''Kaviya Thalaivi'' () is a 1970 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, na ...

-language film, written and directed by K. Balachander and produced by

Sowcar Janaki Sankaramanchi Janaki (born T. Janaki; 12 December 1931), popularly known as Sowcar Janaki (Tamil) or Shavukaru Janaki (Telugu) or Sahukar Janaki (Kannada), is an Indian actress who has appeared in over 300, films, predominantly in Tamil, Telu ...

. It is a remake of the 1963

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

film ''

Uttar Falguni ''Uttar Falguni'' () is a 1963 Indian Bengali-language drama film directed by Asit Sen and produced by Uttam Kumar, starring Suchitra Sen in a double role, Bikash Roy and Dilip Mukherjee in lead. At the 11th National Film Awards, the film wa ...

''. Janaki also stars alongside

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

and

M. R. R. Vasu Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan Vasudevan was an Indian actor who was active in Tamil cinema and theatre during the latter half of the 20th century. He was known for playing negative roles, but he was also a successful character actor. He acted ...

. The film was released on 29 October 1970,

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...

day, and became a success. For his performance, Ganesan won the

Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor The Tamil State Film Awards for Best Actor is given by the state government as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil (Kollywood) films. List of winners {, class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" , - ! colspan="5" , Lis ...

Plot

Devi is in love with Suresh, a lawyer, but is forced to marry Paranthaman, an alcoholic gambler. Devi escapes from him, and obtains work as a dancer in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

where she gives birth to a daughter named Krishna. When Vasu tries to kidnap the child, she has Suresh adopt her. Later, when Vasu's blackmail threatens Krishna's marriage, Devi kills him.

Cast

as Suresh *

as Devi and Krishna *

Ravichandran Ravichandran is an Indian name. Notable people with the name include: * Ravichandran (Tamil actor) (1942–2011) * Ravichandran (Tamil film director) (born 1971) * N. Ravichandran (professor) (1955), professor at IIM Ahmedabad * N. Ravichandran, ...

as Paranthaman * S. Varalakshmi * Lakshmi Prabha * V. Nirmala * Baby Dolly

Production

''Kaviya Thalaivi'' is a remake of the 1963

film ''

'', and was produced by

under the banner Selvi Films; she also starred in dual roles. The screenplay for the remake was written by K. Balachander, who also directed. Cinematography was handled by N. Balakrishnan, and the editing by N. R. Kittu.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

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 ...

, and the 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 "Oru Naal Iravu" is set in the

Carnatic raga Carnatic raga refers to '' ragas'' used in Carnatic music. A Carnatic raga has several components - primordial sound (''nāda''), tonal system ('' swara''), pitch ('' śruti''), scale, ornaments ('' gamaka'') and important tones. Origins and hi ...

known as Sumanesaranjani.

Release and reception

''Kaviya Thalaivi'' was released on 29 October 1970,

day, and distributed by Sree Balaji Movies. ''

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 be ...

'' wrote, "Sowcar Janaki in the dual role gives a sterling performance. Gemini Ganesh, after a long break, comes into his own and is highly satisfactory. K. Balachander's dialogue has flashes of brilliance." It emerged a commercial success, and Ganesan won the

Legacy

Film historian

Mohan Raman Mohan Raman, also known as Mohan V. Ram (born 3 April 1956), is an Indian actor and writer. In 2017 and 2019, he was a Jury member for the National Film Award for Best Writing on Cinema. Raman is a film historian and writes for ''The Hindu''. He ...

described ''Kaviya Thalaivi'' as one of Janaki's "exceptional performances". Janaki also named the film as among her personal favourites.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{K. Balachander 1970 films 1970 romantic drama films 1970s feminist films 1970s Tamil-language films Films about women in India Films directed by K. Balachander Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films set in Chennai Films shot in Andhra Pradesh Films with screenplays by K. Balachander Indian black-and-white films Indian feminist films Indian romantic drama films Tamil remakes of Bengali films