''Benkiyalli Aralida Hoovu'' () is a 1983 Indian

Kannada language Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native sp ...

film directed by

K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...

and produced by Chandulal Jain. It revolves around Kavitha (

Suhasini Suhasini Maniratnam (born 15 August 1961) known mononymously as Suhasini, is an Indian actress, director, producer and writer in the Tamil film industry. She has worked as an actress in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her ...

) who wonders when she will have time to live her own life, as she is too busy taking care of her mother, siblings, and her alcoholic brother's family. It was also the official

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

debut of South Indian refining star of the 80s & 90s eras,

. The film was directed by

and is a remake of his

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 ...

film ''

Aval Oru Thodar Kathai ''Aval Oru Thodar Kathai'' () is a 1974 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by K. Balachander. The story revolves around a working middle-class woman, who sacrifices her desires to support her large family. The lead role was played by Su ...

'' (1974).

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

, who played a major role there, played a different role here. Suhasini won the

Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Kannada The Filmfare Best Actress Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Kannada cinema, Kannada films ''(Sandalwood)''. The awards were extended to "Best Actress" in 1972.#Film world, Film world, p 4 ...

for her performance.

Plot

Kavitha is the sole breadwinner of her family comprising her mother, widowed sister Bharati, an unmarried younger sister, a blind younger brother, a drunkard elder brother Murthy, his wife and children. Her father had abandoned the family and become a sadhu. Conscious of her family responsibilities, Kavitha keeps postponing her marriage indefinitely to her long-time boyfriend Tilak. Kavitha's friend Chandra takes life easy and keeps changing boyfriends. Tilak, who patiently waits for Kavitha, meets Bharati, pities her and slowly becomes passionate about her. On learning this, Kavitha sacrifices her love and gets them married. Murthy changes his wayward behaviour, becomes responsible and works as a bearer at a restaurant. An impressed Kavitha accepts him as the head of the family. Kavitha's boss Arun Ghosh offers to marry her, but Kavitha does not give a positive reply. Chandra dates Chandrasekhar, a womaniser and colleague of Kavitha, despite her warnings. Earlier, when Chandrasekhar had written a love letter to Kavitha, she complained about it to her boss, who then reprimanded Chandrasekhar. Hence, Kavitha does not approve of Chandra's relationship with him. A lustful Chandrasekhar also dates Chandra's widowed mother; on learning this, Chandra attempts suicide. Kavitha and her co-tenant Gopal save Chandra and advise her to marry Gopal. In turn, Chandra advises Kavitha to marry Ghosh. Kavitha accepts the marriage proposal as she now feels confident about Murthy taking care of the family. On the day of the wedding, Murthy's wife asks him to get back the silver lamp pledged by him earlier, to be gifted to Kavitha for her wedding. While returning to the wedding hall, he seeks a lift from Chandrasekhar, not knowing him. Murthy realises that Chandrasekhar is actually coming to stop the marriage of Kavitha and Chandra when Chandrasekhar states that he had affairs with both of them. Murthy pleads with him not to come to the marriage hall and create any confusion, but Chandrasekhar refuses. A scuffle ensues in which Murthy is killed by Chandrasekhar using the lamp before the police arrest Chandrasekhar. When the marriage is about to take place, Kavitha learns of her brother's death from the police. She then convinces Ghosh to accept her younger sister as the bride as she needs to support her family again. At the same time, Chandra marries Gopal. Kavitha returns to taking care of her family like before.

Cast

as Kavitha *

Jai Jagadish Jai Jagadish (born 29 June 1954) is an Indian actor, director and producer in the Kannada film industry. Starting his career as an actor in '' Phalitamsha'' (1976), he went on to feature in over 300 films as an actor. In 1998, he turned producer ...

as Tilak *

Ramakrishna Ramakrishna Paramahansa ( bn, রামকৃষ্ণ পরমহংস, Ramôkṛṣṇo Pôromohôṅso; , 18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886),——— — also spelled Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya,, was an In ...

as Gopal *

Rajeev Rājīv (Devanagari: राजीव, Bengali script: রাজীব) is a popular Indian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Nepalese male name, also spelt Rajeev, Rajive, Rajib, Rajeeb, Rajiva and Rajiba. It is said that the lotus flower (''Nelumbo nuc ...

as Krishnamurthy *

Sarath Babu Sathyam Babu Dixithulu (born 31 July 1951), known by his stage name Sarath Babu, is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He has worked in more than 200 films. He has appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and ...

as Kavitha's boss *

Vijayalakshmi Singh Vijayalakshmi Singh is an Indian actress, director, costume designer and producer in Kannada. She has acted in more than 50 Kannada films and is actively involved in television projects. Early life Vijayalakshmi was born in Mysore to film pe ...

as Chandra *

Pavithra ''Pavithra'' is a 1994 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language Drama (film and television), drama film written, produced and directed by K. Subash under his home banner, Dhanooja Films. The film stars Raadhika Sarathkumar, Raadhika, Nassar (actor) ...

Sunder Raj The Sentinelese, also known as the Sentineli and the North Sentinel Islanders, are an indigenous people who inhabit North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal in the northeastern Indian Ocean. Designated a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group ...

as Chandrashekar * Leelavathi as Kavitha's mother *

as a Bus conductor (Cameo)

Production

''Benkiyalli Aralida Hoovu'' is the Kannada remake of the Tamil film ''

'' (1974).

played the female lead, and her uncle

(who appeared in the Tamil original) made a cameo appearance as a bus conductor. Balachander's favourite heroine

Saritha Saritha is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu languages. She was one of the popular and critically acclaimed lead actresses during the 1980s. She also appeared in a television serial, ' ...

was initially approached for the lead role but she could not accommodate her dates.

who had just signed the big budget Kannada movie

Bandhana ''Bandhana'' is a 1984 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film directed by Rajendra Singh Babu from a screenplay by H. V. Subba Rao and Rajendra Singh Babu, based on a novel of the same name by Usha Navaratnanram. The film revolves around t ...

landed the role. Saritha gave her the voice over.

recommended her friend Vijayalakshmi Singh for the role of the ultra modern girl in the movie.

Soundtrack

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 ...

composed the music for the soundtracks and lyrics written by

Chi. Udaya Shankar Chitnahalli Udayashankar (18 February 1934 – 2 July 1993; born in Chitnahalli) was an Indian lyricist and dialogue writer in the Kannada film industry for over three decades, who penned more than 3000 songs for films and devotional songs. H ...

. The album consists of five soundtracks.

Accolades

–

References

External links

* {{K. Balachander 1980s Kannada-language films 1983 films Films about women in India Films directed by K. Balachander Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films with screenplays by K. Balachander Kannada remakes of Tamil films