''Kudiyirundha Koyil'' () is a 1968 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

spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many James Bond films) ...

directed by

K. Shankar Kannan Shankar (17 March 1926 - 5 March 2006) was an Indian film editor, screenwriter and director. He directed more than 80 films in South Indian languages including Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada as well as in Hindi. Film career Shank ...

. 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 ...

Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...

and

Rajasree Rajasree (Rajasree Thota Panchajanyam, Kusuma Kumari, born 31 August 1945), also known as Rajasri or Rajashri, is an Indian actress active from 1956 to 1979. She is particularly famous for her portrayal as a princess in several folklore Telug ...

, with

L. Vijayalakshmi Lakshmanan Vijayalakshmi is an Indian actress and classical dancer whose career was from 1959 to 1969. She appeared in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life and training Vijayalakshmi was born in Ernakulam and was ...

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 ...

, M. N. Nambiar, Sundarrajan, V. K. Ramasamy,

S. V. Ramadas S. V. Ramadas (1921-2004) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil-language films, most often as a villain. He acted in more than 700 films in a career spanning over four decades. Film career Among popular movies, he acted in Aayirathil Or ...

and

Nagesh Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor, mostly remembered for his roles as a comedian in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 fi ...

in supporting roles. A remake of the 1962

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

film ''

China Town A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Aust ...

'', it revolves around twins who become separated as children: one who grows up to be a criminal, and the other who is tasked with apprehending him. ''Kudiyirundha Koyil'' was released on 15 March 1968. The film was a box office success, running for more than 100 days in theatres, and became a turning point in Ramachandran's career. For his performance, he won his first

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

Twins Sekhar and Anand, along with their mother Mangalam, witness their father Ramnadhan being murdered by Nagappan, an escaped convict who Ramnadhan had testified against. This prompts the family to leave to Madras to pursue a new life. But when Sekhar gets down from the train to fetch some water, it leaves without him. Nagappan arrives and kidnaps Sekhar, who is raised by him as a criminal. Sekhar remains unaware that the same man killed his father. Years later, Sekhar who now calls himself "Babu", is an established criminal and is the most wanted man in the city. Meanwhile, Anand is a club-dancer and neither he nor Babu are aware of each other's existence. During a police encounter, Babu is grievously wounded and seeks shelter in Mangalam's house, although he does not recognise her as his mother. He develops a soft corner for her, but when Nagappan (now known as Boopathy, the owner of a cabaret and employer of Babu) learns about this, he tries to eradicate the kind-self out of Babu. During another police encounter, Babu is again wounded, but becomes insane this time, also becoming amnesiac. D. I. G. Mogan comes across Anand, and after seeing the striking resemblance between him and Babu, advises him to act as Babu to get all the secrets of the gang and have them arrested. Anand agrees, but later realises Babu is his brother. Anand's girlfriend Jaya sees him having lot of money in a briefcase, and the police chase him. Unaware of the truth, she thinks he has turned into a criminal, and refuses to speak to him. Mangalam also learns of this, and becomes heartbroken. However, Mangalam and Jaya soon reconcile with Anand after learning of the truth, and they also learn that Babu is his brother. Babu's girlfriend Asha discovers that Anand is impersonating Babu, but he surrenders to her and explains about Babu's medical condition, subsequently revealing himself as Babu's brother. Asha forgives him and the duo subsequently team up to defeat Nagappan and his men. Babu later escapes from the prison to kill Anand when learning about him, but is cornered by Jaya, who tells him that Anand is his brother. Babu does not believe this, and kidnaps Jaya. He is later stopped by Mangalam, who makes him realise that he is her son and Anand is his brother. Remembering that Nagappan killed his father, he teams up with Anand to defeat Nagappan, who is later arrested. Subsequently, Babu returns to being "Sekhar", and reunites with his family.

Cast

as Anand and Sekhar/Babu *

as Jaya *

as Asha *

(special appearance in the song "Aadaludan Paadalai") *

as Mangalam * M. N. Nambiar as Boopathy/Nagappan * Sundarrajan as D. I. G. Mogan * V. K. Ramasamy as

Rao Bahadur __NOTOC__ Rao may refer to: Geography * Rao, West Sumatra, one of the districts of West Sumatra, Indonesia * Råö, a locality in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden Transport * Dr. Leite Lopes–Ribeirão Preto State Airport , ...

Singaram *

as Ramnadhan *

as Jaya's elder brother *

Master Sekhar J. V. Sekhar (7 January 1963 – 8 July 2003), better known as Master Sekhar, was an Indian child actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil and Malayalam films. Early life and career Sekhar was born on 7 January 1963. He performed more than ...

as young Anand/Sekhar

Production

''Kudiyirundha Koyil'' is a remake of the 1962

film ''

''. It was the first Tamil film to feature a Bangra dance sequence in the song "Aadaludan Paadalai". Ramachandran had to practice for one month to dance in the song, which was shot over the course of three days. In portraying Sekhar/Babu, Ramachandran applied make-up to give the character a dark complexion, while he kept his original fair-skinned complexion for portraying Anand.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack 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 ...

. The song "Thulluvadho Ilamai" belongs to

Pasodoble Pasodoble ( Spanish: ''double step'') is a fast-paced Spanish military march used by infantry troops. Its speed allowed troops to give 120 steps per minute (double the average of a regular unit, hence its name). This military march gave rise ...

, a Spanish musical genre, and is also set to

Mayamalavagowla Mayamalavagowla (pronounced ) is a raga of Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is classified as 15th '' melakarta'' raga under Venkatamakhin's '' melakarta'' system. Originally known as ''malavagowla'', "maya" was ...

, a

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 ...

. "Kunguma Pottin Mangalam" was the only film song written by Roshanara Begum in her life. "Naan Yaar? Nee Yaar?" earned

Pulamaipithan Pulavar Pulamaipithan (6 October 1935 – 8 September 2021) was an Indian scholar, poet and lyricist who got recognition through the song "Naan yaar nee yaar" which was featured in the Tamil film ''Kudiyirundha Koyil'' in 1968. He briefly serve ...

recognition as a lyricist. The song "Ennai Theriyuma" was later remixed by

Achu Achu is a name. Notable people with the name include: * Achu Rajamani Achu Rajamani often credited as Achu, is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer. He has scored music for several Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil films. He mad ...

for a film with the same name, and "Aadaludan Paadalai" was remixed by

Amresh Ganesh Amresh Ganesh is an Indian actor, film composer and singer, who has worked in Tamil language films. The son of actress Jayachitra, Amresh appeared as an actor in his mother's productions '' Pudhiya Raagam'' (1991) and then in ''Naane Ennul Ill ...

for ''

Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva ''Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva'' () is 2017 Indian Tamil-language action masala film written & directed by Sai Ramani, starring Raghava Lawrence and Nikki Galrani in the leading roles while Sathyaraj and Ashutosh Rana play supporting roles. The film ...

'' (2017).

Release and reception

''Kudiyirundha Koyil'' was released on 15 March 1968. ''

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 ...

'' positively reviewed the film, comparing it favourably to earlier Ramachandran films featuring him in dual roles. The film was a box office success, and ran more than 100 days in theatres. Ramachandran considered it the tenth turning point in his career. For his performance, Ramachandran won his first

. At the same ceremony, T. M. Soundararajan won the award for Best Male Playback Singer.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{K. Shankar 1960s spy comedy films 1960s Tamil-language films 1968 films Films directed by K. Shankar Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Indian spy comedy films Tamil remakes of Hindi films