Ramu (1966 film)

''Ramu'' is a 1966 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar and written by Javar N. Seetharaman. The film stars Gemini Ganesh and K. R. Vijaya, with Ashokan, Nagesh, V. K. Ramasamy, O. A. K. Thevar and Master Rajkumar (as the title character) in supporting roles. A remake of the Hindi film ''Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein'' (1964), it revolves around a boy losing his voice due to witnessing his mother's death, and his father's efforts to restore his voice.

''Ramu'' was produced by Uma Productions, a subsidiary of AVM Productions. The film was released on 10 June 1966 and emerged a commercial success, winning the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil. It was also remade in Telugu under the same title two years later in 1968 by the same studio and director, with Rajkumar reprising his role.

Plot

Raja, a soldier in the Indian Army, returns to his village to be with his wife Seetha and son Ramu during Pongal. He receives a telegram ordering him to report for duty and has to leave. During the war, Raja's superior is wounded and succumbs in Raja's arms. Before dying, he mentions his unmarried daughter. In Raja's absence, dacoits invade Raja's village and torch several houses, including Raja's. Ramu who witnesses Seetha's death in the fire, and loses his voice due to trauma. He awaits his father's return everyday. Raja returns, unaware of the events that transpired. After reuniting with Ramu, he learns of his wife's death and son's loss of voice. Raja and Ramu leave the village for the latter's treatment. Ramu and Raja pass through a village, where the wealthy Seethalakshmi "Lakshmi" lives alone, having recently lost her father. Ganganna, her maternal uncle, has two sons: Rangan, who is as unscrupulous as his father, and Muthu, who is sympathetic. Ganganna, lusting for Lakshmi's wealth, orders her to marry Rangan and when she refuses, Ganganna harasses her. He sends mediators to convince Lakshmi, to no avail. When Raja is fetching water, Ramu inadvertently drops firewood on the way. Rangan, who was passing by, slaps Ramu for doing so. Raja beats Rangan and Rangan strikes Raja on the head, who faints. Lakshmi takes Raja and Ramu to her home, and nurses the former back to recovery. Workers are prevented from tilling Lakshmi's lands by Ganganna, so Raja helps Lakshmi by hiring a tractor and completing the work with minimal labour force. Raja helps Lakshmi in managing her farm in other ways too and Lakshmi gradually becomes attracted to him. Lakshmi becomes close to Ramu who reciprocates. Raja, however, refuses to return Lakshmi's feelings as he is still not over his deceased wife. Raja saves Lakshmi from attempted molestation by Rangan, and discovers she is his deceased superior's daughter. To kill time, Ramu goes to a nearby forest and becomes acquainted with a mentally unstable man, formerly a Tamil teacher. Rangan and Ganganna ask Sangili, a dacoit, to kill Raja. Ramu, who recognises Sangili, tells his father that Sangili was responsible for Seetha's death. Raja locates Sangili, beats and forces him to leave the village. Sangili returns to kill him, but is thwarted by Ramu and again subdued by Raja before being arrested. The physician treating Ramu recommends he be taken to an ENT specialist in Madras for treatment and Raja assents. The ENT specialist advises psychological treatment. The psychologist is unable to offer a solution. Raja becomes dejected, and after he is robbed, attempts suicide with his son, but both reconsider after listening to a prayer and return to Lakshmi's village. She insists that they continue living with her. Raja agrees after Ramu wants to be with Lakshmi. At night, Rangan secretly harvests crops from Lakshmi's land and his own, and frames Raja for doing so. Raja is arrested, and Ramu's dog is tied in one of Rangan's houses since it witnessed Rangan's harvesting. Ramu hears his dog barking and enters the house to free it, but he too gets tied up there. The Tamil teacher, searching for Ramu, enters the house and sees Ganganna there; Ganganna previously cheated on the Tamil teacher's daughter, leading to her drowning herself in a well. The Tamil teacher intimidates him into falling into the same well. Lakshmi comes to the house in search of Ramu, but Rangan tries to molest her. The dog escapes and brings Raja, who was released, to the spot. Raja fights Rangan, and a fire breaks out, causing Lakshmi to faint. Before the fire can engulf her, Ramu suddenly gets his voice back and shouts for her; Lakshmi awakens and the two walk out safely. Rangan is arrested by the police, and the Tamil teacher surrenders claiming responsibility for killing Ganganna. Later, Raja tries to leave the village with Ramu, but Ramu refuses to leave Lakshmi. Raja agrees to marry her and remains.

Cast

* Gemini Ganesh as Raja
* K. R. Vijaya as Seethalakshmi "Lakshmi"
* Ashokan as Rangan
* Nagesh as Muthu
* V. K. Ramasamy as Ganganna
* O. A. K. Thevar as Sangili
* V. S. Raghavan as Doctor
* Master Rajkumar as Ramu
* V. Nagayya (special appearance in the song "Kannan Vandhan")
* S. V. Subbaiah as the mad Tamil teacher
* Ramadas as Lakshmi's father
* C. S. Pushpalatha as Seetha
* S. N. Lakshmi as Kannamma

Production

Development

While in Bombay (now Mumbai) for the production of the film ''Do Kaliyaan'' (1968), M. Saravanan of AVM Productions chanced upon a film banner featuring Kishore Kumar and a boy with him. Saravanan learned the Hindi film's name, ''Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein'' (1964), and was told by Chinna Menon, the manager of the Bombay branch of AVM, that it was unsuccessful, but he was convinced the story was different. After enquiring further about the story, he learned that it was about a mute boy. Saravanan asked Menon for a print of ''Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein'' to watch, but Menon did not take it seriously. Meanwhile, Subramaniam of Venus Pictures had bought the rights to remake the film in Tamil for , but eventually sold the rights to Saravanan for the same amount plus an additional 5000.

Saravanan screened ''Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein'' for his father Meiyappan, brothers Murugan and Kumaran, directors Krishnan–Panju, screenwriter Javar N. Seetharaman and director A. C. Tirulokchandar. Krishnan–Panju detested the film, and Seetharaman believed a film featuring a child in a prominent role could only succeed if the child had powerful dialogues, evidenced by the success of AVM's previous film ''Kalathur Kannamma'' (1960); he was sceptical since the boy in ''Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein'' was mute. Saravanan suggested writing in how the boy becomes mute, an idea Seetharaman accepted and began writing the screenplay. Tirulokchandar was finalised as director, and was paid 40,000. After the title ''Ramu'' was finalised, friends of Saravanan had misgivings, but he refused to change the title. The film was produced by Murugan, Kumaran and Saravanan under Uma Productions, a subsidiary of AVM. Cinematography was handled by T. Muthusamy and D. Rajagopal, editing by R. G. Gope, and art direction by A. K. Sekhar.

Casting and filming

After ''Kalathur Kannamma'', Gemini Ganesh had not been approached by AVM for any film. When he met them and asked why, AVM told him they could not afford to meet his financial demands which was substantially higher than the 10,000–20,000 they were paying other actors. Ganesh said he would be willing to act for any amount. Though Murugan, Kumaran and Saravanan planned to cast Jaishankar as they felt he was the right person to subdue the bandits onscreen, Meiyappan felt Ganesan could better convey the character's grief regarding his wife's death and son losing his voice; they were agreed with their father's choice of Ganesh.

K. R. Vijaya was cast after the producers were impressed with her performance in ''Karpagam'' (1963). Yogendrakumar, later known as Master Rajkumar, was chosen to play the title character from over 100 children who screen tested. This was his first Tamil film; he had previously appeared in several Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam films. Meiyappan felt the name Yogendrakumar was not appealing to Tamil audiences and gave him his new name. ''Ramu'' was predominantly filmed in the village of Kaduvetti. The climax scene, depicting Ramu and Seethalakshmi in a burning room, was filmed over the course of five days, with kerosene used to light the fire. When the fire was weakening, more kerosene was added, leading to increased fire. Vijaya was quickly helped out, but not Rajkumar as he was tied up, so Tirulokchandar ran in and saved him. The final length of the film was .

Soundtrack

The music composed by M. S. Viswanathan. The lyrics of all songs were penned by Kannadasan. The song "Nilave Ennidam" is set in the Hindustani raga Bageshri, and "Kannan Vandhan" is set to Yaman. During the recording of this song, the original singer was unable to match the "weighty" singing of co-performer Sirkazhi Govindarajan, so he was replaced with T. M. Soundararajan.

Release and reception

''Ramu'' was released on 10 June 1966. The film was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres, and won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil. ''Kalki'' appreciated Tirulokchandar's direction, Seetharaman's writing, and called ''Ramu'' a pleasing family film. Kumar, after watching the film, said it made him realise how weak he had written the original film, and appreciated Seetharaman for making a superior product. His brother Ashok appreciated Seetharaman for making "suitable changes" that made the Tamil film more successful.

Legacy

''Ramu'' was remade in Telugu under the same title (1968) by the same studio and director, with Rajkumar reprising his role. K. Bhagyaraj revealed that the inspiration for the story of ''Mundhanai Mudichu'' (1983) was a poster of ''Ramu'' that Bhagyaraj had seen as a child. The poster featured the protagonist with his motherless son. Bhagyaraj wondered how it would be if he himself were in that position, and prepared the story of ''Mundhanai Mudichu''. Unlike ''Ramu'', the protagonist's son was changed from a preteen to an infant.

References

Bibliography

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External links

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{{Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein

1960s Tamil-language films
1966 drama films
1966 films
AVM Productions films
Best Tamil Feature Film National Film Award winners
Films directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar
Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan
Films with screenplays by Javar Seetharaman
Indian drama films
Tamil films remade in other languages
Tamil remakes of Hindi films