''Vallavan Oruvan'' () is a 1966 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

spy thriller film Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...

, directed by R. Sundaram and written by A. L. Narayanan. Produced by

Modern Theatres Modern Theaters Ltd was an Indian film studio in Salem, Tamil Nadu started by T. R. Sundaram Mudaliar in 1935. The studio produced over more than 150 films until 1982 in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Sinhalese and even English of w ...

, with music composed by

Vedha ‌ ''Vedha'' is a 2008 Indian Tamil language action drama film, directed by R. Nithyakumar starring Arun Vijay and Sheela. The music is composed by Srikanth Deva. The film opened to negative reviews. Plot Vijay (Arun Vijay) is crazy about his ...

, the film stars

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 '' ...

and L. Vijayalakshmi. Based on the 1964 French film ''

Shadow of Evil ''Banco à Bangkok pour OSS 117'' released in the USA as ''Shadow of Evil'' is a 1964 French/Italian international co-production Eurospy spy-fi film. It was based on Jean Bruce's 1960 novel ''Lila de Calcutta'', the 74th OSS 117 novel. It was ...

'', it was released on 11 November 1966.

Plot

A dangerous gang manufactures firearms and explosives, uses them for looting, derailing trains and disrupting law and order. They make bombs using sulphur from a match factory in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. A C.I.D. officer who is deputed to investigate these cases at Madras, finds several clues, reaches the factory and gets killed there. To investigate the case and to find who killed him, another CID officer Shankar is deputed by the

DIG Digging, also referred to as excavation, is the process of using some implement such as claws, hands, manual tools or heavy equipment, to remove material from a solid surface, usually soil, sand or rock (geology), rock on the surface of Earth. Di ...

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. Shankar reaches Madras and from the time of landing, is followed by his enemies. Kumar at the Madras office assists him in the investigations. Shankar faces several challenges and dangers and several attempts are made to kill him. He falls in love with Tara, sister of Sargunam, a doctor. Shankar's Madras office head unearths crucial information on the sulphur allotted for a match factory getting diverted to another place for making the explosives and firearms. But before he is able to report the complete information, he is murdered. Shankar's personal assistants Susi and Rajini are part of the gang and are instrumental in passing information about the investigations to the gang. They separately try to seduce Shankar, but fail. Sargunam advises Tara to send Shankar out of Madras so that his life is not in danger. She drugs him to take him out of the city, then realises brother's intention is not to save Shankar, but to make him confess details of his investigations. However, Shankar, who was pretending to be drugged, wakes up and beats the people who try to get his confession; instead he makes them confess about their illegal activities. He learns that the gang leader Black Cat employs anti-socials and ex-convicts to make explosives and firearms, which he sells at phenomenal profit to anti-national and terrorist organisations. With the help of Tara, Kumar and Kumar's girlfriend Ammukutty, Shankar reaches the match factory and follows the lorry which takes the sulphur to the factory where the bombs are made. He also finds Black Cat, revealed to be Sargunam. In the ensuing fight, Sargunam is killed and his factory torched, but Shankar, Tara, Kumar and Ammukutty escape unharmed.

Cast

;Male cast *

as C.I.D. Shankar *

Thengai Srinivasan Thengai Srinivasan (21 October 1937 – 9 November 1987) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil language, Tamil-language films and plays from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was given the prefix ''Thengai'' (coconut) after his role as a coco ...

as Kumar *

K. K. Soundar K.K. Soundar (1925-2003) was a Tamil people, Tamil film film actor, actor. He has done character roles in many Tamil movies from the 1950s till the 1990s. Filmography ''This is a partial filmography. You can expand it.'' 1930s 1950s 196 ...

as I.G. *

Manohar Manohar is a surname and given name. Notable people with the name include: ;given name * Manohar Ajgaonkar, Indian politician * Manohar Das, 17th century Indian Hindu painter * Manohar Joshi, politician * Manohar Lal Chibber, soldier * Manohar L ...

as Dr. Sargunam ;Female cast * L. Vijayalakshmi as Tara * R. Sheela as Susi * Pushpamala as Ammukutty *

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 ...

as Rajini

Soundtrack

Music was composed by

and lyrics were written 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 "Palinginal Oru Maligai" is based on

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

's version of "

Frenesi "Frenesí" is a musical piece originally composed by Alberto Domínguez Borrás for the marimba, and adapted as a jazz standard by Leonard Whitcup and others. Background The word ''frenesí'' is Spanish for "frenzy". Artie Shaw recording ...

Reception

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 ...

'' said, "The film gives a feeling of watching a Hollywood film... One should watch this film for a good time pass". ''

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 ...

'' praised the performances of Jaishankar and Manohar, but criticised that of Vijayalakshmi. The critic also appreciated the comedy of Srinivasan and Pushpamala, the audiography, cinematography and outdoor photography.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{Modern Theatres 1960s spy thriller films 1960s Tamil-language films 1966 films Indian black-and-white films Indian remakes of French films Indian spy thriller films