''Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu'' () 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, na ...

-language satirical drama film written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali f ...

and

Sridevi Shree Amma Yanger Ayyappan (13 August 1963 – 24 February 2018), professionally credited with her stage name Sridevi, was an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada language films. Cited as the "First Fem ...

, with

Pratap Pothen Pratap Pothen (13 August 1952 – 15 July 2022) was an Indian actor and filmmaker who acted in about 100 films and directed 12 films. He appeared in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam, Tamil cinema, Tamil and Telugu cinema, Telugu as well as Bollywoo ...

, R. Dilip and S. Ve. Shekher in supporting roles. It revolves around a group of

Tamils The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

struggling with poverty and unemployment. ''Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu'' was simultaneously shot in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

as ''Aakali Rajyam'' (). It was released on 6 November 1980, and ''Aakali Rajyam'' on 9 January 1981. The film was a commercial success, winning three

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing ...

and

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The aw ...

. It was 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 '' Zara Si Zindagi'' (1983) with Haasan reprising his role, and Balachander again directing.

Plot

S. Rangan and his friend are two unemployed

men staying together in

. Another Tamil, Thambu subsequently joins them for the purpose of searching a job. Rangan is a straightforward person who does not tolerate anything which involves impersonation and deceit. He follows and practices the words of

Subramania Bharati C. Subramania Bharathi Birth name: C. Subramaniyan, the person's given name: Subramaniyan, father's given name: Chinnaswami. (C. Subramaniyan by the prevalent patronymic initials as prefix naming system in Tamil Nadu and it is Subramaniyan C ...

in his daily life. Hence he cannot secure any job which tests his attitude and patience. He even fails at getting a job of drawing "No Vacancy" boards. The three share everything they get to eat and suffer from poverty and hunger on most days. Rangan once offers to carry the luggage of Devi until the railway station. On reaching the place, she pays him, to which Rangan replies that he has no change. She rebukes him in Tamil assuming he does not speak the language that he is trying to cheat her. Rangan is angered by her words and leaves. Rangan once chases a man to his house to get back the money which he looted by lying to him. The man enters a house and Rangan chases him there and stumbles upon Devi. The man is Devi's father who lost all his money betting on horse races, and now earns a living by cheating the people around him to get money for betting more. He cheated Rangan by saying that his daughter has died and needed money to perform last rites. Devi returns the money to Rangan and she also pays him for carrying her luggage on that day. Devi and Rangan get to know each other better, learning that Rangan is an unemployed straightforward person and Devi is a small-time stage actress in one of the many theatres. Devi goes to Rangan's house to introduce him to her stage play director, so he can replace an ill actor and earn some money. She suggests he finish his lunch before going there, leaving Rangan embarrassed as there is no food to eat. However he and his friends pretend to eat a sumptuous meal inside the kitchen. But Devi finds out that Rangan and his friends hardly eat for real. Hence she spends her own money to provide food for them. When they are about to eat, Devi's grandmother dies and they cannot eat the food. Rangan's friend somehow earns some money, which he did so by the advice of a friend Dileep. Thambu is very eager to know Dileep and wants to earn money by his way. He runs away from home in search of Dileep. Devi introduces Rangan to a director, Pratap, who is arrogant and short tempered. Rangan cannot act at his direction as the scenes seem to be logically incorrect. He apologises to Devi for letting her down. Rangan explains that his attitude is inherited from his father, Carnatic vocalist Sundaram Pillai, who always scolds him for his inability to find a job on his own. Rangan once sold his father's

tanpura The tanpura (), also referred to as tambura and tanpuri, is a long-necked plucked string instrument, originating in India, found in various forms in Indian music. It does not play melody, but rather supports and sustains the melody of an ...

to buy a train ticket for Delhi, which angered his father. Rangan decides to leave the home for a while so that the problem between him and his father might subside. Rangan once attacks a mute roadside artist Barani for watching him and Devi secretly. Actually, he did so to draw a portrait of them. Rangan apologises to him and both Devi and Rangan become his friends. Pratap is obsessed with Devi and he cannot tolerate her closeness with Rangan. Devi once expressed to Barani that she loves Rangan, but is scared to tell him as he might get angry at her. Rangan hears this and he expresses his intentions in the form of a song that he too loves her. Pratap tries to strangle Devi on the stage for a stage play instead of acting. Off-stage he tells her that he loves her madly and immediately wanted to marry her. Devi quits from the stage acting and starts to live at Rangan's house taking up a new job of baby sitting. Devi loses the baby while shopping for a toy for the child and eventually loses her job. But the baby was actually kidnapped by Rangan's friend to demand money from its parents. Rangan slams him and asks for Dileep to which he says that it is fake and there is no Dileep. Rangan tells him get out of the house and not to come again. Rangan loses all of the jobs due to his straightforwardness and subsequently suffers from poverty but he is not ready to back off from his attitude for the sake of hunger. Hence he tells Devi to choose a better life as he lost all his confidence of making a decent living with her. Pratap threatens to commit suicide if Devi does not marry him. Hence Devi decides to accept his proposal on the condition that Pratap must recommend a job for Rangan to his father, to which Pratap accepts unwillingly. But Rangan gets angry on seeing Devi with Prathap and goes away. Barani dies in a road accident while seeking Rangan. Devi finds Rangan and tells to him that he is the one who she loves and she will not leave him ever, which angers Pratap and he goes away. Rangan's father comes to Delhi to find his son and meets him as a barber. Rangan explains that he feels satisfied with the job as he does not have to cheat, impersonate or fake his life for anything. The story ends with Rangan and Devi started a fresh life and Sundaram Pillai accepted his son's decision. Rangan's friend is now a husband of a rich widowed woman who is elder than him and Thambu turns into a mad beggar in search of the non-existent Dileep.

Cast

as S. Rangan *

as Devi *

as Pratap * R. Dilip as Rangan's friend "Dileep" * S. Ve. Shekher as Thambu * Bharani as Bharani *

Poornam Viswanathan Poornam Viswanathan (15 November 1921 – 1 October 2008) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil films. He started performing on stage at age 18. He worked as a reader for All India Radio and went on to act in films such as ''C ...

as Sundaram Pillai (Tamil) *

J. V. Ramana Murthi Jonnalagadda Venkata Ramana Murthi ( te, జె. వి. రమణమూర్తి; 20 May 1933 – 22 June 2016) was an Indian actor known for his works in Telugu cinema, and Telugu drama. Murthi made his film debut with K. B. Tilak's sociop ...

as Jonnalagadda Venkata Ramanayya Panthulu (Telugu) *

Oru Viral Krishna Rao Oru Viral Krishna Rao was an Indian actor and comedian who appeared in Tamil-language films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani award, Rao got the nickname ''Oru Viral ''Oru Viral'' () is a 1965 Indian Tamil-language mystery fil ...

as Devi's father *

Prathapachandran Prathapachandran (1941–2004) was an Indian actor, who worked predominantly in Malayalam film industry, though he acted in a few Tamil and Telugu movies as well. He known for the portrayal of villainous and character roles in over 300 movies. ...

as Pratap's father * Jayasri as Rangan's mother *

Thengai Srinivasan Thengai Srinivasan (21 October 1937 – 9 November 1987) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil-language films and plays from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was given the prefix ''Thengai'' (coconut) after his role as a coconut-seller in th ...

as Rangan's saloon customer (uncredited) (Tamil)

Production

was cast in the role of an eccentric director "with an unhealthy obsession for an actress." He also revealed that director K. Balachander insisted that he dub in his own voice. S. Ve. Shekher who debuted in '' Ninaithale Inikkum'' (1979) and newcomer R. Dilip were cast in the role of

's friends. Bharani, a poster designer for Balachander's films, joined the film as a mute artist at Balachander's request. The film was simultaneously shot in

as ''Aakali Rajyam''. Filming took place primarily in Delhi.

Themes

''Varumayin Niram Sivappu'', a satire on the unemployment crisis India was facing in the 1980s, revolves around the themes of unemployment and poverty in India, particularly for graduates. It also criticises "factional politics" as the root cause behind both problems. The character Rangan's anger towards the system's failure to provide employment and decent living for its people is conveyed when he recites poems by

. Writing for ''

Jump Cut A jump cut is a cut in film editing in which a single continuous sequential shot of a subject is broken into two parts, with a piece of footage being removed in order to render the effect of jumping forward in time. Camera positions of the subj ...

'', Kumuthan Maderya viewed ''Varumayin Niram Sivappu'' as belonging to the "angry young man" genre: one that rebels against establishment. The film also criticises bureaucracy,

nepotism Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...

and

red tape Red tape is an idiom referring to regulations or conformity to formal rules or standards which are claimed to be excessive, rigid or redundant, or to bureaucracy claimed to hinder or prevent action or decision-making. It is usually applied to ...

as major causes for unemployment and poverty in the country. Sujatha Narayanan, writing for ''

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naid ...

'', noted its similarities to '' Nenjirukkum Varai'' (1967).

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 ...

and lyrics were written by

Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...

for Tamil and by

Acharya Aatreya Acharya Aatreya (born Kilambi Venkata Narasimhacharyulu ) (7 May 1921 – 13 September 1989) was an Indian poet, lyricist, playwright, and screenwriter known for his works in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He received the state Nandi Award ...

for Telugu. The song "Sippi Irukkuthu"/"Kanne Pillavani" was well received, "Pattu Onnu Paadu"/"Saapaattu Yetuledu" is a satirical song about the India's economy in the 1970s. The Tamil version also includes two songs written by Subramania Bharati. The song "Nalladhor Veenai" is based on Tilang raga. The song "Tu Hai Raja" is predominantly in

, save for the last few lines which are in Tamil.

Release and reception

''Varumayin Niram Sivappu'' was released on 6 November 1980 alongside ''

Nizhalgal ''Nizhalgal'' () is a 1980 Indian Tamil-language drama film co-written and directed by Bharathiraja. The film stars primarily newcomers such as S. Rajasekar (credited as Rajasekaran), Raadhu (credited as Rohini), Ravi, Chandrasekhar and Suv ...

'' with both films having similar themes of unemployment. ''Aakali Rajyam'' was released on 9 January 1981. 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 ...

'', Santhanam criticised the title for lacking relevance to the story, felt the story lacked depth, but praised the performances of Haasan, Sridevi, Pratap and Sekar, though he felt the climax seemed rushed. ''

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History and profile ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...

'' positively reviewed the film, giving it a score of A, equal to more than 50 out of 100. The film was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.

Accolades

At the

28th Filmfare Awards South The 28th Filmfare Awards South ceremony honoring the winners of the best of South Indian cinema in 1980 was an event held in 1981. Awards Kannada cinema Malayalam cinema Tamil cinema Telugu cinema References * ''Filmfare'' Magazi ...

, ''Varumayin Niram Sivappu'' won the

Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil The Filmfare Best Film Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil (Kollywood) films. Winners Nominations 1970s *1972 - '' Pattikada Pattanama'' *1973 - '' Bharatha Vilas'' *1974 - ''Dikkat ...

, Balachander won Best Director – Tamil, and Haasan won Best Actor – Telugu for acting in ''Aakali Rajyam''. ''Varumayin Niram Sivappu'' also won the

for

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, Best Director (Balachander) and

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...

(Haasan).

Legacy

''Varumayin Niram Sivappu'' became a trendsetter in Tamil cinema. Pratap recalled in January 2015 that it was the simultaneous release of ''

Moodu Pani ''Moodu Pani'' ( en, The Mist, italic=yes) is a 1980 Indian Tamil-language psychological thriller film written, directed and filmed by Balu Mahendra. Starring his then wife Shoba and Pratap, with N. Viswanathan, Ganthimathi, Mohan and Bhanu ...

'' (another film featuring him) and ''Varumayin Niram Sivappu'' that made him a star. However, both ''Moodu Pani'' – which depicted Pothen as a psychopath who murders prostitutes – and ''Varumayin Niram Sivappu'' led to him being

typecast In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

in similar roles. "Both roles caught the public imagination, and I admit I cashed in when I was offered similar stuff. Now, unless I'm offered an unreasonable amount of money, I doubt I'll accept these roles," he said in a 2014 interview.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * {{Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu 1980 drama films 1980 films 1980s multilingual films 1980s satirical films 1980s Tamil-language films Films about poverty in India Films directed by K. Balachander Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films set in Delhi Films shot in Delhi Films with screenplays by K. Balachander Indian drama films Indian multilingual films Indian satirical films Tamil films remade in other languages Unemployment in fiction