''Paadhai Theriyudhu Paar'' () is a 1960 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

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 ...

directed by Nemai Ghosh. The film stars

K. Vijayan K. Vijayan was an Indian film director. He predominantly worked in Tamil cinema. He mainly worked with Sivaji Ganesan. He directed many Malayalam films as well. Career K. Vijayan was an employee of the Golden Rock Railway Workshop in Tiruchi ...

and S. V. Subbaiah. The film had musical score by M. B. Sreenivasan. The film won the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil The Indian Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several aw ...

along with ''

Kalathur Kannamma ''Kalathur Kannamma'' is a 1960 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by A. Bhimsingh and written by Javar Seetharaman. The film stars Gemini Ganesh, Savitri Ganesh and Kamal Haasan. It revolves around a couple — a wealthy ...

''.

Plot

Cast

as Murugesan * S. V. Subbaiah *

S. V. Sahasranamam Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Sahasranamam (29 November 1913 – 19 February 1988), also known as S. V. S., was an Indian actor and director. Primarily a theatre actor, he also worked in over 200 films, mainly in Tamil cinema. Early lif ...

* L. Vijayalakshmi * Chandini *

R. Muthuraman Muthuraman Radhakrishnan (4 July 1929 – 16 October 1981) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil language films. He was a leading actor during the 1960s and 1970s and was fondly called as ''Navarasa Thilagam''. He had paired w ...

* T. K. Balachandran * M. S. Sundari Bai

Production

Nemai Ghosh and M. B. Sreenivasan formed a production company called Kumari Films, with contributions from more than 50 shareholders. Each of them contributed an amount ranging from 500 to 5,000 to start the banner. None of the members contributed more than 5,000. Kumari Films' inaugural production ''Paadhai Theriyudhu Paar'' was launched by the communist leader P. Jeevanandham. The film was the second directorial venture of Ghosh, who also worked as cinematographer.

Themes

''Paadhai Theriyudhu Paar'' addresses the trade union movement of India, and was scripted keeping the Communist Party of India (CPI) ideology in mind.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by M. B. Sreenivasan, while the lyrics were written by

Jayakanthan D. Jayakanthan (24 April 1934 – 8 April 2015), popularly known as JK, was an Indian writer, journalist, orator, filmmaker, critic and activist. Born in Cuddalore, he dropped out of school at the age of 9 and went to Madras, where he join ...

Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram (13 April 1930 – 8 October 1959) also known as Pattukottaiyar was an Indian Tamil poet and lyricist. Considered to be the most popular Tamil lyricist of the 1950s, he is particularly remembered for the phil ...

and K. C. S. Arunachalam. The playback singers were T. M. Soundararajan,

Thiruchi Loganathan Thiruchi Loganathan (24 July 1924 – 17 November 1989) was a playback singer of the Tamil film industry. He is known for his work in movies such as ''Manthiri Kumari'' (1950) and '' Parasakthi'' (1952). He was married to Rajalakshmi, daughter ...

, P. B. Sreenivas,

A. L. Raghavan A. L. Raghavan (1933 – 19 June 2020) was an Indian playback singer, who sang many songs in Tamil-language films. Biography Raghavan was born to a Saurashtra Brahmin family in Ayyampettai near Thanjavur to Lakshmana Bhagavathar, Raghavan ...

, A. S. Mahadevan,

S. Janaki Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer from Andhra Pradesh. She is referred to respectfully as "Janaki Amma" and Nightingale of South India. She is one of the best-known playback singers in ...

and

P. Susheela Pulapaka Susheela (born 13 November 1935), popularly known as P. Susheela, is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades. She is one of the greatest and best-known playba ...

. Vaali wrote the song "Koduthadellam Koduthan" for this film but it was rejected by Ghosh, and instead used in '' Padagotti'' (1964). The song "Thennankeetru" is based on Valaji raga, and was set to tune with a

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in ...

Release and reception

''Paadhai Theriyudhu Paar'' was released on 18 November 1960. In July, select reels of the film were made available for previewing as the final film was not yet complete. ''

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 ...

'' then wrote, "The plot unfolds itself with easy tempo and unflagging interest. The songs are natural and exceptionally homely. Photography and sound recording are superb". Reviewing the complete version on 19 November, they praised the film for minimal dramatisation and more naturalism. Despite critical acclaim, the film did not succeed commercially; the distributors complained that L. Vijayalakshmi did not dance, to which the director replied, " ijayalakshmiknows how to dance, but the character she plays in the film does not!" According to historian Randor Guy, "internal dissensions spoiled the film's release and caused it to flop."

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{National Film Award Best Feature Film Tamil 1960 films 1960s Tamil-language films Films about communism Films directed by Nemai Ghosh Films scored by M. B. Sreenivasan