''Annakili'' is a 1976 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

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

, directed by

Devaraj–Mohan Devaraj–Mohan was a directing duo of the Indian film industry, mainly of 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 ilan ...

and written by

Panchu Arunachalam Panchanathan Arunachalam (22 March 1941 – 9 August 2016) was an Indian writer, director, producer and lyricist who worked in Tamil cinema. He was mentored by poet Kannadasan who was his uncle. He also worked as a lyricist in the Tamil cin ...

from a story by R. Selvaraj. The film stars

Sivakumar Palaniswamy, better known by his stage name Sivakumar (born 27 October 1941), is an Indian visual artist and former actor who has portrayed a wide range of leading and supporting roles onscreen in Tamil cinema and television. He made his actin ...

and Sujatha with S. V. Subbaiah, Srikanth,

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 ...

and

Fatafat Jayalaxmi Jayalakshmi, whose popular screen name was Fatafat Jayalakshmi (also Phataphat Jayalaxmi) (1958–1980), was an Indian actress active mainly in Tamil and Telugu films. In Malayalam movies she was known as Supriya. She acted about 66 movies in T ...

in supporting roles. It was produced by S. P. Thamizharasi under the production banner "SPT Films". The film's soundtrack 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 ...

, who made his debut as film composer with this film while the story was written by R. Selvaraj and the screenplay and lyrics were written by Panchu Arunachalam. A. Somasundaram and Kandasamy handled cinematography and editing respectively. When

met

, the latter asked if the former had composed any songs; Ilaiyaraaja casually sang a bunch of songs, one of which was "Annakkili Unnai Theduthe". An impressed Panchu Arunachalam decided to write a film story to accommodate these songs; the film would be titled Annakili. Annakili was released on 14 May 1976 and became a commercial success. The film was screened at the Indian Panorama section of the

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, on the western coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common pla ...

in 1978. It was remade in

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 ...

as ''Rama Chilaka'' (1978).

Plot

The movie revolves around Annakili, who falls in love with teacher Thyagarajan. Due to circumstances, Thyagarajan marries another girl. Azhagappan, a womaniser creates a misunderstanding about Annakili among the villagers; the rest of the film shows how Annakili proves her innocence.

Cast

as Thyagarajan * Sujatha as Annakili * S. V. Subbaiah as Vadivel Ambal * Srikanth as Magudapathy *

as Azhagappan *

Vennira Aadai Moorthy Vennira Aadai Moorthy (born 25 July 1936) is an Indian actor and comedian in Tamil cinema. He has starred in many Tamil films and television serials as a comedian and also played supporting roles. He is a lawyer by education, and holds a B.L. ...

as Azhagappan's right hand man *

Senthamarai Senthamarai may refer to: * Senthamarai (actor) Senthamarai was an Indian actor who acted in Tamil cinema and theatre. Career Senthamarai was born on 13 April 1935 at Kancheepuram. His family included his father Thiruvenkadam, his mother Vedamm ...

as Madasamy *

as Sumathi *

Manimala Manimala is a small town and a village in Kottayam district in the Indian state of Kerala, situated about from the nearest town Kanjirappally. It's declared as a folklore village since 2011 by the central government to promote folklore. Ge ...

as Thyagarajan's sister * M. N. Rajam as *

S. N. Lakshmi Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...

as Thyagarajan's mother

Production

When

met

, the latter asked if the former had composed any songs; Ilaiyaraaja casually sang a bunch of songs, one of which was "Annakkili Unnai Theduthe". An impressed Panchu Arunachalam decided to write a film story to accommodate these songs; the film would be titled ''Annakili''. The film was made on a shoestring budget under ₹4 lakh (worth ₹4.7 crore in 2021 prices).) The climax, featuring a theatre being set on fire, was inspired by the film ''

Kannagi Kannagi ( ta, கண்ணகி) sometimes spelled Kannaki, is a legendary Tamil woman who forms the central character of the Tamil epic ''Cilappatikaram''. Kannagi is described as the chaste woman who stays with her husband despite his unfai ...

''.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, who made his debut as composer with this film, and the lyrics were written by

. Arunachalam added "Ilaiya" (Ilaiya means younger in Tamil language) as prefix in his name Raaja and he named as "Ilaiyaraaja" to differentiate from the already established composer

A. M. Rajah Aemala Manmadharaju Rajah, popularly known as A. M. Rajah, was an Indian playback singer and music director. Early life A. M. Rajah was born on 1 July 1929 in Cchamanchipuram, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh. His father died when he was thr ...

. For the soundtrack, Ilaiyaraaja applied the techniques of modern popular film music orchestration to Tamil folk poetry and folk song melodies, which created a fusion of Western and Tamil idioms. The song "Machanai Paartheengala" was originally composed and sung at a marriage by Ilaiyaraaja and his orchestra even before the film's release. The violin portions of the song were used by music director K for the "Bar Anthem" in ''

Mugamoodi ''Mugamoodi'' () is a 2012 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language superhero film written and directed by Mysskin. The film stars Jiiva, Narain (actor), Narain, and Pooja Hegde who makes her acting debut through this film. While Nassar (actor), Na ...

'' (2012). The song "Sonthamillai Banthamillai" is based on Nadanamakriya raga.

Release and reception

''Annakili'' was released on 14 May 1976. ''

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 ...

'', in a review dated 30 May 1976, was positive towards the film, particularly the performances of Sujatha, Sivakumar and Srikanth, but felt it would have been better in colour. The film won the FilmFare Best Film Award of the year and also received ₹1 lakh subsidy from the Government of Tamil Nadu.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{FilmfareAwardBestTamilMovie 1970s Tamil-language films 1976 films Films directed by Devaraj–Mohan Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films with screenplays by Panchu Arunachalam Indian romantic drama films 1976 romantic drama films Tamil films remade in other languages