''Vettaikkaran'' () is a 1964 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

action drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...

directed by M. A. Thirumugam and produced by

Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar "''Eugen Sandow, Sandow''" Marudur Marudachalamurthy Ayyavoo Chinnappa Thevar (28 June 1915 – 8 September 1978) was a producer of Tamil cinema, Tamil films in the mid-1950s through the 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for his films featuring a ...

. The film stars

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 ...

and Savitri Ganesh, with

M. R. Radha Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan (14 April 1907 – 17 September 1979) was an Indian actor and politician active in Tamil plays and films. He was given the title "Nadigavel" (spearhead of acting) by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. He mostly play ...

M. N. Nambiar Manjeri Narayanan Nambiar (7 March 1919 – 19 November 2008) was an Indian actor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema, known mostly for his villain roles in an eight decade long career. He has also appeared in a few Malayalam films. ...

, S. A. Ashokan, Thai Nagesh,

M. V. Rajamma M. V. Rajamma (10 March 1918 – 23 April 1999) was an Indian actress, producer and playback singer of films mostly in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu languages from the 1930s through 1970s. She has the distinction of having acted as both heroine and ...

, Manorama and Baby Shakila in supporting roles. It revolves around an estate hunter whose penchant for hunting displeases his family, and a plunderer who lusts for his wealth. ''Vettaikkaran'' was released on 14 January 1964,

Pongal Pongal may refer to: * Pongal (festival), an annual Tamil festival * Pongal (dish) Pongal, also known as pongali or huggi, is an Indian rice dish. In Tamil, "pongal" means "boil" or "bubbling up". The two varieties of pongal are ''chakarai pong ...

day. The film was a commercial success, running for 25 weeks in theatres.

Plot

Babu is a wealthy estate owner and hunter. He is always in the forest hunting animals, much to the displeasure of his mother. He meets Latha, a woman lost in the forest. He rescues her, they fall in love and marry. Latha gives birth to Babu's son Raja who develops an extreme attachment to his father. Meanwhile, a plunderer Mayavan lusts for Latha. To get her, he makes Babu undergo untold miseries. He tricks Latha and Raja into the forest, and demands the papers of the estate. Babu arrives on time and kills Mayavan, saving both Latha and Raja in the process.

Cast

as Babu * Savitri Ganesh as Latha *

as Sundaram *

as Mayavan * S. A. Ashokan * Thai Nagesh as Jokkar *

as Babu's mother * Manorama as Jokkar's wife * Baby Shakila as Raja

Production

''Vettaikkaran'' was directed by M. A. Thirumugam and produced by Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar under Devar Films. A real leopard was brought for filming.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is composed by

K. V. Mahadevan Krishnankoil Venkadachalam Mahadevan (14 March 1918 – 21 June 2001) was an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician known for his works in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Telugu cinema, Telugu, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam, and Kann ...

, 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 ...

. According to

Sachi Sri Kantha Sachithanantham Sri Kantha (born 8 May 1953) is a Sri Lanka-born scientist, historian and bilingual author. He has been residing in Japan since 1986, and became a naturalised Japanese citizen in 2016. Education A native of Point Pedro, Sri ...

, the song "Unnai Arinthaal", through its lyrics which go "''Unnai arinthaal – Nee unnai arinthaal, Ulagathil pooradalam''" (Know yourself – You, know yourself, then you can fight the world) serves as an "MGR self-praise song, equating his 'good traits' to that of a living God" and Kannadasan "incorporates the Socratic wisdom of '

Know thyself The Ancient Greek aphorism "know thyself" (Greek: , transliterated: '; also ' with the ε contracted) is the first of three Delphic maxims inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi according to the Greek writer Pausanias ...

' in the beginning lines".

Release

''Vettaikkaran'' was released on 14 January 1964,

day, and distributed by Ramachandran's Emgeeyar Pictures. To promote the film, the Madras-based Chitra theatre had a jungle set to welcome audiences. After much deliberation, they also managed to get a caged tiger inside the theatre premises. Despite facing competition from another Pongal release '' Karnan'', the film became a box office success, running for 25 weeks in theatres. It was dubbed

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 ...

-language as ''Inti Donga'' and released on 4 September 1964.

Reception

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' wrote on 17 January 1964, "Loaded with fun and frolic with a substantial sprinkling of spicy scenes and intriguing drama told in a fascinating manner, 'Vettaikkaran''is designed to please the filmgoer." T. M. Ramachandran of ''

Sport and Pastime ''Sport and Pastime'' was a weekly sports magazine published by The Hindu Group from 1947 to 1968. Founded by S. K. Gurunathan, the magazine was eventually stopped in 1968. It was replaced with ''Sportstar ''Sportstar'' is an Indian monthly ...

'' wrote on 22 February, "One would presume that ''Vettaikkaran'', to justify the title, would provide all the thrills and excitement of big game hunting. But there is nothing of that sort in the film ..The story is of course a hotchpotch of various ideas and punches freely borrowed from foreign films. The swift tempo with which the latter half of the film moves covers up a major portion of its deficiencies". On 26 January, 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 could be watched for the leopard, the scenery and the acting of Shakila.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar 1960s action drama films 1960s Tamil-language films 1964 films Films about hunters Films directed by M. A. Thirumugam Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan Indian action drama films