''Vandhaale Magaraasi'' is a 1973 Indian Tamil-language

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

, directed by

K. S. Gopalakrishnan K. S. Gopalakrishnan was an Indian screenwriter, director, producer, and lyricist, who worked in Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films. Since the early 1960s, he directed 70 films. He spent most of his career directing and producing movies with soc ...

and produced by Ashok Pictures. The screenplay was written by Gopalakrishnan, the film was shot at his own studio, Karpagam Studios. Music was by

Shankar–Ganesh Shankar–Ganesh is an Indian music director duo who has worked on Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada movies for around 50 years. Career They started as assistants to Tamil music composers M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy in 1964 an ...

. The film stars

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 ...

(in dual role) and M. N. Rajam, playing lead role, with

Jaishankar Jaishankar (12 July 1938 – 3 June 2000) was an Indian actor known for his work in Tamil cinema. He was a very popular lead actor in the 1960s and 70s. He was credited onscreen with title of ''Makkal Kalaingnar'' (people's artiste) or '' ...

V. S. Raghavan V S Raghavan (18 February 1925 – 24 January 2015) was an Indian actor, who has acted both in Tamil films as well as television. He started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a character actor in films, starting ...

, Cho Ramaswamy Pushpalatha and Bhagavathy in supporting roles. It was released on 16 March 1973.

Plot

Sundaram, a doctor by profession and an orphan comes to his village, to serve the villagers. He is stunned to see the inhuman behaviour meted out by his landlady Mangamma and her mother towards the other members of the house. The landlady's husband is Sivalingam, her brother and her mother-in-law. The widow's step-daughter Uma and her children undergo many miseries at their hands. To add to this, Lakshmi a simple village teacher, married the landlady Mangamma's brother. She was physically and mentally abused. Sundaram chances upon a look-like of Lakshmi, Rani and requests her to impersonate Lakshmi and teach Mangamma and her mother a lesson. Does Rani accept this proposal?

Cast

as Lakshmi/Rani *

as Dr. Sundaram * M. N. Rajam as Mangamma * Cho Ramaswamy as Lakshmi's Husband & Mangamma's Brother *

as Sivalingam * Pushpalatha as Uma (Sivalingam Daughter) * C. K. Saraswathi as Mangamma's Mother *

S. N. Lakshmi Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...

as Lakshmi's Mother * T. K. Bhagavathi as Advocate Vaiyapuri (Rani's Father) * V. R. Thilagam as Sengamalam *

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 ...

as Natesan (Uma Husband) * V. Gopalakrishnan as Cameo Appearance * Master Sridhar as Cameo Appearance * Kallapart Natarajan as Saniyasamm * S. R. Janaki as Sivalingam's Mother * K. D. Santhanam as Advocate

Soundtrack

Music was composed by

and lyrics were written by Vaali. Jayalalithaa sang "Kankalil Aayiram", rather than use a playback singer.

Release and reception

''Vandhaale Magaraasi'' was released on 16 March 1973. For her performance, Jayalalithaa won the Tamil Nadu Cinema Fan Award for Best Actress.

References

External links

* * {{K. S. Gopalakrishnan 1970s satirical films 1970s Tamil-language films 1973 comedy-drama films 1973 films Films about women in India Films directed by K. S. Gopalakrishnan Films scored by Shankar–Ganesh Films with screenplays by K. S. Gopalakrishnan Indian black-and-white films Indian comedy-drama films Indian feminist films Indian satirical films