''Vellai Roja'' () is a 1983 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

A. Jagannathan A. Jagannathan (26 November 19357 October 2012) was an Indian film director who worked in the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi film industries and he was introduced by R.M. Veerappan in his Sathya Movies banner for Manipayal. He directed nearly ...

and written and A. L. Narayanan. 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 ...

Ambika Ambika may refer to: Mythology * Ambika (goddess), an avatar of the Hindu goddesses Durga, Parvati, and Shakti * Ambika (Jainism), a Jain Yakshini goddess * Ambika (Mahabharata), the wife of Vichitravirya was also the mother of Dhritarashtra, ...

Prabhu ''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...

and

Radha Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...

. It is a remake of the

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

film ''

Post Mortem An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any dis ...

''. ''Vellai Roja'' was released on 4 November 1983, and ran for 100 days in 13 centres.

Plot

Father James is a Catholic priest, well-respected by the entire town. Parisutham is a multimillionaire and head of the town, Peter who is the son of coffin maker Savaerimuthu is an angry young man, who always fights for justice and is against rich people. Peter's sister Mary and Parisutham's son Johnny are in love. Mary becomes pregnant and at that time Johnny has to leave the country for few days on business, so she asks James' help to arrange her marriage with Johnny because both Parisutham and Peter respect his words. But Peter's girlfriend Lakshmi overhears part of a conversation between James and Mary on her pregnancy and misunderstands that James and Mary were involved in a taboo relationship, and she tells Peter. The next day, Mary is found hanging dead from a tree. Peter, in a fit of rage assaults James and gets arrested, but he escapes. Everyone thinks that Mary has committed suicide and she is buried without a postmortem. But James has a suspicion about Mary's death, so he asks his twin brother Arul,

Superintendent of Police Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territories ...

, to have the body exhumed to perform a postmortem. The next day when Arul exhumes Mary's coffin he finds James murdered and his dead body in it, with Mary's corpse missing. Everyone suspects Peter was the culprit, Arul immediately begins an investigation to solve the mystery behind Mary's missing dead body and James' death. Who is the culprit for James' murder, the motive, was Mary killed or did she commit suicide, why was her body missing and where is Johnny, forms the rest of the story.

Cast

as Father James and S. P. Arul *

as Lakshmi *

as Peter Savari Muthu *

as Mary Savari Muthu *

Suresh Suresh is an Indian masculine given name originating in the Sanskrit word ' (compound of ' and '). Its meaning is "Ruler of Gods" and it has been used an epithet for the Hindu gods Indra, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. People named Suresh include: *Sur ...

as Johnny * Y. G. Mahendra as Constable Perumal Naidu * Calcutta Viswanathan as Parisutham *

Sivachandran Narayanan, better known by his stage name Sivachandran, is an Indian actor, director, and writer who was active in Tamil cinema mostly in the 1980s. Career Sivachandran was originally offered to act in ''Kizhakke Pogum Rail'' (1978), but decli ...

as Chinna Durai *

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 Rahvuthoor *

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 ...

as Peter and Mary's Mother *

Silk Smitha Vijayalakshmi Vadlapati (2 December 1960 – 23 September 1996), better known by her stage name Silk Smitha, was an Indian actress and dancer who worked predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. Smitha was part of seve ...

(Guest Appearance) * Manorama as Arpudhamani Rosappoo * Indra as Mumtaz * Vani as Kamakshi * G. Srinivasan as Savari Muthu * V. Gopalakrishnan as Police Inspector *

Oru Viral Krishna Rao Oru Viral Krishna Rao was an Indian actor and comedian who appeared in Tamil-language films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani award, Rao got the nickname ''Oru Viral ''Oru Viral'' () is a 1965 Indian Tamil-language mystery fil ...

as Dhairiyam

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 ...

Reception

Jayamanmadhan 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 ...

'' appreciated Ganesan for his performance in two distinctive roles.

References

External links

* {{A. Jagannathan 1980s Tamil-language films 1980s thriller drama films 1983 films Films about twin brothers Films directed by A. Jagannathan Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian thriller drama films Tamil remakes of Malayalam films Twins in Indian films