April 1942), known mononymously by his screen name Jeetendra, is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Hindi cinema. He also serves as the chairman of the Balaji Telefilms and Balaji Motion Pictures.
Early life ...
starring in the Hindi version that was later titled ''
Gehri Chaal
''Gehri Chaal'' () is a 1973 Indian Hindi-language action-thriller film, produced and directed by C. V. Sridhar under the Chithrakala Pictures banner. It stars Jeetendra, Hema Malini, Amitabh Bachchan and music composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal ...
''. Production on the Tamil version that was later titled ''Vaira Nenjam'' progressed slowly because of call sheet issues of Ganesan; ''Gehri Chaal'' was completed and released much earlier.
In between the delays, Sridhar made ''
Urimaikural
''Urimaikural'' () is a 1974 Indian Tamil-language action drama film, written and directed by C. V. Sridhar. The film stars M. G. Ramachandran, Latha, Anjali Devi and V. S. Raghavan. It was released on 7 November 1974, and became a silver j ...
'' (1974) starring
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 ...
.
Soundtrack
All songs were 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 ...
and penned 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 ...
. The song "Sentamizh Paadum" attained popularity.
Release and reception
''Vaira Nenjam'' was released on 2 November 1975. Kanthan of ''
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 ...
'' said the film, despite its title, was not lustrous like a real diamond. Arthur Paris from ''Film World'' wrote, "The film has no soul, no life and is at once dull, pedestrian and moronic". The film was successful only with B and C centre audiences.
References
External links
*
{{C. V. Sridhar
1970s action thriller films
1970s Tamil-language films
1975 films
Films directed by C. V. Sridhar
Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan
Indian action thriller films
Tamil remakes of Hindi films
Films with screenplays by C. V. Sridhar