''Vandichakkaram'' () is a 1980 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 film directed by

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 written by

Vinu Chakravarthy Vinu Chakravarthy (15 December 1945 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director who is known for acting in more than 1000 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Badaga and Malayalam mostly as a comedian, supporting actor or i ...

. The film stars Sivakumar and

Saritha Saritha is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu languages. She was one of the popular and critically acclaimed lead actresses during the 1980s. She also appeared in a television serial, ' ...

. It revolves around a ruffian who, after falling in love, resolves to mend his ways. Chakravarthy wrote the script in 1976, but production began only in 1979. It was supposed to be the 100th film of Sivakumar but eventually became his 101st to accommodate ''

Rosappu Ravikkaikari ''Rosappu Ravikkaikari'' () is a 1979 Indian Tamil-language historical romance film directed by Devaraj–Mohan. A remake of the 1978 Kannada film ''Parasangada Gendethimma'', itself based on Srikrishna Alanahalli's novella of the same name, ...

'' (1979). The film was produced by Thirupur Mani, and shot at

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

. It is also the debut film of

Silk Smitha Vijayalakshmi Vadlapati (2 December 1960 – 23 September 1996), better known by her stage name Silk Smitha, was an Indian actress and dancer who worked predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. Smitha was part of ...

. ''Vandichakkaram'' was released on 29 August 1980, and became one of the biggest hits of Sivakumar. At the Filmfare Awards South, he and Saritha won the awards for Best Tamil Actor and Best Tamil Actress respectively. The film also won the

Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film is given by the Government of Tamil Nadu as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil (Kollywood) films. It includes prizes for three top places. Key List of winners Reference ...

—Third Prize. It was later remade in

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 ...

as '' Prem Pratigyaa'' (1989).

Plot

Gaja is a ruffian. After falling in love with Vadivu, he resolves to mend his ways.

Cast

* Sivakumar as Gaja *

as Vadivu *

Sivachandran Narayanan, better known by his stage name Sivachandran, is an Indian actor, director, and writer who was active in Tamil cinema mostly in the 1980s. Career Sivachandran was originally offered to act in '' Kizhakke Pogum Rail'' (1978), but decl ...

as Sarathi * Samikannu as Palayam *

Suruli Rajan Suruli Rajan was a Tamil film comedian/character artiste. He was a recipient of Tamil Nadu State Government's Best Comedian Award for the year 1981–82. Biography Suruli Rajan was born in 1938 in Periyakulam, near Theni. His father ''Ponna ...

as Maari *

as Muthu *

A. Sakunthala Arunachalam. Sakunthala (C. I. D. Sakunthala) is an Indian actress. She has filled roles as a Heroine, Item number Dancer, and Villainess in over 600 Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films. The first movie in which she performed as an act ...

as a thief *

Smitha Smita (born Smita Vallurupalli on 4 September 1980) is an Indian pop singer, playback singer and actress known for her works in Tollywood, Telugu Music Industry, Bollywood, Kollywood and Kannada cinema. She has appeared in films such as '' Malli ...

as Silk

Production

wrote the script of ''Vandichakkaram'' in 1976, but production began only in 1979. This was supposed to be the 100th film of Sivakumar but eventually became his 101st so that ''

'' (1979) could become his 100th. The film featured Sivakumar portraying a ruffian, completely different from the soft roles which he was portraying at that point of his career. This was the feature film debut of Vijayalakshmi, who later became known as the sex symbol

. According to Vinu Chakravarthy, he "chiseled" her character during the writing process for almost three years before production began. Since the film demanded a vegetable market situated in a straight line, the crew zeroed on a market place in

where the film was shot. Smitha's voice was dubbed by Hema Malini.

Soundtrack

The music composed 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 ...

, and lyrics were penned by Pulamaipithan.

Release and reception

''Vandichakkaram'' was released on 29 August 1980, and became one of the biggest hits of Sivakumar. Writing for ''

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 ...

'', Nalini Sastry said Vijayan was not pushing the cartwheel on the ground, but into the sky. At the Filmfare Awards South, Sivakumar and Saritha won the awards for Best Tamil Actor and Best Tamil Actress respectively. The film also won the

—Third Prize.

References

External links

* {{TamilNaduStateFilmAwardBestFilm 1980 films 1980s Tamil-language films Films directed by K. Vijayan Films scored by Shankar–Ganesh Tamil films remade in other languages